Student Senate Vote to Defund Hillel Sparks Backlash
- The New School administration overruled its student senate after a May 1 vote to suspend Hillel funding and collaboration at the Manhattan university. - The senate said Hillel had “extensive ties” to international-law violations through Israel programming and volunteer opportunities connected to the Israeli military. - The clash matters because Hillel says the move targeted Jewish campus life, while student leaders framed it as Palestine solidarity.
A campus funding fight at The New School turned into something much bigger almost immediately. Student senators voted on May 1 to pause funding for Hillel at The New School and cut formal collaboration with it. By the next day, the university stepped in and said the senate did not have the authority to do that — and that Hillel remained a recognized student group in good standing. ### What did the student senate actually do? The University Student Senate moved against Hillel after a student compliance committee concluded that the group had “extensive ties” to violations of international law. The practical result was a pause on funding and a declaration that and collaboration. ### Why was Hillel singled out? The core argument was about Israel programming. Critics pointed to Hillel-linked trips and volunteer opportunities in Israel, including opportunities tied to the Israel Defense Forces, and said that crossed a line for a student organization seeking campus funds. That is why the senate framed the move as a compliance issue, not just a political statement. But that framing is exactly what opponents dispute. ### Why did the university block it? Because the senate is influential, but not sovereign. The New School’s own public description of the student senate says it represents student voices and works with senior leaders on campus issues. It does not describe the senate as having final authority over whether a registered student organization target fellow students, and Hillel’s status was unchanged. ### Why did this blow up so fast? Because Hillel is not just another club. On many U.S. campuses, it is the main hub for Jewish student life — religious events, holidays, meals, social programming, Israel education, and community. So a vote to defund Hillel reads to many Jewish students as a vote to push Jewish life itself to the margins, even if the senators said they were targeting politics and institutional ties, not Jewish identity. ### Is this really the first time? It appears to be unusually rare, and possibly the first such vote by a student government against a campus Hillel chapter in the U.S. Several reports described it that way. That matters because campus fights over Israel and Palestine are common, but direct attempts to strip Hillel of standing or funding have not been normal. This is why the backlash moved beyond one school almost instantly. ### What are both sides saying now? Hillel at The New School called the vote painful and antisemitic, and thanked the administration for restoring what it said should never have been in doubt. Supporters of the senate’s move argued the issue was accountability for Israel-related programming, not discrimination. Basically, each side is using a different lens: one sees exclusion of Jewish students, the other sees an anti-war sanction campaign. ### What does this change on campus? In the short term, less than the headlines suggest. Hillel is still recognized and still eligible for funding because the administration overruled the senate. But the political damage is real. The episode exposed how little agreement there is on campus about where anti-Zionism ends, where antisemitism begins, and who gets to decide what counts as acceptable student organizing. ### Bottom line The formal vote did not stick. The fight absolutely did. What happened at The New School is really a test case for a broader campus question — whether student governments can use
