Duke University, my alma mater, largely escaped the national campus turmoil following Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel and the Israeli military’s subsequent brutal war on Gaza.

There were no encampments or serious complaints of antisemitism. There were no reports of faculty harassment of supporters of Israel — just some verbal student altercations and a few peaceful demonstrations on Duke’s leafy quads.

Race-neutral admissions have kept the campus diverse, with an especially large Asian representation. Possibly as a result, university President Vincent Price was not among other university presidents subpoenaed and grilled by opportunistic members of Congress.

In April, Price joined over 200 other university leaders, signing a joint resistance letter, perhaps assuming safety in numbers. “We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the statement said.

However laudable, this contrasted with more outspoken academic leaders, such as Harvard University’s Alan Garber and Wesleyan University’s Michael Roth. These have opposed the Trump administration’s extortionate demands, risking cutoffs of federal research funding. Bard College President Leon Botstein said that Trump’s campaign against colleges follows “a classic antisemitic routine.”

Yet Price’s low-profile approach — effectively choosing “Profiles in Prudence” over “Profiles in Courage” — has not spared Duke. Nationwide, blanket research compensation cutbacks on all universities have already cost Duke 600 jobs, mostly through buyouts. Three thousand more positions may be at risk.

Then came the

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