the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Columbia University, New York: The sight was jarring—elite college students at one of America’s most prestigious institutions pitching tents and chanting “Globalize the Intifada”. These so-called “Hamas Hipsters,” privileged students at $80,000-per-year universities, have become the face of the post-October 7 anti-Israel campus protests that have swept across the country.
To ordinary Americans, the protests are hostile, antisemitic, and deeply disruptive. Jewish students have been harassed. Buildings have been vandalized. Classes have been disrupted. But not everyone agrees. A vocal cadre of academics, journalists, and activist faculty members are defending the protests—and, in some cases, romanticizing them.
The ‘Protest Paradigm’ Narrative
Danielle K. Brown, a Michigan State University journalism professor, claims the protests are misunderstood. She calls it the “protest paradigm,” arguing that outsiders only see chaos, while those “on the ground” recognize careful planning and noble purpose.
Brown and others blame the media for focusing on the spectacle over the substance, insisting that the encampments are about “justice” and “activism,” not antisemitism or intimidation. She praises journalists who engage directly with the protest groups—mostly Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)—for telling a friendlier story.
But this raises a question: Who is shaping the narrative—the protesters or the professors protecting them?
Turning Violence Into Virtue
Across the country, Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapters have run interference for protesters.
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At the University of Michigan, when students tried to take over a campus building, faculty allies called it “a beautiful display of unity, moral courage and justice.”
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Georgetown University faculty described the George Washington University encampment as “peaceful, respectful, and orderly,” even as witnesses reported vandalism and harassment.
Even Reuters downplayed the hostility, describing Columbia’s encampment as a “living history lesson” where students “peacefully chatted, read, ate kosher Passover snacks, and held joint Jewish-Muslim prayer ceremonies.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) described something very different: defacement of buildings, property destruction, and threats against Jewish students.
Denying Antisemitism—With a Twist
Insiders and sympathetic faculty go beyond denying antisemitism. They actively try to rebrand the protests as Jewish-friendly by pointing out a handful of anti-Zionist Jews who join the cause.
At George Washington University, faculty highlighted how protesters even hosted a Shabbat service. Columbia protesters served “kosher Passover snacks” alongside their “liberation” rhetoric.
This is a well-worn tactic: enlist Jewish anti-Zionists as a shield against accusations of antisemitism. As German scholar Clemens Heni noted, “Jewish anti-Zionists give hatred of Israel a kind of Kosher stamp.”
But as we’ve seen in other contexts—like when Larry Elder was labeled “the Black face of white supremacy”—identity doesn’t negate harmful ideology.
Blame the Universities, Not the Protesters
Another strategy is shifting blame for any violence onto the universities or police:
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Georgetown faculty blamed D.C. Mayor Bowser and GWU’s administration for “creating the chaos.”
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George Mason University faculty condemned GWU President Ellen Granberg for calling police on “peaceful” students.
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At the University of Texas, faculty accused President Jay Hartzell of staging a “military-style invasion” when police cleared an unlawful encampment.
This framing makes the protesters perpetual victims, even as they occupy buildings, disrupt classes, and threaten their peers.
The Myth of the ‘People’s University’
At some schools, protesters and their faculty enablers claim they’re creating better learning environments than the actual universities.
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At the University of San Francisco, protesters dubbed their camp “The People’s University for Palestine” and faculty praised it as a “robust learning environment.”
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Harvard faculty described their encampment as a “liberated space for collective education.”
Perhaps the most outlandish praise came from Whitman College’s Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, who called Columbia’s encampment a “DIY democracy” with communal kitchens and “autonomous self-governance,” as though illegal camping on campus somehow represented a utopian alternative to higher education.
The Reality on the Ground
Strip away the whitewashed rhetoric, and what remains is far less noble:
✅ Trespassing & Property Damage: These students were not “residents” but trespassers, commandeering campus space they didn’t own.
✅ Disruption of Education: Jewish students were verbally and physically assaulted, as Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NY) documented. Classes and exams were disrupted.
✅ Hypocrisy on ‘Democracy’: Protesters claimed to fight authoritarianism but sought to impose their pro-Hamas worldview on everyone else.
Former AAUP president Carey Nelson said it best: “They did not doubt they were in possession of the truth and sought compliance with it.”
What’s Next?
Will Fall 2025 bring more protests in solidarity with Hamas—or perhaps Iran? Will faculty continue to glorify illegal encampments and downplay antisemitism?
One thing is certain: There will always be “insiders” eager to explain why you shouldn’t believe your own eyes.
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