President Wippman released a statement regarding the ongoing war between Israel and the Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas last Wednesday. “The recent terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel serve as a gruesome reminder to all of us that intentionally targeting civilians is abhorrent and criminal,” said Wippman in a press release emailed from his office. “Understandably, many in our community are experiencing feelings of anger, grief, sadness, and anxiety. I share their dismay.”
The Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas caused the deaths of over 1,300 Israelis, leading to an Israeli Defense Force response that has led to the deaths of over 2,000 Palestinians, a number that will climb as analysts anticipate an Israeli ground offensive into the heavily populated north of Gaza. “Occupying–or, more precisely, re-occupying–Gaza would be a nightmare,” explained Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, in a piece for Project Syndicate. “There are few, if any, military undertakings more difficult than urban warfare, and Gaza is one of the most densely populated urban environments in the world.”
Wippman’s statement comes amid controversy over how colleges and universities should respond to the conflict. Previously, Sean Bennett, vice president of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, released a statement calling for members of the Hamilton community “to share both love and light with communities who may need support.”
As administrators take a sympathetic stance to the differences of opinions surrounding the conflict, student groups have taken stronger stances. “We stand in solidarity with Israel and condemn unequivocally this terrorist attack on innocent civilians,” reads a joint message from Hamilton College Hillel and Chabad Student Group in support of Israel. “As Jews, we hold all lives sacred and denounce this violence perpetrated by Hamas against Israeli and Palestinian civilians alike.”
Notably, Harvard University has come under scrutiny for the response of Harvard’s Palestine Solidarity Groups, which released a statement holding “the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.” “The coming days will require a firm stand against colonial retaliation,” continued the statement. “We call on the Harvard community to take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians.” The nationwide outrage over these students’ anti-Israel stance led Harvard University President Claudine Gay to release a statement clarifying that “no student group — not even 30 student groups — speaks for Harvard University or its leadership.” “We will all be well served in such a difficult moment by rhetoric that aims to illuminate and not inflame,” wrote Gay. “And I appeal to all of us in this community of learning to keep this in mind as our conversations continue.”
However, this response has not calmed Harvard’s critics. “In nearly 50 years of Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today,” wrote former Harvard President Lawrence Summers in an Oct. 9 post on X. This criticism has even led to a loss of funding, with the Wexner Foundation, a Jewish philanthropic organization, deciding to cut ties with Harvard while calling Harvard’s response a “dismal failure.”
Given the controversy regarding how colleges and universities should respond to the Israel-Hamas conflict, Wippman’s statement allows Hamilton’s administration to avoid the criticism about a lack of response while avoiding alienating students who hold differing perspectives. “Not everyone agrees that universities have a duty to take a public stance on global conflicts, crises and disasters — even though many institutions have made it a practice to do so in recent years,” notes Johanna Alonso for Inside Higher Ed. “And as some of Harvard’s critics noted, that precedent made the administration’s initial silence especially galling.”
No matter one’s perspective on whether colleges and universities have a duty to share their own views on hot-button geopolitical issues, statements such as Wippman’s are becoming more common.
