10/06/2026
They're protesting a settlement they haven't read.
Last week, 340 alumni and students signed a letter claiming TDP's Haverford College settlement shuts down criticism of Israel and creates a new "protected class," i.e. Zionists.
They are wrong on both counts. That's what happens when you shriek before reading.
In fact, if they had read the publicly available information about the settlement they'd know: there are no new protected classes, and no ban on criticizing Israel or Zionism.
What did change? Jewish and Israeli student aren't allowed to be harassed, and their events will now get the same security as everyone else's. There's now an antisemitism committee and annual antisemitism training. And the college president publicly proclaimed that Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist students are welcome and belong on campus.
That's not silencing anyone. That's equal treatment. Do you want to know what isn't equal treatment? As TDP Legal Director Lori Lowenthal Marcus said, the author and signers of the letter who accused us of "weaponizing antisemitism" are evoking the "rank racism of the pre-Civil Rights era when racists demanded the law not be used to shield Black Americans from harassment and other harms.” It is the letter writers who are demanding unequal treatment for Jews, which even Haverford had to rectify.
A group of nearly 340 Haverford, Swarthmore, and Bryn Mawr alumni and students warned that the settlement reached earlier this month would "abrogate the rights of all Haverford community members."
