
Gabby Deutch
3,000 miles apart, two campuses plan to quietly mark Oct. 7 — and hope for peace
Jewish faculty members, staff and students at Stanford and at Columbia University talked to JI about their hopes for the new school year ahead of the anniversary of the Hamas attacks
A bright sun beat down on Stanford’s campus on a cloudless Friday afternoon in late September, the perfect weather to usher in the first weekend of the school year.
The Palo Alto university was abuzz with activity befitting students’ return to campus: an intramural soccer game, people throwing a frisbee on a campus lawn, a coffee shop overflowing with students slumped over laptops.
At the Stanford Chabad house, the smell of fresh challah wafted from the kitchen before noon as Rabbi Dov Greenberg and his family prepared to welcome more than 100 students for Shabbat dinner that night. Across campus, Rabbi Jessica Kirschner eagerly awaited a similar number of students choosing to spend the first Shabbat of the year at Hillel. An Israeli flag hung from the building, and posters demanding “Bring Them Home Now” covered the walls inside.
The only outward sign of the dysfunction that had plagued the university during the spring quarter, which ended with anti-Israel protesters affiliated with a campus Gaza encampment breaking into the president’s office and dousing it in red paint, was a single booth at an activities fair at the law school advertising a club called Stanford Law Students for Justice in Palestine. Just a few students lingered next to the table.
Jewish faculty members, staff and students at Stanford and at Columbia University, another elite institution marred by antisemitism and divisive campus protests last spring, talked to Jewish Insider about their hopes for the new school year ahead of the anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. At both campuses, they spoke with a gritty weariness developed after Oct. 7 upended life for Jewish students on campuses across the United States.
Taken together, these two prestigious universities — 3,000 miles apart — offer a window into what Jewish students are experiencing a year after the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Today, they will gather to mourn and to come together, to mark the somber anniversary, while 101 hostages still remain in Gaza.
They will be attending events sponsored by their campus Hillel and Chabad houses, because the universities themselves have largely chosen to avoid getting involved with this now politically-charged anniversary. (Campus anti-Israel groups at both Stanford and Columbia are also planning events for Oct. 7.)
At Stanford, an event sponsored by the university’s office of religious and spiritual life will hold an event today titled “Holding Each Other Through a Difficult Week.” A campus sanctuary will be a “quiet space for prayer and reflection.” But nothing in the event says why, exactly, this will be a difficult week — no mention of Israel, Hamas, the war or even the Middle East at all. Meanwhile, at Columbia, no university-sponsored events will take place at all on Oct. 7.
Still, at the start of another school year, Jewish community members at Stanford described feeling cautiously optimistic, rooted in a hope — whether earned or not — that things can’t possibly be as bad as they were last year. (A university-sponsored committee described antisemitism as so pervasive that it was “in the air” in a report published in June.)
“It’s very challenging to be realistic and optimistic at the same time. But that’s what it is to be a Jew,” Greenberg said. “If we’re faced with hostility and hatred, we’re not going to let haters define our Jewishness.”
But while Israel has not been part of the public conversation on campus during the first few days of the school year, a latent sense of fear lingers for many in the Jewish community.
“There’s a level of surprise, I think, that it’s so quiet. It’s like people are waiting for the other shoe to drop,” said Jeffrey Koseff, a Stanford engineering professor and the co-chair of an advisory committee formed to study antisemitism at the university.

Stanford Chabad House (photo: Gabby Deutch)
Campus life at many of America’s top universities was irrevocably altered in the aftermath of Oct. 7. Just days — and in some cases hours — after Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel, students at some of the most elite universities in the country released statements and posted online justifying or even celebrating the attacks. In the months that followed, an anti-Israel radicalism migrated from sparsely populated seminar rooms to campus quads. Calls for “intifada” and the removal of Jews supporting Israel from campus spaces became commonplace.
University leaders struggled to respond coherently; they condemned antisemitism, but when called before Congress to outline their efforts to combat it, they responded with legal jargon rather than straightforward statements of their values. They spoke about the importance of free expression when exercised in the appropriate time, place and manner, but failed to enforce campus codes of conduct when students broke the rules.
Summer vacation offered university administrators an opportunity to start fresh — to return to first principles, and figure out what, exactly, matters to them when it comes to creating an inclusive environment where students can both exercise their freedom of speech and feel safe while expressing their identity. Those principles will be put to the test as the first anniversary of Oct. 7 approaches.
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On the same Friday afternoon that Stanford prepared for the first Shabbat of the school year, a handful of Jewish students at Columbia University convened at the Kraft Center, the university’s Hillel. As an Ishay Ribo Spotify playlist echoed through the room and students chatted about various Shabbat dinner plans — some pondered whether they should stay at Hillel, walk over to Chabad or trek across New York City to a friend’s apartment — it felt like any other Friday at Hillel.
But each also held a paintbrush and was slumped over a large canvas. The students were gathered at the center to accomplish a specific project: preparing for an art installation event to mark the first anniversary of Oct. 7. Dozens of paintings, some displaying grim scenes from Oct. 7 and its aftermath in graphic detail, will be displayed on the anniversary on campus, with the hope that other students — particularly the ones who have called Hamas’ actions “justified” and chanted for an “intifada” on that same campus — will take notice. One student painted a portrait of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and murdered after surviving 11 months in captivity.
Reena Bromberg Gaber, a senior studying sociology, talked to JI as she painted a red background and a figure running to demonstrate the sexual violence that occurred on Oct. 7. “This year has been eerily quiet on campus compared to last year,” Bromberg Gaber said, her hands covered in red paint. “I’ve been expecting it to be a lot louder because last year was insane. I’m just waiting for something to happen.”
The painting next to Bromberg Gaber belonged to Eliza Binstock, a sophomore pre-med student double majoring in philosophy. As Binstock crafted her painting of a lion, whose mane featured a yellow ribbon signifying the hostages remaining in Gaza, she said that her first year on campus “was awful.”
Like Bromberg Gaber, Binstock said she’s anxious how the university will respond when there’s another episode of antisemitism on campus. “We’re all thankful that this year hasn’t been as bad, but we’re also all on edge all the time,” she said. “It’s collective PTSD.”

Looking toward the future, Binstock said she “wanted to paint something on the less graphic side of things, but more about hope.” The lion, she explained, has a double meaning — the Lion of Judah is a Jewish national and cultural symbol of strength, while the official mascot of Columbia University is a lion.
An entirely different picture was painted outside of the relative safety and comfort of the Kraft Center. A short walk away, at the Morningside Heights campus, security guards and members of the New York Police Department stood at the tall iron entrance gates. Long open to the public, the gates are now guarded 24/7, with security officers only allowing Columbia affiliates with a valid school ID and their pre-approved guests inside.
Over the summer, in an attempt to prevent activists from occupying buildings, destroying property and engaging in the kind of physical violence that overtook Columbia’s campus last year, the school’s chief operations officer, Cas Holloway, made the decision to limit campus access to those with a Columbia ID.
Inside the gates, the first major anti-Israel demonstration of the new school year was underway at the Sundial, adjacent to the grassy lawn that last year was engulfed by dozens of tents during the first anti-Israel encampment in the nation. A new plaque on a nearby fence states that “camping” is prohibited.

About 100 people — presumably students or other university affiliates as the gates are now locked — with their faces covered by keffiyehs and masks led chants for more than an hour, including “resistance is justified when people are colonized,” “we will honor all our martyrs” and “there is only one solution, intifada revolution.”
While this was the first demonstration inside of the gates this year, there have been several incidents off-campus. One took place at a convocation event to welcome incoming freshmen in August when about 50 members of Columbia University Apartheid Divest, wearing masks and keffiyehs and holding megaphones and drums, disrupted the event from outside of the campus gates with chants of “Free Palestine.” Friday’s demonstration was also organized by CUAD.
After a year marred by protests similar to the one that took place on that last Friday in September, several institutional changes took place at Columbia over the summer, including the naming of a new interim president, Dr. Katrina Armstrong. Columbia University President Minouche Shafik announced her resignation on Aug. 14, less than a month before the new school year and months after she testified before Congress about antisemitism on campus.
On Tuesday, less than one week ahead of the Oct. 7 anniversary, Armstrong addressed the university in a letter, stating that she recognizes the “understandable concerns many of you have about the uncertain social and political environment we may face on campus over the next weeks.”
“I appreciate that, across our diverse community, individuals and groups have had very different experiences over the past year,” the statement, which did not mention the words “Israel,” “Jewish” or “antisemitism,” continued. “The terror attack on October 7 and the ensuing war have affected us all, some more personally and more intensely than others. We must all come together to provide the space for people to mourn and to provide the grace required for every one of us to live through this time in an atmosphere of respect and support.”
A spokesperson for the university confirmed to JI that events organized by student groups on Oct. 7 are allowed to take place, but there won’t be a university-sponsored event. The spokesperson noted that anti-Israel demonstrations are allowed to take place as long as the group notifies the administration — the same procedure as any other group wishing to hold an event.
In anticipation of protest activity on the Oct. 7 anniversary, Columbia administrators announced on Sunday night that the campus is operating under “R” status—the most restricted level through at least Monday. Only university ID holders will be permitted to access the campus, while registered guests will no longer have access to the Morningside campus.
In a report released just ahead of the new school year, a task force of Columbia faculty asked to examine antisemitism at the university accused Columbia of allowing “pervasive” antisemitism to intensify on campus following the Oct. 7 attack. The report, which was based on firsthand accounts of 500 students, recommended that the university update its disciplinary process and mandate additional sensitivity training for students and staff.
Earlier this month, in an apparent effort to combat antisemitism, the university revamped its anti-discrimination policies to state that harassment using coded language, such as the use of “Zionist” as a pejorative to target Jews or Israelis on campus, can constitute a violation.
“Jewish students here have really suffered in the past year,” said Gil Zussman, an Israeli professor and member of the antisemitism task force. He added that what was “most surprising” is that while the administration “takes antisemitism seriously,” some faculty members “discounted and denied that the experiences and testimonies detailed in the task force report actually happened inside of campus.”
At Stanford, a new “Free Speech” website outlines campus policies about protests and political expression. Economist Jonathan Levin, who started as the university’s new president in August, has pledged to uphold principles of institutional neutrality. “The university’s purpose is not political action or social justice. It is to create an environment in which learning thrives,” Levin said in his inaugural address in September. Levin has reached out to Stanford’s antisemitism committee and a similar committee focused on Islamophobia to schedule meetings with them.
But Jewish students are skeptical. One Jewish senior, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the situation on campus, said the antisemitism that was unleashed last year was like “Pandora’s box” — the casual antisemitism revealed by fellow students won’t be forgotten.
“I think that the exclusion will continue. I think that antisemitism as a daily fact of life will continue,” the student said with a shrug. “I don’t know that you’re gonna have as big protests or encampments as we did before, but it’s just a daily thing that happens on a daily basis and affects just general life. I don’t think there’s anything we can do.”
A major campus thoroughfare at Stanford has been designated a protest zone where students can host “spontaneous” protests without receiving permission from university administrators, so long as students leave by 10 p.m. Unlike Columbia, Stanford does not plan to limit access to outsiders.
Jewish and Israeli students at Stanford are hoping Oct. 7 is a quiet day to reflect on the tragedy of what happened one year ago. At noon, a wide swath of campus Jewish groups will gather for a memorial service. Later, at Hillel, there will be opportunities for Jewish learning, art, poetry and reflection, with mental health professionals on standby.
Back-to-school events hosted by Stanford’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter have not drawn large crowds. Still, Jewish community members are watching warily to see what anti-Israel activists do on Oct. 7. A pro-Palestine “teach-in” called “For Gaza we rise,” put on by the organizers of Stanford’s spring encampment, will take place in a residence hall on Oct. 7, but the group has not announced plans for other public events. (Less than two miles away, a Bay Area anti-Israel group will celebrate “365 Days of Global Resistance” at a shopping mall.)
Koseff, the engineering professor from Stanford’s antisemitism committee, said counter-protests on Oct. 7 could be a “bellwether” for the year ahead. “We were warned over the summer, ‘Oh God, there’s going to be this, there’s going to be that.’ But there’s so many other things happening on campus right now that I think have got people diverted.”
Even if counter-protests do take place on what should be a straightforward day of mourning, Jewish community members are taking a small degree of solace, however cynical, in the fact that at least they will no longer be surprised by what they see.
“I’ve had conversations with a number of students who just seem more seasoned than they were, like they’re just a little tougher, and not in a bad way. Just more prepared that something might happen, that they will have to deal with some friction,” said Kirschner, the Stanford Hillel director.
Regardless of what happens on Oct. 7, Jewish students cannot unsee and unhear what they experienced last year. Campuses may be quieter this semester, but Jewish students returned with their guard up. Many said they were resigned to being ignored by former friends who don’t want to be seen with a Zionist, or to being unfollowed when a new friend finds their Instagram and sees a photo shared from Israel.
The atmosphere at Stanford last year “was one of exclusion and ostracization,” said Matt Wigler, now a third-year student at Stanford Law School. “People were determined to force out their Jewish and pro-Israel peers from the community, and there was a presumption — which was sad to see in the law school — there was a presumption of guilt against Jewish people, that you were guilty of Zionism and you couldn’t participate in the community unless you could show, more vocally than anybody else, how against it you were.”
Last year, Wigler served as co-president of the Stanford Jewish Law Students Association. He wanted to step down from a leadership role this year to try to have a quiet final year on campus. But he stayed on as treasurer because few students wanted to take up the mantle of a Jewish organization at such a fraught time. He worries what that means for the future of Jewish life at one of the nation’s top law schools.
“I’m concerned,” Wigler confessed, “about being able to convince people who are coming to campus now that It’s okay and safe and a good thing to engage with Jewish life.”