What Mamdani Gets Wrong
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A university official stood at a podium and validated two years of discrimination against one specific group of students.
Graduation day is supposed to be one of the most joyful moments of a young person’s life. Years of hard work, late nights, and sacrifice, all culminating in a single morning with family in the stands and a future wide open. That is what it is supposed to be.
At the University of Michigan on May 2, Jewish students experienced something very different.
University of Michigan professor Derek Peterson praises campus pro-Palestinian protesters during his commencement speech in Ann Arbor, Michigan, May 2, 2026.(photo credit: SCREENSHOT VIA YOUTUBE)
Prof. Derek Peterson, the outgoing chair of the Faculty Senate, used his commencement address to praise the student activists who have spent the past two years making Jewish life on that campus difficult. He sang out to the protesters, celebrated their cause, and urged the graduates to go out and “make good trouble.” The crowd cheered. The university’s president sat there in his regalia and watched it happen.
There was a public backlash to the statements made by Peterson on social media. University President Domenico Grasso issued a statement apologizing for Peterson’s remarks, calling them “hurtful and insensitive.” Then, a petition from alumni, faculty, and activists, nearly two thousand strong, demanded that the president retract his mild criticism of Peterson and pledge to protect what they framed as free expression. The American Association of University Professors issued a statement calling Peterson’s remarks “measured and principled.”
Jewish students, who have faced years of harassment, intimidation, and targeted hostility on that campus, sat in their graduation gowns while a senior faculty member effectively told the crowd that the people making their lives hell were heroes. A university official stood at a podium and validated two years of discrimination against one specific group of students.
A University of Michigan professor was criticized by university leaders for praising anti Israel activists during a commencement speech, after two years of anti Israel vandalism targeting the homes and offices of UMich regents and officers.
Source: Derek Peterson Youtube pic.twitter.com/k669BCuRBZ
— Michael Starr (@StarrJpost) May 4, 2026
Imagine for a moment that the targeted group were Black students. Or Latino students. Or Asian students. If a faculty leader used a commencement address to celebrate the activists who had spent years harassing those students, screaming at them, surrounding them, making them afraid to wear any symbol of their identity on campus, no one would be drafting letters in his defense. There would be no petitions. There would be no statements from professors’ unions about “protected speech.” The outrage would be swift, total, and entirely justified.
The Jewish community has become the one exception to every rule that otherwise governs how we talk about discrimination in this country. The double standard is not subtle anymore. It is on full display, in cap and gown.
What happened in Ann Arbor also happened in other places: Cornell, Columbia, UCLA. Campus after campus has watched administrators either look away or actively legitimize the targeting of Jewish students. And when those same administrators face any scrutiny, they retreat behind the language of free speech and institutional neutrality, as if neutrality is even a coherent position when one group of students is being singled out for abuse.
There is nothing neutral about using a graduation stage to cheer the people doing the harassing.
The University of Michigan made a choice. When the president apologized for Peterson’s remarks, it was a fleeting moment of institutional accountability that the faculty almost immediately moved to reverse. When the video was quietly hidden and then restored under activist pressure, the university signaled where its sympathies lay. When more than 2,000 members of the university community rallied around the professor rather than the Jewish students, the picture became complete.
The federal government provides substantial funding to institutions like the University of Michigan. That funding comes with an expectation, embedded in law, that campuses will not tolerate discriminatory environments. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act exists for exactly this kind of situation. If the university cannot protect its Jewish students from a hostile environment, and if it celebrates the people creating that environment, the question of federal funding is entirely legitimate to raise.
Violence against Jews does not exist in a vacuum. It is fed by this same culture which condones the harassment of Jewish students on campus.
Jews are being attacked around the country. Synagogues are being attacked around the country. The violence does not exist in a vacuum. It is fed by this same culture, which condones the harassment of Jewish students on campus and condones a culture in which Jewish students are told, from the graduation stage at a major American university, that the people targeting them are on the right side of history.
The University of Michigan has made its decision. But it is on the wrong side of history. Until there are real consequences, I fear it won’t recognize that.
It is interesting that this graduation took place on May 2nd, which was Shabbat. The issue with comments made at a major university graduation is not simply that something “antisemitic” was said. It is that many Jews likely chose attending the ceremony over observing Shabbat.
We need to start caring more about Judaism than about fitting in a being liked by non-Jews.
To quote Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks: “Non-Jews respect Jews who respect Judaism.”
When Jews on college campuses lean more deeply into their Judaism, others will respect them more as well. The way to combat antisemitism is not through whining or endless finger-pointing, but by strengthening our commitment to Torah and mitzvot, and by caring more about unity with fellow Jews than about acceptance among the nations of the world.
Also in Michigan Hillsdale College, President Arnn is antisemitic. He would not allow Chabad on campus, we asked for the Jewish Students. Dr. Joshua Fincher, our rebbe, led services, dvar Torah, holiday services. We had non-Jews who attended to learn about our Religion, we got too popular for Arnn. Dr Fincher was denied tenure after 7 years of exemplary teaching and service, so he left. With no leader, the Jewish students have gone quiet, as Arnn planned. He promised parents, handing over $50K, a kosher kitchen, never happened. The students don't want this antisemitism revealed for fear of retribution, they have their careers and time invested here to consider. So, Mishpacha, our Jewish student group, has been snuffed out.
Hillsdale is a private rightwing Christian-evangelical white-supremicist college. Ask Mark Levin. I would bet Falwell's Liberty College in Virginia doesn't feature a Hillel club either.
why wasn't he booed? why didn't people rise and turn their backs on him? why did they do nothing? silence =shame.
If you were to listen to the entire speech, you would understand why. While the words in the clip may have been poorly framed, listening to the whole speech would give you a different impression.
In the 1970’s Islam led by the Muslim Brotherhood began a covert internal invasion of western democracies. They identified the left, progressives and universities as the most susceptible to being turned.
The Russians in the 1960’s as they drafted, schooled and KGB trained Arafat to offset the west in the Middle East came to the same conclusion.
Susceptible to being turned to what? The left, progressives and educated are going to convert to Islam?
This is the sort of nonsensical blame that comes when you confuse opposition to the current Israeli government with antisemitism.
Thank you - It bears saying again - resisting political policies in a country you love and pray for - in the U.S. or in Israel, is not turning on a people or a religion. The loving kindness towards others summed up in the word "chesed" is unfulfilled if it isn't directed toward all G-d's people. It's got to be all. Or it's none.
Nazism has triumphed. The day has come when overt Nazis can do this and get away with it. I seriously hope their 'donations' go right in the toilet where this institution belongs.
The graduates should sue the school for discrimination and other legalize they can put on the case, if this happened to any other minorities then they would of not get away with it, the colleges and universities these days seem like the atmosphere in Nazi (Y"S) Germany before the Holocaust, so if there is a connection like that Jews should stop it in its tracks, not everyone has the money or other reasons to make Aliyah, it is horrifying and sad that the education in America and around the world are scape goating the Jews, and not the real culprit the Muslims that are running amok everywhere, and letting them get away with it, the ignorant idiots will wake up when it us to late, Jews and Israel are actually the good guys
I absolutely agree with every word R. Burg spoke in his article! What Peterson did was not free speech… it was hate speech and should have been stopped mid speech by anyone on the stage who had a spine.
These college administrators should be terminated. The rest of the administration have no "balls", or backbone or forget what this country stands for. Hitler would be proud of this behavior. This country...the "leaders" have sunk to a low moral level. Ship these people to Gaza and let them experience of hate.
I would love to move to Israel. Not all of us have the money to buy a home there. However, the education system, the culture and finding jobs in Israel are very different. My children and grandchildren live here. What are my options as a senior citizen?
Get in touch with Nefesh B'Nefesh; they're the best source of info & assistance for those interested in making aliyah (& olim).
firstly the cost to live is no where near the same , just your healthcare in the us , its a fraction of it here. secondly , you need less overall . less furtinure , less belongings . less stuff . food is cheaper and better . there are items you can but on line from overseas if you really do want . but overall less expensive . housing maybe the exception to that , but if you dont live inthe heart of tel aviv or jerusalem , even that is doable . you just have to decide that this is your home
This is widespread. 2 years ago, at my son's graduation from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, they had a student speaker, introduced as a Palestinian, address the graduates and families. When she started going off about the "genocide," I couldn't hold back and started loudly booing. Even though the event was held in the basketball arena, my son, who was on the other side, could hear me. He later told me how proud he was of his father.
At this point, the only safe space for a Jewish student, is a Jewish institution.
Right you are!
Those hateful cheering college graduates are the future leaders of the Democratic Party. Jewish Americans better wake up and realize Democrats are not their friends and are no different than the Hamas butchers of October 7th.
Actually, it's more accurate to put the antisemitic &/ anti-Israel Dems (i.e., the majority) into the category of the erroneously called "Palestinian civilians" who worked in kibbutzim near the Gaza border—like Nir Oz, which suffered many atrocities and casualties on Oct. 7.
Many of these miserable excuses for human beings aided Hamas terrorists by providing them with detailed maps of their employers' homes so that the monsters could more easily unleash their brutality on hapless victims.
Some of these victims had gone out of their way to do many kindnesses for Gaza residents, which proves the wisdom of the teaching that anyone who shows kindness to the cruel does not receive reward and will end up being cruel to the kind.
That's being played out in plain sight.
Democrats didn't say Nazis in Charlottesburg were "fine people".
I am not pro-Trump. BUT, I wholeheartedly support his administration going after these schools for blatant antisemitism.
Let’s send this article to people in his purview. Let’s stick him on the U. of Michigan. Let them revoke all federal money from this school.
Discrimination, such as the harassment of Jewish students, is prohibited.
However, at public universities, the First Amendment applies. I don’t think that the Framers intended that it be used so broadly. Of course, they could never have anticipated the spread of lies on social media. So while the professor’s remarks were despicable, he could sue the university if he were to be punished in any way for his protected speech.
For those of you who dislike my comment, I am explaining where US law stands at this time. I don’t think hate speech should be tolerated. However, we have to come up with a definition that doesn’t shut down unpopular but legal speech.
Actually, the problem is that this can't be defined as "unpopular speech"; rather, it's inflammatory and potentially dangerous!
Rather than protecting (to use your term) this sort of hateful speech, it's about time we worried more about protecting the people it's meant to harm!
(BTW, I did not "vote" against your comment, but now that you saw fit to explain it, I thought it's only fair to present why people may find it offensive.)
I’m an attorney. I don’t care whether people think my comment is “offensive”. I tried to explain where US law is at this time.
What’s with all the political speech at graduation, anyway? It’s a day to celebrate the grads and wish them well. Colin Powell spoke at my law school and said encouraging things about our futures. The student speaker told anecdotes, from the scary first day with Socratic method, to the various subjects studied, clerkships, and theses, which had brought us to graduation day.
Your attitude of not caring that people might find something offensive to their sense of justice reflects the general problem of all the injustice we witness being boldly displayed today!
Don't take this personally but the unfortunate state of affairs is that instead of defending justice, too many (thankfully not all) attorneys play their roles according to whatever "rules" (of the jungle!) will profit them most.
I am not defending the speakers. I worked for US government, now retired, so I wasn’t profiting by rules of the jungle. I contribute to pro-Israel organizations as well as my OJ shul and other Jewish organizations.
Many people can’t separate emotions from facts. It is a fact that public employees, including university presidents, have First Amendment rights. Were he to be fired, he could sue the university, and he would prevail.
You are asking the wrong question. "Was it right for him to speak as he did?" or "Did he have the right to speak as he did?" Very different questions and the university must respond to the first question. They gave him the privilege of a platform and he abused that privilege.
Defenders of free speech must not overlook that those who provide a platform have an obligation to protect the integrity and reputation of their platform by moderating what is said from that platform.
The First Amendment protects objectionable speech. I am not defending the speaker nor the university official. As I replied to another post, many people respond with emotion rather than understanding the facts.
Yes, but you are wrong about the difference between being protected and being appropriate for the occasion. No one is forced to allow every sort of speech from their platform. His free speech rights protect what he says as a private individual; when speaking on behalf of an institution he is obligated to advance the values of that institution.
Having said that, I took the time to listen to the entire speech and to understand the context of that short 22 second clip. While it isn't great what is said in the clip, the speech was clearly not antisemitic; quite the opposite, in fact.
Taking this man's words out of context and misrepresenting his intentions is actually more despicable than what he did.
I’m all about appropriate behavior. Exercising some “rights” under law may not be “right” in a moral sense. As an Orthodox Jew, I follow many practices that I believe are binding laws of my faith. The general supermarket where I buy kosher food also has a meat department with nonkosher meat. I dress modestly, while dress codes in many places no longer exist. The government should have no role in regulating who 2 single adults can marry, but that doesn’t diminish my 40+ years married to my Jewish husband. And so on.
I could not get the clip to play, so thank you for clarifying. I will try to find it using a different link.
I am not going to comment further on the speech because I was explaining US law, and many readers evidently don’t want to know.
I'm not an American, but I can read. The First Amendment doesn't say anything about non-governmental restrictions on speech. US media is full of misinformation about American law.
What the founders failed to anticipate was that the Administration might attempt to use its power to chill free speech without a legal framework from Congress.
Here's the link that I found. I posted a comment demanding that the record be corrected and the full remarks be referenced in the article. My comment was deleted. (That's how "free speech" is viewed by aish.com)
Derek R. Peterson Michigan graduation remarks 2 May 2026
I don't think that the American Jewish community is doing Jews any favors with its false accusations of antisemitism.
Government institutions including public universities are prohibited from censoring permitted speech. There are numerous court decisions that interpret the First Amendment this way. Thank you for a reasonable discussion.
The objectionable speech is usually a call to violence against Jews, that is outside the realm of free speech but going into assault and battery or worst felonies, which is heavy duty legal consequences and deserve punishment and jail time, to me it looks like you are defending these characters if you were in the Young Israel of Midwoid where people feared for their safety and life, you would be saying something else, these so called Muslims crossed the line with so called free speech, Jews lives were in jeopardy and it all started with so called free speech, what would of happened if you were around the Young Israel if Midwood when Muslims ran amok in a Jewish neighborhood
Thank you for this!
Get federal funding and Jewish donations pulled. And yes, it won’t solve the problem entirely but it will help. Also, Jewish students do not apply to these schools nor should you remain where you are clearly not wanted. Go elsewhere and pour your talents into worthy receptacles.
Just because Prof. Peterson has letters after his name doesn't denote NOT being an all-out loser. There is no "Palestine" to free nor are Israelis born and raised in a democracy going anywhere, you bigot.
It's inefficient to compare these incidents to behaviors towards other minority groups. It doesn't work. When blacks point out double standards, ie. "why call a 15 year old kid a man" or "all crime focuses on its own social community" nobody blinks. Comparisons don't work. It's important to fight doggedly and directly. "The behavior is WRONG. This is why." It is vital to negate propaganda fiercely, with an unequivocal tone.
Clearly advocating and supporting a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Law.
How many Jewish philanthropists poured money into these so called educational institutions? Where would these professors be if not for the Jewish and Israeli developers? Shame on them! How would they like to go to Poland and see the gas chambers and crematoriums? Get rid of your computers, Waze and other discoveries in medicine. How many of them won the Nobel prize? If they are so Pro Palestine they have not learned history. It is evident how ignorant they are.
I basically agree with you; however, it's important to remember that the BIG bucks come from oily Arabs, who are clearly selling filthy propaganda against Jews and Israel along with their "generous donations."
And gullible fools (the ignorant students) as well as leftist idiots (the self-called "intelligentsia" who are merely faulty faculty and puffed up professors) continue their hatemongering undisturbed.
The real question is why Jewish students continue to seek entry into these perverted "institutions of higher learning."
Totally agree...that IS the real question.
Like so many societies and countries over centuries before this. These types of events will and has led to the decline of this country when antisemitism is allowed to have its way…… I respectfully urge every Jew to move to Israel before it’s to late…… G-d bless Israel and her people accordingly