From the Ivy League to the big leagues, a political realignment is brewing

Harvard University President Claudine Gay testifies before a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2023.
Harvard University President Claudine Gay testifies before a House Education and The Workforce Committee hearing titled "Holding Campus Leaders Accountable and Confronting Antisemitism" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 5, 2023.
REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

Last week, members of the US Congress grilled the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT on whether calls for the genocide of Jews violated campus bullying and harassment policies. Their refusals caused an international uproar, leading over 70 American lawmakers to call for the schools’ governing boards to remove the trio from their posts. To date, Liz Magill, president of Penn, has resigned, while Claudine Gay, president of Harvard, has apologized, saying “words matter.”

But the fallout could go further. Since the outbreak of the Hamas-Israel war, campuses have become hotbeds of tension between students supportive of Palestinian self-determination and their peers who back Israel’s right to self-defense. Chants of “Intifada” have terrified Jewish students and prompted professors to tell their parents to keep them away from schools like Columbia, because “we cannot protect your child.” Meanwhile, students engaged in pro-Palestinian protests worry that they won’t get jobs after graduation.

All these incidents have not only crystallized concern about the politicization of universities but galvanized activists on both sides of the divide in ways that could have lasting political implications.

The sentiments of Conservatives who long lamented the rise of “woke culture” on campus are echoing among Jewish liberals who feel “betrayed” by their schools’ failure to condemn antisemitism. The right has also seized an opportunity to unite feuding factions within the conservative movement, including social conservative activists focused on issues of school curricula and parents’ rights, evangelical voters, and members of the party establishment.

On the left, some young progressives are breaking ranks with the Biden administration over the US president’s support for Israel, a divide “decades in the making.” Other Democrats worry that strong criticism of Israel's military campaign in Gaza will help elect Republicans, leading to calls for moderation and internal challenges to several “Squad” members, including Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) for the 2024 primaries.

But the polling paints a muddy picture. One found President Bident’s approval rating among all Democrats rose nine percentage points to 59% in December — but another survey showed the share of Democrats under age 35 who say he is “too pro-Israeli” doubled to 41% between October and November and 20% say they are less likely to vote for him because of how he has handled the issue.

Will campus conflict transcend academia to produce a lasting generational realignment around Israel? We’re watching that and whether either of the other university presidents will step down.

More from GZERO Media

President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he leaves the White House for a trip to Florida on April 3, 2025.
Andrew Leyden/NurPhoto via Reuters

Stocks have plummeted, layoffs have begun, and confusion has metastasized about the bizarre method the United States used to calculate its tariff formula. But Donald Trump says it’s “going very well."

African National Congress (ANC) members of parliament react after South African lawmakers passed the budget's fiscal framework in Cape Town, South Africa, April 2, 2025.
REUTERS/Esa Alexander

The second largest party in South Africa’s coalition, the business-friendly Democratic Alliance, launched a legal challenge on Thursday to block a 0.5% VAT increase in the country’s new budget, raising concerns that the fragile government could collapse.

The Israeli Air Force launched an airstrike on Thursday, targeting a building in the Mashrou Dummar area of Damascus. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed Israel's responsibility for the attack, which resulted in one fatality.
Rami Alsayed via Reuters Connect
A man leaves the U.S. headquarters of the social media company TikTok in Culver City, California, U.S. January 17, 2025.
REUTERS/David Swanson

Remember the TikTok ban? The new deadline President Donald Trump set for the app to find an American buyer or be banned from US app stores, midnight Saturday, is rapidly approaching.

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz looks on as he sits next to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office on March 13, 2025.

REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Someone needs to take National Security Advisor Michael Waltz’s phone out of his hand.

President Donald Trump holds a "Foreign Trade Barriers" document as he delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 2, 2025.

REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Donald Trump’s much-anticipated “liberation day” tariff announcement on Wednesday is the biggest disruption to global trade in decades, so the political, diplomatic, and economic impacts will take time to become clear.

Elon Musk waves to the crowd as he exits the stage during a town hall on Sunday, March 30, 2025, at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay, Wis.

Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin via Reuters

Donald Trump is reportedly telling people that he and Elon Musk have agreed that Musk’s work in the US government will soon be done. Politico’s story broke just as Musk seems to have discovered the electoral limits of his charm.