logo
Being Jewish on campus amid Trump's campaign against antisemitism: ‘tremendous heartache'

Being Jewish on campus amid Trump's campaign against antisemitism: ‘tremendous heartache'

Protesters were chanting slogans Alyssa Wallack had never heard at USC, shouting so loudly that she thought demonstrators were inside the lecture hall where she was attending class.
'Globalize the intifada!' she recalled hearing.
'From the river to the sea...,' they yelled.
It was Oct. 17, 2023 — 10 days after Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took hundreds as hostages.
Wallack, who is Jewish, said she had to 'escape.'
'I freaked out, and I ran out of class and started sobbing,' said Wallack, 23, who served as student board president of USC Chabad. 'It felt like everyone was against me, which I know is not so accurate. But I just remember sitting in my class, not able to learn. ...Were some of the people who I thought were my friends part of these protests, chanting things that were not only offensive but also antisemitic?'
In the months ahead, Wallack said, she didn't feel safe on campus. She wasn't alone. Other Jewish students at the University of Southern California said that after the Hamas attack — and the war it triggered — they, too, felt unsafe amid pro-Palestinian protests. At UCLA, where a large encampment sparked a violent confrontation that led to dozens of arrests, Jewish students expressed similar sentiments.
As the academic year draws to a close — USC's commencement was last month, UCLA's is in mid-June — The Times interviewed 12 Jewish students and professors at the universities who reflected on their campus experiences since Oct. 7.
They wrestled with two questions: Did you feel safer this school year? And did Donald Trump's campaign against antisemitism have anything to do with it?
The complexity of their answers was, for some, rooted in Trump's aggressive move in a Jan. 29 executive order 'to combat the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses' and 'investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.' His actions — coming amid a surge in violence targeting American Jews, from Colorado to Washington D.C. — have included attempts to deport college students who've espoused pro-Palestinian views.
Trump's offensive — aimed at mainly elite universities, which he claims have enabled antisemitism — has roiled academia, with billions of dollars of federal funds threatened or withheld. USC and UCLA are among the schools under investigation by a Department of Justice 'task force to combat antisemitism.'
Yet, some students and professors said Trump is using antisemitism as a cudgel to achieve his political objectives and exert his influence over higher education. A few doubted the president's sincerity and questioned whether his tactics would, in the long run, leave American Jews better off.
David N. Myers, a professor of Jewish history at UCLA, said that slashing federal funding for universities because of their response to campus antisemitism points to the 'very cynical and completely misguided nature of this campaign.'
'It's not about antisemitism,' he said. 'It's about enfeebling and dismantling the university, in which Jews actually have a very huge stake. ...I think many, many, many people or groups will suffer, including Jews.'
Following the start of pro-Palestinian demonstrations last year, both USC and the University of California implemented new, stricter protest rules or began enforcing existing ones, such as their bans on encampments. At UCLA, protesters cannot wear masks or block paths, and demonstration areas are restricted. USC, a private university, has closed campus gates and requires identification to enter.
A relatively calm academic year at UCLA and USC followed.
Yet jarring recollections endure.
UCLA junior Gal Cohavy, 20, recalled two encounters last spring: One friend was physically threatened, and another struck in the head with a water bottle. Other actions were, he said, alarming: 'Walking around campus with a kippah on, I saw a swastika.'
Cohavy began carrying pepper spray.
Many Jews have taken issue with Israel's war in Gaza and the country's treatment of Palestinians, and protested the Jewish state's actions alongside like-minded activists. Some have also spoken out against Islamophobia, and pointed out that Trump has taken no action in response to reported increases in anti-Muslim harassment or discrimination.
Myers said he didn't feel unsafe last year — what he felt was uncomfortable. That's because he believed it was necessary to condemn both the Oct. 7 attack and 'the excess of Israel's response in Gaza.'
'There is a distinct feeling for me of not fitting into either of the two most prominent camps,' he said. 'I felt some sense of aloneness.'
Asked if he still felt that way, Myers paused.
'Yeah, to some extent.'
Nearly all of the Jewish people interviewed for this story expressed pro-Israel views, to varying degrees. Although most said they felt safer this year, nearly every discussion was laced with caveats — a reflection, perhaps, of how personal the issue has become. And traumatic.
'It wasn't just unsafe — it was traumatizing,' said USC professor Hagit Arieli-Chai, who teaches modern Hebrew. Encountering protesters and their anti-Israel signs and slogans last spring, she said, forced her to confront 'hatred ... in unequivocal ways.' Arieli-Chai, who said one of her cousins was killed in the Oct. 7 attack, tried to avoid campus, going there only to teach.
Some said they attributed an improved sense of campus safety to tightened university protest polices, or other factors — and not Trump. Others praised the president. And yet another group said it's hard to pinpoint reasons.
'It strikes me as a false claim to knowledge for anyone other than a trained sociologist who's done a serious survey ... to say it's because of' one factor or another, said David Nimmer, a professor from practice at UCLA School of Law.
Some who credited Trump for an improved campus climate expressed a sense of discomfort, worrying about billions of dollars in potential funding cuts across higher education and an illiberal stifling of speech, among other issues.
'I am not the slightest supporter of the Trump administration,' said Nimmer. But, 'to the extent that anyone comes in and diminishes ... antisemitism, that is a step in the right direction.'
A few questioned the sincerity of Trump's support of the Jewish people.
'Now we're being used to justify, I would say, frankly, illegal actions [in] the case of the administration,' said Dylan Julia Cooper, 22, who graduated from USC in May. 'We are being used for his own goal of ... taking out anybody who disagrees with him.'
Yoav Gillath, 22, who also just graduated from USC, said he 'wanted to believe' that the president's goal was fighting antisemitism — but wasn't sure how to interpret the administration's actions.
'I wish they were more transparent with exactly why they're making the decisions that they are about various universities,' said Gillath, 22.
UCLA senior Bella Brannon said she is troubled by Trump administration funding cuts to 'life-saving research.' But she said, overall, 'Jewish students are happy to see some sort of action taken.'
'For far too long, nobody was even upholding the rules and policies that were in place — not to mention the law,' she said of universities' response to antisemitism. 'It's absolutely no surprise that the government is taking action.'
One word came up in several interviews: 'angst.'
'I have a tremendous amount of angst every day,' Nimmer said. 'I am ... someone who is devoted to democracy. And yet I feel that the duly elected leader in the United States and the duly elected leader in Israel are both tearing down the very structures on which the countries are founded. And it's causing me tremendous heartache every day.'
The mix of dread and relief reflected in some comments also appeared in the nonpartisan American Jewish Committee's recent open letter that praised a federal task force on antisemitism but warned about the effect of deep cuts at universities.
'We are concerned that ... lifesaving scientific research and other critical fields that have little connection to the areas where antisemitism has manifested may be harmed by arbitrary, across the board cuts to grants and research contracts,' the letter said.
Last spring, Westwood was suffused with rage. The encampment erected by pro-Palestinian activists became a global news story in May after a melee instigated by pro-Israel counterdemonstrators erupted. UCLA's inability to stop it sparked intense criticism.
The violence, among the university's darkest chapters, brought change.
Those interviewed noted a turning point: Julio Frenk — whose German Jewish father fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s — becoming chancellor on Jan. 1. The university has also overhauled security and hired LAPD veteran Steve Lurie to lead the new Office of Campus Safety.
Noting the 'pain and fear' that antisemitism had brought on campus, Frenk said, 'UCLA is unwavering in its commitment to building a campus community in which Jewish students — and all members of our community — feel safe, respected and welcome.'
Senior Mia Toubian, 20, who is news editor of Ha'Am, UCLA's student-run Jewish newsmagazine, praised Frenk for banning Students for Justice in Palestine as a campus organization in March following a protest the group held in front of a UC regent's house that was vandalized. 'It's gotten a little bit better,' said Toubian, 20, who added that she feels 'relatively' safer now, but 'objectively still not completely safe.'
Brannon, the magazine's editor in chief, recalled how she was followed home after covering a protest last spring. 'I got really, really scared,' she said.
Once, she was spat at while walking to class. But Brannon, 22, feels less safe now. That's partly because, she said, the 'fringe of the fringe' have continued to demonstrate with few repercussions.
She noted a recent incident that illustrated how — even with UCLA's tighter rules — ruptures still occur. In March, pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked access to a campus building, draping it with a banner that equated UCLA police and the Israeli military with the Ku Klux Klan. They evaded law enforcement.
'I'm worried that without sanction, it is getting more unsafe for Jewish students,' Brannon said.
Lurie said that when police approached the building to arrest those blocking the entrance, they 'ran and kind of scattered.' The protesters' faces were covered, he said, making it impossible to identify them via recordings.
But some at UCLA said the changes have been dramatic — for the better.
Sharon Nazarian, founder of the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies at UCLA, noted a peaceful UCLA Hillel vigil and walk through campus to mark the first anniversary of the Hamas attack would have been 'unfathomable the previous academic year.'
'That,' she said, 'is a sea change for me.'
A few USC students praised university leadership for protecting Jewish students.
Ben Sheyman, 22, grew up in San Francisco, but his life as a Jew was partly shaped by his immigrant parents' experience in their home countries: Ukraine and Belarus — places where Jews were persecuted. When his family came to the U.S., it was supposed to be different.
'Here, you are as American as anybody else,' said Sheyman, who graduated this spring. But walking to class in the 2023-24 school year, Sheyman would see signs with slogans like 'End Zionism.' It was, he said, 'really unsettling.'
Still, Sheyman felt unsafe just once, when a crowd of masked protesters held items emblazoned with 'Nazi symbols,' he said. The tighter security changed things for the better, he said.
Cooper also felt safer in recent months, but related an upsetting run-in. She wears a Star of David necklace, and once, in the months after the Oct. 7 attack, a passerby hurled an extremely offensive Jewish slur at her as she walked near campus.
She praised administrators' decision to close the campus gates, even if she has some reservations. 'Whether it's politically correct or not, I do feel safer,' she said.
USC said in a statement that it 'continues to publicly and unequivocally denounce antisemitism in all its forms and has taken strong actions to protect all of our students ... from illegal discrimination of any kind.' It also touted the 'enhanced security protocols' and the launch of new mandatory seminars 'devoted specifically to free expression and civic discourse.'
For some at USC, though, the fractures in their lives — the loss of friendships, the alienation from peers or professors — linger. People like Wallack.
Her time at USC after the Oct. 7 attack was discombobulating. She left her sorority because she felt it did not voice sufficient support for Israel, and moved home.
'I don't really feel like I found my people at USC as a result of Oct. 7,' she said.
Sitting in the shade at the USC Village in early May, Wallack touched her Star of David necklace and explained that she would not attend graduation ceremonies.
Instead, Wallack departed for Israel. A business fellowship awaited.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Amid backlash, Tesla remained resilient in Texas
Amid backlash, Tesla remained resilient in Texas

Axios

time19 minutes ago

  • Axios

Amid backlash, Tesla remained resilient in Texas

Even as Tesla deliveries plunged nationally this year amid Elon Musk's very visible (if short-lived) alliance with President Trump, there was at least one state where Tesla registrations were up: Texas. Why it matters: The registration data, obtained by Axios through public information requests, indicates loyalty to the brand in its home base, including Texas' large urban and suburban counties. The depth of conservatives' enthusiasm for Musk's automobiles now faces a major test amid the absolute meltdown last week between the Tesla CEO and the president. By the numbers: Texans registered 12,918 new Teslas in the first three months of 2025, a period when Musk, who contributed more than $250 million to a pro-Trump super PAC during the 2024 election campaign, was enmeshed in the Trump administration as the overseer of DOGE, the president's cost-cutting initiative. Over the same period in 2024, Texans registered 10,679 Teslas. That's a 21% increase year over year. The intrigue: The spike in Texas registrations came as Tesla was flailing elsewhere. Tesla's vehicle deliveries plunged 13% globally in the first quarter of 2025 (336,681 electric vehicles) compared with Q1 2024 (386,810). Tesla vehicles were torched at showrooms and the brand's reputation cratered. Zoom in: Tesla saw year-over-year improvements in its sales in some of the most populous Texas counties. In Travis County, new Tesla registrations grew from 1,369 in the first quarter of 2024 to 1,424 during the first quarter of 2025. In Harris County, they grew from 1,526 to 1,837 during the same period. Tesla registration grew from 1,316 to 1,546 in Collin County and from 990 to 1,146 in Dallas County. In Bexar County, registrations grew from 631 to 664. What they're saying:"It's homegrown pride," is how Matt Holm, president and founder of the Tesla Owners Club of Austin, explains the car company's resilience to Axios. "And regardless of all the drama going on these days, people can differentiate between the product and everything else going on, and it's just a great product." "Elon has absolutely and irreversibly blown up bridges to some potential customers," says Alexander Edwards, president of California-based research firm Strategic Vision, which has long surveyed the motivations of car buyers. "People who bought Teslas for environmental friendliness, that's pretty much gone," Edwards tells Axios. Yes, but: The company had been enjoying an increasingly positive reputation among more conservative consumers. Musk was viewed favorably by 80% of Texas Republicans polled by the Texas Politics Project in April — and unfavorably by 83% of Democrats. In what now feels like a political lifetime ago, Trump himself even promoted Teslas by promising to buy one in support of Musk earlier this year. "In some pockets, like Austin, you have that tech group that loves what Tesla has to offer, can do some mental gymnastics about Musk, and looks at Rivian and says that's not what I want or might be priced out," Edwards says. Between the lines:"Being in the state of Texas, you're naturally conditioned to think you're better than everyone else in the U.S. And when you buy a Tesla" — a status symbol — "that's what you're saying. It doesn't surprise me that there's an increase in sales" in Texas, Edwards says. Plus: Tesla's resilience in Texas could have practical reasons as well, Edwards says. Texas homes — as opposed to, say, apartments in cities on the East Coast — are more likely to have a garage to charge a car in, he adds. What's next: Musk said late last month that Tesla was experiencing a "major rebound in demand" — without providing specifics. But that was before things went absolutely haywire with Trump and Tesla stock took a bath last week.

California City Terminates 'Divisive' ICE Contract Amid L.A. Protests
California City Terminates 'Divisive' ICE Contract Amid L.A. Protests

Yahoo

time21 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

California City Terminates 'Divisive' ICE Contract Amid L.A. Protests

Glendale, California, which is located just minutes from Los Angeles where anti-ICE protests erupted this weekend, has decided to end a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold detainees in its jail. In a press release Sunday, city officials said that 'public perception of the ICE contract—no matter how limited or carefully managed, no matter the good—has become divisive.' 'And while opinions on this issue may vary—the decision to terminate this contract is not politically driven. It is rooted in what this City stands for—public safety, local accountability, and trust,' the statement said. Ahead of the unrest in Los Angeles, Glendale had come under some scrutiny over a 2007 contract to house ICE detainees despite a 2018 sanctuary state law ensuring that no local law enforcement resources are used for the purpose of immigration enforcement. In one year, the city collected $6,000 to house ICE detainees, and The Los Angeles Times reported that the city receives $85 per detainee per day. In the last week, two ICE detainees were held in Glendale's detention center, leading to an outcry over the city's potentially unlawful compliance, as the Trump administration has moved to increase the number of daily ICE arrests. But it seems that Glendale will no longer be complicit in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. The statement continued, emphasizing that local law enforcement was not responsible for enforcing immigration law, and that the city would remain in compliance with the law. 'The Glendale Police Department has not engaged in immigration enforcement, nor will it do so moving forward,' the statement said. Just a few miles away in downtown Los Angeles, massive anti-ICE protests are still ongoing after immigration authorities arrested at least 44 immigrants Friday. In response to the protests, Donald Trump bypassed California Governor Gavin Newsom to deploy the National Guard, which has used tear gas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets against the protesters and journalists. The decision on behalf of Glendale is a victory for the protestors, and a clear response to the ongoing direct action in Los Angeles, as well as the Trump administration's escalating efforts to conduct mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

Trump's new travel ban: Which countries are on the list? Who's exempt? How are people reacting?
Trump's new travel ban: Which countries are on the list? Who's exempt? How are people reacting?

Yahoo

time21 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Trump's new travel ban: Which countries are on the list? Who's exempt? How are people reacting?

President Trump's sweeping new travel ban went into effect on Monday, barring citizens of 12 countries from visiting the United States and imposing restrictions on those from seven others. In a video message last week announcing the ban, Trump cited national security concerns, claiming that foreigners who were not properly vetted posed a terror risk. "We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States,' Trump said. The president also cited the recent attack in Boulder, Colo., by a man who allegedly shouted 'Free Palestine' and threw Molotov cocktails into a crowd of people calling for the release of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas. 'The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colo., has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas,' Trump said. 'We don't want them.' The suspect, identified as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was arrested and charged with a hate crime. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Soliman is from Egypt and had overstayed a tourist visa. Egypt is not among the countries included in Trump's new travel ban. The ban, which went into effect Monday at 12:01 a.m. ET, prohibits foreign nationals from the following countries from entering the U.S.: Afghanistan Chad Republic of Congo Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Haiti Iran Libya Myanmar (Burma) Somalia Sudan Yemen It imposes partial restrictions on foreign nationals from the following countries: Burundi Cuba Laos Sierra Leone Togo Turkmenistan Venezuela There are numerous groups of people who are exempt from Trump's new travel ban. They include: Any lawful permanent resident of the United States. Dual citizens, or U.S. citizens who also have citizenship of one of the banned countries. Athletes and their coaches traveling to the U.S. for the World Cup, Olympics or other major sporting events determined by the U.S. secretary of state. Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders who worked for the U.S. government or its allies during the war in Afghanistan. Children adopted by U.S. citizens. Diplomats and foreign government officials or representatives of international organizations and NATO on official visits. Foreign national employees of the U.S. government who have served abroad for at least 15 years, their spouses and children. Individuals with U.S. family members who apply for visas in connection to their spouses, children or parents. Iranians belonging to an ethnic or religious minority who are fleeing prosecution. Refugees who were granted asylum or admitted to the U.S. before the ban. Those traveling to the United Nations headquarters in New York solely on official business. The announcement angered humanitarian groups working to resettle refugees. 'President Trump's new travel ban is discriminatory, racist, and downright cruel,' Amnesty International USA said in a statement posted to X. 'By targeting people based on their nationality, this ban only spreads disinformation and hate.' "This policy is not about national security,' Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, said in a statement. 'It is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States." 'To include Afghanistan — a nation whose people stood alongside American service members for 20 years — is a moral disgrace,' Shawn VanDiver, president and board chairman of #AfghanEvac, said in a statement. 'It spits in the face of our allies, our veterans, and every value we claim to uphold.' The African Union Commission released a statement expressing concern about 'the potential negative impact' of the ban on educational exchange, commerce and engagement and the 'broader diplomatic relations that have been carefully nurtured over decades.' The commission said it 'respectfully calls upon the U.S. Administration to consider adopting a more consultative approach and to engage in constructive dialogue with the countries concerned.' The new travel ban is similar to the one Trump imposed in January 2017, his first month in office. That ban restricted travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. (Syria and Iraq are not included on the new list.) It went into effect via an executive order with virtually no notice, causing chaos at airports nationwide and prompting numerous legal challenges. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a version of it in 2018. Stephen Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, told the New York Times that the new ban is more likely to withstand legal scrutiny. 'They seem to have learned some lessons from the three different rounds of litigation we went through during the first Trump administration,' Vladeck said. 'But a lot will depend upon how it's actually enforced.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store