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We’ve seen this happen once already (David has a post coming up about that) but today we’re learning that more students from elite schools have been told to take a hike after signing anti-Israel statements.
Top U.S. law firm Davis Polk announced in an internal email that it had rescinded letters of employment for three law students at Harvard and Columbia universities who signed on to organizational statements about Israel, one of the latest responses to open letters from university groups about the Israel-Hamas conflict that have roiled university donors, employers, alumni and students.
“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,” said the email, signed by Neil Barr…
On Oct. 10, The Harvard Crimson, one of the university’s student-run news publications, reported that more than 30 Harvard student groups signed on to a letter that said they held Israel “entirely responsible” for “all unfolding violence” in the conflict, which came after a surprise Hamas attack on Israel killed over 1,300 people. Since the letter was published, numerous CEOs, business leaders and a federal judge have responded by cutting ties with the university, calling for the identifications of the signers or saying they would not hire the signers.
I don’t think these companies should feel bad about cutting lose students who sign a statement blaming victims of mass murder for their own deaths. That doesn’t mean those statements are illegal or outside the protection of the 1st amendment, but companies get to pick who they want to hire and not hiring pro-Hamas lawyers seems reasonable to me.
