A Catholic university in Ohio is allowing Jewish students facing anti-Semitism at other universities to immediately transfer and enroll.
"With our fellow Christians around the world, we are praying for justice and peace," said Father Dave Pivonka, president of Franciscan University of Steubenville, in a university press statement. "But with too many universities preaching tolerance but practicing prejudice, we feel compelled to do more. We are witnessing a very troubling spike in antisemitism and serious threats against Jewish students. We want to offer them the chance to transfer immediately to Franciscan."
The Ohio university's administration has prepared to expedite the transfer process for prospective students who face such bigotry on campus, the release said.
"Our community will welcome them with generosity and respect," said Pivonka. "Our religious differences will not cause any conflict. On the contrary, at Franciscan, our radical fidelity to Christ and the Catholic faith demands of us fraternal charity toward our Jewish brothers and sisters, as it does toward all people."
In the aftermath of Hamas's Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel, which left more than 1,400 Israelis dead, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic sentiment sprouted up throughout academia.
Student groups at schools across the country released statements excusing or celebrating the attacks. Dozens of student groups at Harvard University signed a statement that held "the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence." University chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine advertised a "Day of Resistance" with a flyer featuring a person on a motorized paraglider, referencing one of the methods by which Hamas terrorists entered Israel.
A woman allegedly assaulted a 24-year-old Israeli student with a stick at Columbia University last week while the Israeli student was hanging up posters of hostages the terrorists captured during their rampage.
A professor at Cornell University on Sunday told a crowd of students that the terror attacks were "exhilarating" and "energizing." He added that, while he and the members of the crowd "abhor" violence and the targeting of civilians, "you don't have to be a Hamas supporter" to recognize that the group had "shifted the balance of power." He later defended the comments, saying that he was referring to "when they broke through the apartheid wall, that it seemed to be a symbol of resistance, and indeed a new phase of resistance in the Palestinian struggle."