Just days after Hamas attacked Israel in October, a law student at NYU publicly expressed support for Hamas, blamed Israel for the attack, and promptly lost a job offer from a top law firm.
Now other firms are following suit. Multiple law firms have sent a letter to law schools warning them that this won’t be tolerated and that they will not hire graduates who are participating in any of this.
Politico reports:
Top U.S. law firms press universities to address antisemitismSome of the nation’s biggest law firms have a message for law school deans amid an uptick in antisemitic hate crimes: rein in discrimination and harassment on your campuses.In a letter to deans of the top law schools late Wednesday, 24 prominent law firms urged the institutions to denounce anti-Israel protests and take the “same unequivocal stance against such activities as we do.”The letter’s signatories included Davis Polk & Wardwell — which recently rescinded job offers to Harvard and Columbia law students over their statements on Israel — as well as Kirkland & Ellis, Skadden and Sullivan & Cromwell.“We have been alarmed at reports of anti-Semitic harassment, vandalism and assaults on college campuses, including rallies calling for the death of Jews and the elimination of the State of Israel,” they wrote. “Such anti-Semitic activities would not be tolerated at any of our firms. We also would not tolerate outside groups engaging in acts of harassment and threats of violence, as has also been occurring on many of your campuses.”While it is “imperative” the schools give students guidance to engage in the “free exchange of ideas,” they said, there is “no room” for antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism or other types of “violence, hatred or bigotry” on their campuses and in their firms’ workplaces.The firms also offered a warning: “As employers who recruit from each of your law schools, we look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses.”
Kudos to these law firms. It’s a pity the list isn’t longer.
Hedge fund manager and billionaire Bill Ackman has been a leader in the effort to hold these students accountable. I want to quote the full text of his tweet below:
It’s pathetic that we need to rely on law firms and corporations to police antisemitism on campus. None of them will hire racist students or those that support terrorists.Every one of these universities, law schools and business schools have made massive recent investments in DEI initiatives, staff and faculty. Where are they? What are they doing?I spent the day at @Harvard today talking and listening to Jewish and non-Jewish students and faculty.I learned that Harvard’s DEI staff do not respond to or otherwise take seriously complaints from Asian, White (non-LGBTQ) or Jewish students which partially explains what is happening on campus now.
This moment has been a wake up call for many people about what has been happening in our institutions of higher education.
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