The antisemitism that has emerged on several Ivy League campuses since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel has caused concern that degrees from prestigious schools like Columbia University and Harvard have lost some of their luster, as top employers and prospective students look at other institutions that have been able to quell anti-Israel protests on campus.
The New York Post reported this week that the antisemitic harassment on display during the latest protests has led some Wall Street titans to rethink their focus on traditional elite feeders schools like Harvard, Yale and the University of Pennsylvania and expand their recruiting at institutions like Yeshiva University, the University of Florida and Emory University.
“We’ve always looked beyond the target schools, but we’re doing it even more so now given recent events,” hedge fund manager and Columbia alum Daniel Loeb told the outlet. “We are looking for high-quality candidates, but we’re going to be looking at different places.”
Gary Goldstein, CEO of executive search firm the Whitney Group, told the Post the situation is becoming a trend.
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“I’m hearing from people they don’t want to send their kids to these places, but also from the banks that they’re leery about recruiting now from these highly visible schools and will look to places in the Midwest where you don’t see this type of activity,” he said.
The latest wave of anti-Israel protests began over a week ago at Columbia and spread to other top colleges like New York University and Yale before cropping up at schools across the nation.
Columbia finally called in the NYPD on Wednesday to help remove some students who refused to leave the encampment that the protesters set up on campus, after trying to negotiate with the activists to no avail. The encampment is still in place, and negotiations are ongoing.
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Other schools have moved quickly to shut down protests that threatened the learning environment and safety of students.
Dozens of students were arrested Wednesday at the University of Texas at Austin after the school called police in to put an end to a pro-Palestine demonstration that officials had told organizers to cancel the day before.
The university’s Division of Student Affairs explained in a statement, “UT Austin does not tolerate disruptions of campus activities or operations like we have seen at other campuses.”
Emory University also called in law enforcement when several dozen anti-Israel activists attempted to set up an encampment on school grounds Thursday. The school said the demonstrators were not students, and were trespassing.
“These individuals are not members of our community. They are activists attempting to disrupt our university as our students finish classes and prepare for finals,” the university said in a statement, adding, “Emory does not tolerate vandalism or other criminal activity on campus.”
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