Opinion

WILLIAM BENNETT, ROB NOEL: Two years after Columbia encampment, campuses still chilled by fear

Israel-Palestine is the most feared topic for open dissent, and faculty political imbalance reinforces the silence

By William J. Bennett , Rob Noel Fox News

Published April 17, 2026 5:00am EDT

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Two years ago, on April 18, 2024, New York Police Department officers arrested 108 students at Columbia University’s "Gaza Solidarity Encampment," triggering a wave of campus chaos that swept the nation and the world. 

What followed was among the darkest chapters in American higher education: Jewish students assaulted and harassed, swastikas painted on buildings, American flags set ablaze, and more than 3,000 arrested for trespassing, vandalism and worse.

While it sparked widespread calls for campus reform — and strident efforts by the Trump administration to hold universities accountable — data suggests that the period left deep scars on university life, particularly an ongoing culture of fear and self-censorship.

FIRE’s 2026 college free speech survey shows that 91% of students now self-censor at least some of the time in conversations with classmates.  Israel and Palestine are the most feared topics for open dissent, just ahead of abortion and transgender rights. At two prominent universities,........

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