VICTOR JOECKS: College takeovers are CRT in action

Over the past couple of weeks, students have been demonstrating on a number of college campuses, protesting Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.

But these radicals aren’t interested in reasoned debate or even peacefully expressing themselves. They set up illegal encampments. These are violations of the law and university policies. Students wanted university officials to negotiate over — read: capitulate to — their whims. A common demand was that institutions divest funds from companies that do business with Israel.

These students spewed genocidal slogans, such as, “Globalize the Intifada.” They hurled antisemitic insults at Jewish students. At UCLA, protesters physically prevented a Jewish student from accessing the campus. At Columbia University and Portland State University, protesters took over college buildings.

Many of these protesters and criminals don’t just oppose Israel. They hate America. In some places, they took down the American flag and raised the Palestinian flag. A group of fraternity brothers at the University of North Carolina became internet famous for defending the American flag on their campus. Protesters at George Washington University defaced a statue of the first president and draped it in a Palestinian flag.

Antisemitism has exploded at the very places most vocal about their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Columbia has DEI initiatives in 20 areas across the university. UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion claims it wants to protect civil rights and uphold “dignity for all in our community.”

Opposing antisemitism should be a layup. Instead, administrators at-once elite institutions coddled the criminals and rule breakers. They negotiated with them. At some places, such as Northwestern, Brown and Rutgers, administrators gave into their demands.

Cowardice played a role, but there’s a deeper problem. These students are acting on the critical race theory ideals these universities promote. DEI is the practical application of this worldview. CRT divides people into arbitrary racial groups. Some groups are oppressed. Others are the oppressors. The oppressors, this line of thinking goes, obtained success by creating systems of power to advantage themselves at the expense of those in other groups. Because oppressors hold this power unjustly, activists believe, members of the oppressed group are justified in doing anything to fight back.

So CRT holds that Jews are the oppressors while those in the Gaza Strip are the oppressed. Excluding Jews from college campuses increases inclusion by creating more opportunities for the supposedly marginalized. The horrible atrocities Hamas committed last year, including mass murder and rape, are a natural response to Israel’s systemic oppression. It’s equity in action. This worldview also explains why the left wants to overthrow America’s institutions and founding principles.

Only a fool could believe all this, which is why CRT has gained so many followers on college campuses. Bolstered by billions in government funding, many universities function as de facto indoctrination factories for leftist activists, not centers of higher learning.

Take Johannah King-Slutzky, a doctoral student at Columbia. She demanded the university feed those who broke into and took over Hamilton Hall. “Do you want students to die of dehydration and starvation or get severely ill even if they disagree with you?” she said. Indignantly, she added, “Could people please have a glass of water?” If these schools taught history, she might see the irony in Marxists running out of basic supplies. But they’re too busy pushing CRT and placating antisemites.

Subsidizing people who want to undermine America isn’t wise. Defund DEI universities.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.