Last week, the shopping period for my classes at Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) was disrupted on Zoom by a “Divestment Coalition” of campus groups, including the Sarah Lawrence Socialist Coalition and the Sarah Lawrence Review. The coalition announced a “boycott” of all my courses for the 2024-25 academic year, labeled me a “staunch advocate of Israel’s right to self-defense” —true, depending on how it’s defined—and falsely accused me of conflating “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) advocates with Nazis. They pressured potential students to avoid my classes, even resorting to direct messages over Zoom to dissuade them from registering.
The most worrisome aspect of this incident, however, was not the students’ actions—despite their blatant anti-Semitism and disregard for the principles of liberal arts education—but the laconic response from the SLC administration. When I reported these troubling actions, the administration first invited me to submit a bias report, and then asked for access to my personal Zoom account to identify the disrupting students.
My American politics classes usually have waitlists. But my Presidency class was not heavily enrolled this year—a Presidential election year. The “boycott” had had some effect. I emailed the school president and provost the following on August 22:
I just received my course placement info and see that only a handful of students have signed up for my Presidency class. As you know, historically my courses have been oversubscribed, especially in election years.
Please see the attached screenshot that was provided to me by a student who attended my Presidency interviews on Monday; it shows an intimidating zoom chat message they received from an anonymous fellow student attending the interview session. Students on the Zoom sessions were all sent this message.
Please let me know how you intend to proceed in resolving this unacceptable situation. Students should not be intimidated with potential cancellation by their peers just for choosing to take an American Politics class that has nothing to do with Israel or my Jewish heritage and faith.
I also noted in a second email the false and libelous statement made by the students during my class: “Incidentally, the alleged retweet about Nazis and Isis referenced in the image sent to you is completely fictional. It wouldn’t be something that I would say and I checked my Twitter history which revealed that I never posted anything like that or anything on that day for that matter. Any supposedly misogynistic and racist comments are likewise fictional. So not only is this group harassing and intimidating students, they are also outright lying about me.”
In response to clear anti-Semitism, harassment of a professor, intimidation of students, overt lies about me and my statements, and an unambiguous disruption of the learning environment, the SLC administration wrote me....
Read the rest of this piece at Minding the Campus.
Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Photos: courtesy Minding the Campus.
Email this Story
