Perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of being the president of a major college or university is keeping in mind one’s Rolodex of stakeholders, whose interests are sometimes pitted against each other in high-stakes decisions. As some presidents prepare for a rejuvenated wave of protests surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, no challenge may seem more complex than ensuring campuses are safe, operable and free of antisemitism—and accommodating to students’ First Amendment rights.
While state lawmakers praised Jay Hartzell, president of the University of Texas at Austin, for his iron-fist response to encampments, a similar course of action by former Columbia president Minouche Shafik drew intense scrutiny—and caused her resignation.
“It’s become a very tough job, and so I empathize with [Shafik],” Dr. Alan Kadish, president of Touro University says. “Many people don’t appreciate how complex the environment in which college presidents function.”
Kadish explains why a universal approach to combatting antisemitism is improbable
However, the physician-turned-college-president concedes college and university leaders could have done “a lot” better, especially when it comes to protecting their Jewish students.
“It’s not a shock that antisemitism has increased dramatically on college campuses,” he says. “People tolerate things that are said about Jews—and said to Jews—in ways they never would with other minorities. That’s the question that college presidents haven’t always asked themselves.”
Kadish, who is Jewish, has been leading Touro since 2010 and is only the second president in its 53-year history. He likes to call Touro a “Jewish-sponsored” institution. While it is the country’s largest private university affiliated with the faith, Jews make up a small minority across its 24 U.S.-based campuses and handful across the globe.
Diagnosing college presidents’ biggest pitfalls
Double standards are one of the most preeminent issues higher education institutions have with protecting its Jewish students, Kadish says. He alluded to the three Columbia deans who resigned following their text message exchange, which former president Shafik said “touched on ancient antisemitic tropes,” The New York Times reports.
Kadish on double standards.
This issue has led some colleges’ and universities’ DEI initiatives to come up short, Kadish says. “I think some of the things that fall within the rubric of DEI are helpful and some have created a divisive identity politics. It has not always been the case that antisemitism is included in our efforts to eliminate racism and bias and make sure that everyone feels comfortable on campus.”
Furthermore, college presidents often overcomplicate the issue of students’ rights to free speech despite higher rates of antisemitism and hate speech reported on campus. Claudine Gay, former president of Harvard, was grilled by lawmakers and the higher ed community for too often deferring to legalese in her Congressional testimony, rather than condemning certain forms of hate speech outright.
“In some cases, universities have hidden behind the First Amendment to excuse action even when it’s clear that it doesn’t apply, particularly to private universities,” Kadish says. “I don’t believe that academic freedom includes hate speech. It may be protected in certain circumstances but that’s not what universities ought to be about.”
To eliminate antisemitism on campuses, Kadish recommends:
- Check your double standards when deliberating on how to respond to campus protests or student complaints about discrimination. Your passion for protecting students should not depend on their demographic.
- Integrate Jewish students into DEI efforts: Ensure that efforts to eliminate racism and bias on campus explicitly include antisemitism. “It’s absolutely clear that those efforts now need to include Jewish students. Rather than referring to DEI, I would say that I firmly support efforts to eliminate racism and make sure that everyone has equal opportunity.”
- Discourage the use of harmful terminology: Encourage students to debate sensitive subject matters but stamp out hate speech. “The future of Gaza, what we think about the Israel-Hamas war, what we think about Palestinian rights are all legitimate objects for debate,” Kadish says. “Advocating violence against civilians is not a legitimate object for debate and should not be tolerated any more than we would tolerate violence against any other minority groups.”
On Touro’s mission—and rise in presidents with medical backgrounds
A cardiologist by training, Kadish describes the strong Jewish tradition of working in healthcare. Before joining Touro, he held a 19-year tenure at Northwestern University, serving as its senior associate chief of the cardiology division and other leadership posts. Since first joining Touro in 2009 as senior provost and chief operating officer, Kadish has helped expand the university’s focus on different specialties, such as occupational therapy, pharmacology and most recently, psychology.
While Kadish’s appointment as president of a healthcare-focused university isn’t surprising, he has also taken note of the rising number of university leaders who are trained physicians. “They are used to dealing with complex situations with multiple actors, patients, families, ethics boards and outside evaluators,” he says. “Those are skills that I think are useful.”
Perhaps they are the most qualified to unite a complex higher education landscape. Listen here on why Dr. Kadish thinks so.
