Why Israel-Hamas war is causing Ivy League students to lose job offers  

In the United States, the Israel-Hamas war has already caused a bitter divide in colleges. Students in Ivy League campuses are choosing sides – with Muslim students and their backers expressing sympathy for the loss of Palestinian lives, while the Jews and their allies empathise with Israel and defend the government’s carpet-bombing of Gaza in response to the 7 October Hamas attack. But now some college students are even losing job offers over their advocacy: Let’s take a closer look: Controversy at Harvard, Columbia The trouble at Harvard kicked off on Monday when a joint student group – cosigned by a few dozen other student organisations – labelled Israel as ‘entirely responsible’ for the war with Hamas. “Today’s events did not occur in a vacuum,” the letter read as per The Independent. “For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison.”

“The apartheid regime is the only one to blame,” the letter added.

It called Israel’s response in Gaza “colonial retaliation.” That led to some prominent alumni of Harvard slamming the statement. Then, ex-Harvard president Lawrence Summers, who is Jewish, called out the school authorities on X for their “at best neutral towards acts of terror against the Jewish state of Israel.” “In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today,” Summers wrote. The university president later clarified that the groups did not represent the school’s position. Then, on Wednesday, the names and personal information of the students were put up online. [caption id=“attachment_13245912” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A seal hangs over a building at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Reuters[/caption] The Harvard Crimson, the university newspaper reported, that a billboard truck displaying all their names and faces was driven around campus. The billboard truck described the students as “Harvard’s leading anti-Semites.” The truck was the brainchild of conservative group Accuracy in Media. Law firms withdraw offers As per BBC, an elite law firm rescinded job offers for three Ivy League students at Harvard and Columbia who signed onto the statement blaming Israel and expressing support for the Palestinian people. The firm, Davis Polk & Wardwell, stated that the views “are in direct contravention of our firm’s value system”. The company added that student leaders who signed the statements are “no longer welcome in our firm”. “These statements are simply contrary to our firm’s values and we thus concluded that rescinding these offers was appropriate in upholding our responsibility to provide a safe and inclusive work environment for all Davis Polk employees,” the email sent by managing partner Neil Barr, according to NBC. The conservative group remains unapologetic. “We’re merely amplifying the messages that the students have put out themselves. If they regret their messages they can apologise and we will take their pictures down," Accuracy in media president Adam Guillette told the BBC. However, the firm seems to have left the door open on reversing course. BBC reported that the firm’s Barr sent an email saying that it was in conversation with two students “to ensure that any further colour being offered to us by these students is considered”. David Polk & Wardwell isn’t alone.

The law firm Winston & Strawn also revoked a job offer to a New York University student.

As per The New York Times, Ryna Workman, the president of NYU’s university’s Student Bar Association, on Tuesday wrote that “Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life”. “This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary,” Workman wrote in the Student Bar Association bulletin. “I will not condemn Palestinian resistance.” The law firm responded later that evening. Though it did not name Workman, Winston & Strawn said the remarks “profoundly conflict” with its values and that it had revoked its job offer. BBC quoted Workman as responded in a statement, “This attention on one student’s email to their fellow law students is entirely misplaced and a dangerous distraction.” The university dean Troy A McKenzie also repudiated Workman’s remarks. McKenzie was quoted as writing by the New York Times, “This message was not from N.Y.U. School of Law as an institution and does not speak for the leadership of the law school.” Bill Ackman, a prominent hedge fund manager, called for the list of names of students who signed the petition to be made public. Ackman wrote on X that some companies had even asked for a list of members of the student groups  to ensure that “none of us inadvertently hire any of their members.” Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman wrote that he would “like to know” which students signed the Harvard statement “so I know never to hire these people.” “Same,” EasyHealth CEO David Duel replied on X. Whither free speech? These events have raised questions about the limits of free speech. In a statement to The NYT, NYU law school said: “For legal reasons, we cannot comment on the specifics of any current student who may be under investigation. Speaking generally, all complaints of bias and/or discriminatory behavior are investigated thoroughly and in accordance with federal, state, and local guidelines, and the appropriate disciplinary action follows the outcome of that process.” As per The New York Times, Summers on Wednesday, though continuing to condemn the letter, admitted that punishing those who signed the letter is problematic.

“This is not a time for witch-hunting or persecuting,” Summers was quoted as saying.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (Fire) was quoted as saying that student free speech was at stake “From a legal perspective, corporations have the right to rescind job offers, private citizens can say they never hire anyone from Harvard. But Fire urges pause,” Alex Morey, Fire’s director of campus rights advocacy, told BBC. “Do we want to live in a society where everybody has to have one orthodox view to get a job?” With inputs from agencies