Syracuse Chancellor Says Iran May Have Encouraged Anti-Israel Campus Protests; Vanderbilt and Washington University Leaders Describe Outside Organization

At a panel in Washington, D.C., Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud said that campus protests after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack may have been orchestrated by the Islamic regime in Iran. The panel also included chancellors from Vanderbilt University and Washington University in St. Louis and was convened by Alums for Campus Fairness, according to one report.

Syverud said the protests at Syracuse were mostly made up of outside agitators and did not involve very many, if any, of the university’s own students. He said it was harder to punish students or others involved in violence or property destruction because many protesters wore facial coverings. A second report quoted Syverud as saying he “really believes” the demonstrations were encouraged from Iran.

Vanderbilt Chancellor Daniel Diermeier said protests on the Nashville campus followed a playbook and were the result of organized networks. In a separate report, he said the anti-Israel movement at Vanderbilt seemed coordinated by outside forces, followed a playbook imported from other universities, and involved perhaps 30-plus students using the same messaging seen at Columbia University. Washington University Chancellor Andrew Martin said most protesters on his campus had no affiliation with the school and that three quarters of those arrested had nothing to do with the university.

Reports also described legal and enforcement actions. Police arrested nine participants in a March takeover of Barnard College’s Milstein Library, none of whom were students. Victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack filed a lawsuit in March against anti-Israel activists at Columbia University, alleging that protest ringleaders acted as Hamas’s propaganda arm. Documents in that suit, as reported, show activists distributed a “Day of Resistance Toolkit” on Oct. 8, 2023. Careful testing of claims about who took part in these protests is a matter of truth and fairness (Proverbs 18:17).

Three Israelis held captive in Gaza alleged in a May lawsuit that a Hamas captor said Hamas coordinated with allies on college campuses to foment hatred against Israel and Jews. That allegation comes from the captives’ lawsuit and has not been independently confirmed in the reports.

Former Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines announced in July 2024 that the Iranian government encouraged the demonstrations and provided financial support to protesters.