Being a Muslim in the United States after October 7: a community under pressure

In a debate organized by the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard, two academics draw up a worrying observation of the situation of American Muslims since the Hamas attacks. Asim Ijaz Khwaja, co-chair of the Harvard Anti-Discrimination Task Force, and Aslı Ü. Bâli, a lawyer at Yale, point out a disturbing parallel with the post-September 11 era.

The “pivotal moment” of October 7 revived old wounds. On campuses, pro-Palestinian demonstrations have triggered a violent reaction: patrons withdrawing their donations, students arrested, university presidents forced to resign. A situation reminiscent of the shock wave of 2001, when the American Muslim community found itself under massive surveillance.

For Aslı Ü. In Bali, the current repression of dissident voices on campus is alarming. She denounces “selective policies” which, under the guise of neutrality, specifically target pro-Palestinian protests. Even more worrying: universities, supposed to be laboratories of free expression, are giving in to political and financial pressure.

This fragility of university institutions is partly explained by their increasing dependence on private funding. After decades of state disengagement, universities have become vulnerable to pressure from their donors. A situation that threatens their intellectual autonomy and their ability to protect the free expression of ideas. The speakers, however, note an encouraging development: the emergence of unprecedented intercommunity solidarity. For the first time, non-Arab and non-Muslim students are massively committed to Palestinian rights, demonstrating a generational awareness of injustices in the Middle East.

Faced with this withdrawal, the two academics call on their peers to defend academic independence. For them, hope lies in the new generation of students who, despite the threats, continue to ask fundamental questions. “The best argument always ends up winning,” Bâli wants to believe, provided that universities assume their role as guardians of democratic debate.