Antisemitism and anti-Israel behavior have been popping up on America’s college campuses like tulips in Denmark in the spring lately. The Generalissimo provided a long roundup of some of the worst offenders earlier today, showing that this phenomenon is not limited to the East Coast or only Ivy League schools. The problem is that not much seems to be being done about it aside from some muffled comments about “not representing our school’s values” mixed in with acknowledgments about the freedom to one’s own opinions. That may not be the case at Cornell University in upstate New York, however. That was the scene of one of the most offensive displays last week when associate professor of history Russell Rickford was caught on video addressing a crowd of cheering Hamas supporters waving Palestinian flags. He told the crowd that the attacks on October 7 were “exhilarating” and “energizing.” He later tried to walk back the remarks after he went viral, but now Professor Rickford has been placed on a “leave of absence” for at least the rest of the semester. (NY Post)

The Cornell professor who called the Hamas terror attack on Israel “exhilarating” and “energizing” is now on a leave of absence until at least the end of the semester.

Russell Rickford, an associate professor of history, went viral for the incendiary remarks to students during a pro-Palestinian protest soon after the surprise attack on Israel killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians…

After initially standing by his statements, the embattled professor later apologized “for the horrible choice of words,” admitting they were ‘reprehensible” — before his students were told he would no longer teach this semester.

“Professor Russell Rickford has requested and received approval to take a leave of absence from the university,” the Ivy League school confirmed to the campus newspaper, the Cornell Review.

Apparently, the public pressure to ditch Rickford had grown too great even for the liberal administration at Cornell. Someone had started an online petition at change.org calling for his removal and it quickly garnered more than ten thousand signatures. Both Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and the district’s Congresswoman, Claudia Tenney had called for his resignation. The President of the University and the head of the Board of Trustees issued a joint statement calling Rickford’s comments “reprehensible.”

But let’s not be rushing to applaud Cornell too quickly here because they aren’t exactly covering themselves in glory. Even while the administration was calling his remarks “reprehensible,” they weren’t taking any action. They simply said they were “conducting an investigation.” So what was there to investigate? They had the video and Rickford had already admitted to saying what he said and begun trying to walk it back.

So how was it that he was kept around and then allowed to request a “leave of absence” and be granted one? That means he’s still associated with the university even if he’s not actively teaching. He might still be drawing his salary for all we know. The school didn’t specify that in the press release and when the school paper asked for clarification about his status they were simply referred to the President’s original statement of condemnation.

Why isn’t there more of this going on at other school’s around the country? Both students and professors should be allowed to voice unpopular opinions if they wish, but is there nowhere that we can draw a line in the sand? Many of these same schools have no problem at all chasing conservative speakers off their campuses. But a professor can stand out in the public square and celebrate the mass slaughter of Jews and not face immediate dismissal?

It will only be when this new, flourishing generation of antisemitic Nazis begin facing financial as well as social consequences for their behavior that we might start seeing some changes and potentially the restoration of order. It’s truly ironic how the same noisy groups who constantly berate us about the history of slavery and oppression that other minorities have endured have suddenly been revealed as being totally fine with the genocide of the Jewish people.