USC Backing Off Slightly From its Jihad Against Jewish Professor

The University of Southern California is backing off, just a bit, from its jihad against the Jewish professor whose confrontation with pro-Hamas students was misrepresented by an online mob, prompting the school to bar him from campus.

The decision in early November sparked nationwide press coverage and was denounced by free speech and academic freedom groups. But earlier this month the University of Southern California’s Provost office announced that Strauss is no longer barred from campus and continued to insist that he was never punished for his speech.

The Provost’s office said “interim measures” requiring him to stay off campus and teach remotely were instituted to “minimize disruption in the classroom and to ensure a safe environment for both him and students. All of the restrictions previously placed on Professor Strauss have now been lifted. He has in no way been disciplined or punished for engaging in protected speech.”

Except his speech–when he called the pro-Hamas students “ignorant” and Hamas “murderers”–is what got him booted off campus in the first place.

Additionally Strauss remains under investigation for discrimination by the University’s Office of Equity and Equal Opportunity because students filed complaints against him about the fracas, trying to turn his words into discriminatory conduct. Because to the woke crowd speech they don’t like is akin to violence.

His lawyer, Samatha Harris, said in a statement to the Los Angles Times that the lifting of the ban “is a step in the right direction.”

“But he is still under investigation and facing potential discipline for his speech, which is both a violation of USC’s own promises of free speech and an outrageous, viewpoint-discriminatory double standard in terms of how USC enforces its policies.”

Harris did not reply to a request for comment from the California Globe.

But University of Southern California Associates Chair in Natural Sciences and Professor of Chemistry Anna Krylov, who has spoken out in Strauss’s defense, told the California Globe she welcomed the end of his banishment but the discrimination charges should be dropped.

“Lifting the ban is a step in the right direction, but I am disappointed that the investigation is ongoing,” she emailed.”It should have been dropped right away.”

The fracas started on November 9 when Strauss walked by students who were demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and holding a memorial for Palestinians killed in Gaza. But no memorial for all the Israelis slaughtered by Hamas on October 7.

Straus told the Los Angeles Times that he became enraged when he heard students call to “Destroy Israel” and end United States funding for the Jewish state. He yelled out “Israel forever” and “Hamas are murderers.”

Then he went to teach his class. After he went to class he walked by the students again and one of them yelled “Professor Strauss shame on you.”

He replied, “No shame on you” and said “You people are ignorant, really ignorant.”

Then, as students hoping for a viral moment, started recording him he said, “Hamas are murderers. That’s all they are. Everyone should be killed and I hope they are all killed.”

But when woke activists circulated the video online they edited out the references to Hamas to make it sound like he was saying all Palestinians should be killed.

The University of Southern California Muslim Student Union joined the online lynch mob. They issued a statement saying Strauss was “repeatedly calling for the murder of the entirety of Palestine” and espousing “a desire for the death of those supporting Palestine.”

Strauss has said that the next day he was  told by another professor that USC Provost Andrew Guzman was placing him on paid administrative leave.  He was informed by a dean that he could teach graduate students with Zoom but he was prohibited from teaching undergraduate students.

On November 13 Guzman sent Strauss a letter saying he was being barred from campus while the University investigated the complaints that students had filed against him with the civil rights and equity offices.

The punishment of Strauss was also denounced by Jonathan Friedman of the  free speech and literary group PEN America. He said in a November 17  statement that “Totally barring a professor from campus because of a passing comment like this is a shocking overreaction. Regardless of Professor Strauss’s intent, he is entitled to his views and the right to share them.”

And that “Censuring professors for their political views is highly inappropriate and runs the risk of chilling free expression in higher education, for all. What USC has done runs counter to the university’s obligation to foster dialogue and debate.”

Friedman told the California Globe that USC backing off the ban on Strauss was a welcome development. “We’re relieved that USC has reversed course and lifted the ban on Professor Strauss being allowed on campus, “he emailed.”We recognize the challenges for campus leaders in confronting the sometimes fraught aim of maintaining free speech of all in these difficult times but shutting down or excluding points of view cannot be an acceptable path.  While I cannot speak to what ultimately swayed the decision, I do believe that when advocates raise their voices they can have a powerful, collective impact.”