A Williams College alumnus is calling on the school to demonstrate a stronger commitment to Jewish students before seeking alumni donations, according to a recent opinion piece in The Williams Record, a student-run newspaper.
Nate E. Lebowitz, a member of the Class of 1986 and now a cardiologist in New Jersey, wrote that the routine fundraising appeal from the private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Mass., felt like “a knife plunged into my heart” amid a troubling campus climate since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
He cited reports from Jewish students describing “hostility and isolation,” and said the administration’s responses have appeared “hesitant, bureaucratic or morally unclear.”
Lebowitz, who helped advocate for a Jewish campus center as a student, also pointed to reports that displaying an Israeli flag in the Jewish Religious Center required additional “community conversation,” which he said reflected “a profound misunderstanding of Jewish identity.”
His criticism comes amid a series of campus incidents over the past two academic years. During the spring 2024 semester, Students for Justice in Palestine and the anti-Zionist group Jews for Justice established an encampment on Sawyer Quad, calling on the college to divest from companies tied to Israel.
In November 2024, a table representing Jewish and Israeli heritage was vandalized with graffiti including “free Palestine,” “I love Hamas” and “colonizers.”
Posters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas were also repeatedly removed or defaced during that period, according to student reports.
Lebowitz pledged a symbolic $1 donation, “not because I have stopped loving the College, but because I am no longer certain the College remembers what it owes its Jewish students.”
“If the college wants my donation, it first needs to give Jewish students clarity,” he wrote.
