Weekly Briefing: A tenured professor was removed from the classroom after writing a pro-Palestine essay

The college's president said some students may feel threatened by the professor's comments. ADVERTISEMENT [Weekly Briefing Logo]( You can also [read this newsletter on the web](. Or, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, [unsubscribe](. Another conflict over pro-Palestinian speech on campus: This professor was removed from the classroom - A tenured professor was removed from the classroom after she wrote a pro-Palestine essay. Jodi Dean (above), a professor of politics at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, was temporarily removed from the classroom last week after [she published a blog post]( praising the Palestinian resistance against Israel. This is yet another instance where conflicts over pro-Palestinian speech have taken center stage on college campuses since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, on October 7. In an email to the New York campus, Mark D. Gearan, the president, wrote that because of Dean’s essay, “there now may be students on our campus who feel threatened in or outside of the classroom.” [Our Kate Hidalgo Bellows reports on how critics and campus leaders are responding](. - Following days of student protests, Pomona College’s president called the police. On April 5, pro-Palestinian student activists voluntarily took down their tents after days of camping on the California campus’s main quad. That evening, G. Gabrielle Starr, the president, called the police when student protesters entered her office as dozens more students and faculty members gathered outside. Officers arrested 20 students. Starr suspended the seven Pomona students involved and temporarily banned them from campus. The conflict has only escalated since: Hundreds of students across the Claremont Colleges, a seven-campus consortium that includes Pomona, have protested. Pomona’s faculty passed a resolution condemning the use of the police on campus. Meanwhile, Starr says her administration tried all other options before calling the police. [Our Erin Gretzinger has the story](. - The FAFSA delay has left higher ed’s most vulnerable applicants stranded. You probably read about the [disastrous rollout]( of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. [Our Eric Hoover’s latest story]( goes beyond reporting on the federal government’s blunders and takes you to a high school in Brooklyn, N.Y., where seniors are in limbo until they receive their financial-aid packages. The students need to make deposits to secure their spots at colleges, but without aid offers the decision becomes much more of a gamble. For one student, the FAFSA delay is limiting the types of scholarships she could receive this fall. [Read more](. - Antisemitism hearing didn’t mention academic freedom. The U.S. House’s Committee on Education and the Workforce grilled Columbia University leaders on Wednesday about campus antisemitism since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Though [this hearing]( may have been less eventful than the one [in December]( Republican lawmakers repeatedly asked whether Joseph Massad, a controversial professor who has [praised]( the “innovative Palestinian resistance” on October 7, [would be fired](. But no one from Columbia, not even its president, Minouche Shafik, mentioned academic freedom. That is troubling, writes our Len Gutkin, in the new [Review newsletter](. - If you want to keep up with the arguments and debates shaping the academy, sign up for [the Review newsletter](. It’s free! NEWSLETTER [Sign Up for the Teaching Newsletter]( Find insights to improve teaching and learning across your campus. Delivered on Thursdays. To read this newsletter as soon as it sends, [sign up]( to receive it in your email inbox. Lagniappe - Read. One of the scariest parts of climate change is its threat to coffee crops. [Would you drink this substitute]( (Grist) - Listen. Maybe you knew that refrigerators are descended from an invention in ancient Persia, but did you know that makeshift refrigeration technology was used to cool the room after President James A. Garfield was shot? [This episode]( of the podcast The Curious History of Your Home tells the story of one of the coolest household appliances. —Fernanda SPECIAL OFFER FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for as low as $59. Take advantage of our limited- time savings event and get unlimited access to essential reporting, data, and analysis. Chronicle Top Reads THE REVIEW | PROFILE [‘Get Rid of the Zionists Here’]( By Len Gutkin [STORY IMAGE]( When a dean becomes the target of student protesters. 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