If you had “University of Wisconsin” on your train wreck bingo card—and why wouldn’t you?—collect your prize. The Nazis claimed that Jews were exaggerating about Kristallnacht too.
Dana Loesch reported that “pro-Hamas protesters staged aggressive demonstrations outside of the Hillel at the University of Wisconsin-Madison which caused Jewish students to fear for their safety.” She pointed out how this is part of the disturbing (and George Floyd Freak-out assisted—this is my analysis, not Dana’s) trend across the country: “Jewish students are being targeted: they’ve been barricaded into libraries, targeted on campus, are battling antisemitism, and feel unsafe.”
So how has the University of Wisconsin, long one of the most enthusiastic indoctrination centers of extreme wokism (which has somehow pointed its students toward applauding terrorism against Israel), responded to its Jewish students feeling like outcasts and targets on their own campus? Astoundingly, the message is “Oh, come on! It’s not as bad as all that!” Look:
Wow. The statement 1) implies Jewish students are lying 2) minimizes the pro-Hamas demonstrations in front of Hillel by saying it is “understandable” how they might cause Jewish students “distress”: yeah, having a student mob rallying outside that approves of beheading Jewish babies might make some Jewish snowflakes a little nervous, I guess..3) blames social media and 4) frames anti-Palestinian terrorism positions as “Islamophobia.”
To illustrate the contrast between how the university responds to legitimate concerns about campus behavior emanating the strong odor of anti-Semitism, which is reasonably regarded as an existential threat by Jews (Really? Whatever would make them think that? Talk about paranoia…) and how quickly the same university’s response is “How high?” when its really oppressed minority groups demand “Jump!,”Loesch alertly recalled this 2021 episode, when the school spent $50,000 to remove a 70 ton rock because the campus black student group said it made them uncomfortable.
Good for her: I had deposited that one in my “Stories So Stupid I Never Want To Think About Them Again” file.
[ Post Script: I’m waiting to see what Ann Althouse, as former law professor at the school, has to say. It will be very troubling if she skips this episode entirely.]
Ethics Alarms 
It seems to me that the Jewish students should embrace and amplify and protest outside of the university president’s home with the exact rhetoric used by the palestinian supporters but with jew/jewish/israeli terminology substituted with “university president and family”. Everytime there is a palestinian protest against jewish anything at UW, video record and then perform a repeat performance at the house of the president but with words against the president and family – video record and post it all online. Everytime, make it clear that that these are response protests to expose what the administration denies.
So… the university is lying because Jewish students couldn’t possibly be, and Dana Loesch is an unimpeachable source? Good to know.
Now, now. Curmie woke up snarky today! Loesch includes ample evidence to back the Jewish students concerns, the main one being that the school felt that police needed to be called for they protection, and now say they were exaggerating the danger. If police were called, then there was danger. Given that on another woke nest, Cornell, Jewish students have been threatened with death and the Jewsih dining hall had to be closed, the U of Wis. response could hardly have been more tone-deaf. Night not the over-all context of the campus anti-Irrael protests have legitimately colored Jewish students’ perceptions? “Roshomon,” you know.
The university’s statement and approach is both despicable and irresponsible—whatever the “facts” are.
I think what’s more interesting here is the response of institutions to bias allegations depending on who the perpetrator (likely) is.
Claims of racism, bias, and hate incidents go completely unquestioned when it’s against blacks, Asians, jews, and the LGBT community, because in the view of progressives, they are oppressed and whites are the oppressors (and especially conservative whites!) and therefore it’s icky whites who are the culprits. Or, in the case of Asians being assaulted during the COVID years, people conveniently ignored the perpetrators and still blamed it on whites.
Here, though, the oppressor/oppressed paradigm is messed up. Jews are oppressors in the progressive view (it’s a little squishy, since Jews in the US are sometimes oppressors, depending on the situation) and Muslims are oppressed. What does a university do when Muslims or progressives (oppressed!) are creating potential hate incidents against Jews (oppressors! but also historical oppressed!)?
Let’s just say, I have a hard time seeing a university EVER releasing a statement saying that incidents of hate crimes against the LGBT community or blacks were overblown.
Your point about the rock is on target. Imagine what the university’s response would have been if student protesters had gathered outside the Black Student Union building or LGBTQ+ center: Unequivocal acceptance of the students’ accusations, harassment of protesters, disbanding of protester organizations, threats of suspension or legal action against protesters.
And words would be violence. No questions asked.
We need Cornelius Gotchberg and Steve Witherspoon to explain Wisconsin Madison. Wasn’t Wisconsin the place where all the Jewish Red Diaper Babies from Brooklyn went in the ‘sixties to avoid the draft and raise all kind of lefty hell? And this is all happening in the heart of Dairyland? Is it all the churchy Lutherans in Wisconsin and Minnesota with their severe social justice streak that cause the upper Midwest to be so schizophrenic? What happened to all the commonsense farmers and craftsmen in Wisconsin? Take it away boys.
Dear everyone-
When you talked boldly about “if I was in 1930s Germany, I would have defended the Jews!”—now is your time to shine.
I think the left is actually pretty thrilled with the results of their intersectionalism propaganda and DEI activism. Sectarian violence is exactly what they have been striving to achieve. These tepid statements that universities keep making are intended to stoke more violence against non-favored groups. They are putting their stamp of approval on violence against Jews, whites, Christians, Asians, and anyone who maintains traditional American values. It is a deliberate effort to stoke a Maoist cultural Revolution.
I guess they never heard of Pol Pot. Who will grow food and pump oil and refine gasoline once all the productive non-conformists are dead? Academics and journalists? Good luck with that.
Well, those Jewish students can rest easy now. The Democratic administration they or their parents voted for is on the job. Kamala Harris is now heading up a task force to stomp out the real problem here…islamophobia. Yes, those Jewish students who are afraid of the Muslims who want to kill them are the real problem. It is just like all the white people who want to defend themselves against criminals, they are the real problem.