Samuel J. Abrams is a professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by RealClear Education on May 05, 2025. It has been edited to match MTC’s style guidelines and is crossposted here with permission. A graduate student I have worked with over the past year recently emailed me to share the exciting news that he will be teaching a course this fall. Being able to design […]
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In response to the Trump Administration’s continued attacks on higher education, leaders of some of the most prominent colleges and universities are pushing back—albeit hypocritically. Nearly 500 college presidents and deans signed an open letter from the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, titled “A Call […]
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Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by RealClear Education on April 10, 2025. With edits to match Minding the Campus’s style guidelines, it is crossposted here with permission. Last week, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) wrapped up their “Week of Rage,” a week-long series of programs intended to intimidate and threaten those unsupportive […]
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In the winter of 2024, the U.S. Department of Education announced that an investigation is underway at Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) over its anti-Semitic environment. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights wrote in a December 23 letter that it will examine “whether the College failed to respond to alleged harassment of students […]
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In an article for Slate, Joel Swanson, a newly hired professor of Jewish Studies at Sarah Lawrence College (SLC), selectively presents only part of the story regarding the college’s response to the wave of anti-Semitism that swept SLC following Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel. No surprise to me, Swanson uses the piece to argue […]
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The Heterodox Academy found that in 2024, more than 100 colleges and universities across North America adopted institutional neutrality policies. Taking a cue from the 1967 University of Chicago Kalven Report, which argued that the university must remain neutral to be a home to a wide diversity of views, impartiality protects open inquiry and academic freedom […]
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I recently published an article detailing the pervasive anti-Semitic environment at Sarah Lawrence College (SLC), where I have been a faculty member for the past fifteen years. In it, I presented troubling facts about the rise of anti-Semitism on the New York-based campus and shared my perspective on SLC’s handling of these issues. Rather than […]
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I recently spoke with a senior at Sarah Lawrence College (SLC), where I have taught for 15 years. We had never met before. The student hopes to graduate this spring, but that remains uncertain. Now at home, taking classes remotely, unsure if graduation will be possible. The students stays away out of fear. As a […]
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A blog post recently appeared in my inbox from Frances Lee, the new interfaith chaplain at Sarah Lawrence College, reflecting on the challenges of the fall 2024 semester. That term was marked by violent protests and disruptions led by Students for Justice in Palestine and their allies—events that gained national attention. As a Jewish professor […]
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Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) fell last week after the student-led Divestment Coalition occupied the school’s main administrative building and established an encampment on campus. The protests, supported by external groups such as National Students for Justice in Palestine and the Palestinian Youth Movement’s New York City chapter, were essentially facilitated by the school, with the […]
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In the dead of night on November 21, a group of students linked to Sarah Lawrence College’s (SLC) Divestment Coalition stormed Westlands, the school’s main administrative building, and announced their occupation through social media. This was no quiet protest. Hiding their identities behind masks, the group decorated the building with signs, barricaded doors, and blocked […]
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Over the past week, I’ve had challenging conversations with many students. While they recognize that Donald Trump won re-election fairly and that the country’s mood differs from the campus atmosphere, they still feel frustrated and anxious. I try to reassure them that our future is bright and that we live in a great country, yet […]
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College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, an organization intended to help their schools become “beacons of free inquiry and civil discourse,” recently announced that it has expanded to 100 members, all of whom have “pledged to champion critical inquiry, free expression, and civil discourse on their campuses.” With this announcement, the organization released an “inaugural progress […]
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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 […]
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With colleges and universities reopening in a few short weeks, I want to remind fellow faculty that educating students is one of the most important tasks they are charged with performing. For faculty to provide a responsible college education today, we professors must help our students learn how to find and then embrace the truth […]
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Men and women are increasingly diverging politically, a notably pronounced trend on college campuses. College-aged men—a shrinking demographic—have become more conservative, while college-aged women have moved into the liberal camp. Young women are more likely than their male counterparts to vote, care about political issues, and participate in social movements and protests. A cursory look […]
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Editor’s Note: This article was updated on June 1, 2024, to correct an inaccuracy regarding Sarah Lawrence College’s 2024 graduation ceremony. Initially, it was stated that graduating students were seen in an Instagram post chanting “from the river to the sea” during the commencement address. Instead, students held anti-Israel signs, and the chanting, initially thought […]
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Closing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) offices around the country is a powerful step in halting the illiberal and divisive harm-centric monoculture that has taken over higher education. However, there remain far too many student-facing administrative offices that seek the same goals. Whether in residential services or student life offices, administrators wield significant power and […]
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The past five months have shown the world just how toxic speech is on college campuses. The climate for open inquiry and dialogue is under attack nationwide, and students are scared to speak, question, and express themselves freely. Using disparaging rhetoric, even violence, to prevent speech is now commonplace on campus, and thus, many students […]
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Higher education has become an identity-laden monoculture in desperate need of reform. Conservative-leaning students and faculty are a minority on campuses, and far too many self-censor out of fear of being canceled. More than half of faculty report that they fear losing their job over misunderstanding something they said or did. This is devastating. Diversity […]
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When colleges and universities opened in the fall of 2023, five states—Florida, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas—had passed legislation banning diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (DEI). These states were well aware that, as David Brooks notes, universities are failing at inclusion—the many so-called diversity initiatives have promoted an ideology of exclusion and intolerance […]
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With first-year orientations already underway and classes starting shortly at thousands of colleges and universities, it is critical to remember that despite the ubiquitous rhetoric of “openness,” “inclusion,” and “respect for difference” in American academe, Republicans are not welcome. At first glance, statements from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices seem to promote viewpoint diversity. […]
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As free speech and expression have come under assault on college and university campuses, a number of clear trends have emerged. One of the most powerful findings is that elite schools are typically less open to free speech. Further analysis reveals a troubling gender gap between male and female students: women are far more liberal […]
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The ability to express diverse viewpoints without reputational and professional consequences has been under threat at colleges and universities for many years now. Numerous surveys and reports reveal that students on both the Left and the Right consistently self-censor for fear of being canceled. Yet, these issues have a geographic component—they appear to be most […]
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For almost five years, I have been sounding the alarm about problematic higher education administrators. Not only are these staffers omnipresent and growing in number, but they try to set the terms of discourse on campuses nationwide and actively promote progressivism among the student body. This tragic state of affairs was on vivid display last […]
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A few years ago, I wrote about one of the most overlooked facets of college and university life: students and professors have far less influence on campus culture and programming than most people think. In reality, it is the ever-growing ranks of administrators who have the greatest influence. Administrators are now embedded in virtually all […]
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Over the past few years, I have regularly encouraged conservatives to not write off higher education. Despite the Right’s valid concerns about woke administrators, progressive faculty, student self-censorship, and hostility toward conservative speakers, higher education is a valuable institution which has promoted an incredible degree of social mobility and ground-breaking innovation. There are many conservative […]
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Hyper-partisanship has made our already-contentious politics all the more hostile. Numerous media outlets have been sounding the alarm in recent days over politically charged threats of violence, and far too many are attempting to normalize events like the January 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol. Issues like crime and inflation strike at the core of […]
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It is perfectly reasonable for the public to think that colleges and universities are filled with progressive activists. Campuses are overflowing with liberal messaging, from banners to large-scale displays advocating for so-called “justice” and “equity.” Even off campus, media coverage of controversies at Oberlin College and my own Sarah Lawrence College belies any notion of […]
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Jonathan Haidt, professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, just published a deeply moving piece about why he is resigning from his primary professional society, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). Haidt argued that his society recently asked him to violate his “quasi-fiduciary duty to the truth” because, in order to present research at the society’s […]
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