Drexel University continues to instruct students virtually on Wednesday after campus buildings were closed or locked down following the establishment of an anti-Israel encampment. In addition to calls to divest from Israel, the activists have demanded the university “[i]mmediately terminate” its chapters of the Chabad and Hillel Jewish community organizations.
Classes at Drexel were virtual for the fourth consecutive day, according to Fox 29. The outlet reported that members of the encampment told the outlet they “will continue to disrupt until Drexel University meets our demands.”
Drexel University President John Fry previously pledged that “harassment and intimidation” would not be tolerated and insisted that access to the encampment would be limited to members of the Drexel community, but on Tuesday acknowledged to Fox 29 the “frustration” experienced by students as the protestors continue.
A letter published by the Drexel Palestine Coalition, which has taken credit for the encampment, includes demands for the school to “[i]mmediately terminate Drexel’s chapter of Hillel” and “Drexel Chabad.”
Hillel describes itself as “the world’s largest, most inclusive Jewish campus organization” that provides Jewish students with “deep, personal connections to Jewish life, learning, and Israel through Jewish exploration, leadership, and a sense of belonging.”
The organizers of the anti-Israel encampment accuse Hillel of being “a global Zionist campus organization” that primarily facilitates trips to Israel.
Similarly, Chabad is a network of Jewish community centers that offer “educational and outreach activities” for “the entire Jewish community,” and Chabad Drexel explains it “seeks to be a ‘home away from home’ for Jews on campus” through offering “a wealth of social, educational and spiritual programs” for students, but the protestors demand the chapter be dissolved because the group helped facilitate the campus visit of a former Israeli soldier.
Organizers behind the Drexel Palestine Coalition additionally demand the university join the controversial Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement considered antisemitic by many Israelis, declare Israel’s defensive war in Palestine a “76 year long genocide and settler-colonial occupation,” and fire Drexel professor Henry Israeli for his role in bringing the former soldier to the university’s campus.
The encampment at Drexel was created shortly after the dispersal of a similar group at the University of Pennsylvania. That encampment was dismantled shortly after Governor Josh Shapiro called on administrators to take action.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Drexel University Students for Palestine” by Drexel SJP.
