The Antisemitic Handwriting on the Wall at Indiana University — My Alma Matter

The handwriting on the wall at my alma mater, Indiana University, is too faint against seething antisemitism. As an honors graduate and commencement speaker and Jewish author and award-winning film producer, I am sorry that my grandchildren and thousands of other Jewish students at IU will never know the joy of campus life secure for Jews. Instead, their campus is infected with incessant hate-mongers, spreading deadly “disease”-laden threats of unbridled bigotry. Since when is epidemic unbridled bigotry something called “free speech”?

My Dad, Al Katz, survived 90 years on earth, with 7 of his youthful years spent as a Jewish slave of Nazi merciless slave masters, imprisoning him to work outdoors with barely any clothing and barely any food in temperatures at -52 degrees below zero in concentration camps across Europe, where Jews are still hated. The final year of Dad’s life was also spent in human bondage in Florida’s vast and violent guardianship industry, frequently preying upon Holocaust Survivors as “easy targets” for exploitation and abuse, isolating them for years from their Judaism and loved ones.

Our family knows firsthand for generations the deadly pandemic of genocidal words that are normalized, then legalized, and ultimately actualized lethally, as the antithesis of “free speech” and “democracy.” The self-same persons who are demanding and defending genocidal “free speech” to eliminate the Jewish people would never demand or defend the genocidal “free speech” of Blacks or any other minority.

Historically, genocidal “free speech” is a fast-track ticket to massive depopulations, as the genocidal “free speech” of Nazis and their adherents, costing 60 million lives worldwide – far, far more than most pathogenic pandemics. Historically, “free speech” advocates for genocide of the Jews are unwittingly calling for their own self-destruction in murderous mob frenzies that transcend anticipated limits into endless bloodshed.

I stand outspoken against all genocidal “free speech,” which invites and incites treachery at Indiana University and anywhere else. I stand outspoken against IU’s faint handwriting on the wall against genocidal “free speech” of “Death to the Jews.”

WATCH: After DOE warns against antisemitism, IU Jewish community shares free speech, safety concerns

IU among 60 universities under investigation by Trump administration over antisemitism claims

Aubrey Wright – WFIU

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating Indiana University Bloomington and 59 other schools for alleged violations “relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.”

The office enforces Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin for institutions receiving federal funding. The office sent the universities — which included Northwestern, Ohio State, and Wisconsin — a warning Monday that they must “protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.”

IU didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The universities are under investigation or monitoring based on reported civil rights complaints, the education department said. IU Bloomington has one open Title VI investigation for national origin discrimination based on religion.

“National origin includes shared (Jewish) ancestry,” the department said.

The office doesn’t provide information for open investigations, but if reached, resolutions will be available online.

The warning follows President Donald Trump’s executive order in January outlining a plan to crackdown on antisemitism. The order singled out college campuses, and Trump said he would cancel visas of foreign students who are “Hamas sympathizers.”

On March 7, the Trump Administration cancelled about $400 million in federal funding for Columbia University because of “persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The administration warned it was “the first round of action.” Mahmoud Khalil, a U.S. resident who helped lead protests at Columbia, was arrested and may be deported because of Trump’s executive order.

Aubrey is WFIU/WTIU’s higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright.

IU Faculty and Staff for Israel release statement on student protests

WFIU | By Clayton Baumgarth

IU Faculty and Staff for Israel released a statement on Wednesday to the Board of Trustees, campus administrators, and media outlets, writing that they are ‘profoundly concerned about the escalating rise of antisemitism and harassment of Jews besetting IU.’

Read the full statement here.

Leslie Lenkowsky, a representative of the group and a retired faculty member, said that the phrases ‘intifada’ and ‘from the river to the sea’ are inherently antisemitic.

“If you call for Intifada, you are in fact, calling for the killing of Jewish people,” he said. “If you chant ‘Free Palestine’, you are also calling for emptying Israel, of the people who currently live there who are Jewish people, and who have as much claim, if not more claim, on that area as a national homeland than Palestinians do.”

The group added that it is committed to free speech but see ‘an important difference between protected speech and harassment.’ The group said it had received reliable reports that the behavior of some protestors had crossed over to targeted harassment of Jewish students.

To those that deny the existence of antisemitic remarks and harassment from the protesters, Lenkowsky says to pay closer attention.

“The first thing I would say is pay attention, you’ll hear them,” he said. “The second thing is make sure you understand the meaning of the things that are being said. It’s been widely reported not just at IU, but throughout the United States, that if you ask people what river and what sea they’re talking about, an awful lot of people can’t identify it.”

They continue by urging colleagues and friends to recall the Hamas assault on Israel that occurred on Oct. 7, 2023, the largest and most violent attack on Jews since the Holocaust, and that anyone who vocally aligns themselves with Hamas are enablers of annihilationist Jew-hatred.

IU Faculty and Staff for Israel took to the Showalter Fountain Plaza Thursday in counter-protest to the camp-in at Dunn Meadow.

Read more:  LIVE: Day 8 of protests on IU campus

©2025 Beverly Newman, Ed. D. All rights reserved.