The fallout following the events of October 7, 2023 has touched many spheres of American life, yet colleges and universities have seemingly been at the center. Headlines, controversy, and human suffering generated by Hamas’s attack and Israel’s response have gripped dozens of campuses including here at WashU. The surprising impact of a distant regional conflict on campus leadership and life dominated our news cycles with discussion of the conduct of university presidents, hostilities among students, appropriate “time, place, and manner” of campus protests, police involvement in dismantling encampments, and fundamental questions of free speech and identity.

Lost amidst all of this has been the effect of these events on what is perhaps the university’s central mission: teaching.

Join us for a conversation with Professor Shira Billet on how October 7 and the ensuing campus protests have affected the teaching of subjects related to Jewish philosophy and politics including the interrelationship of liberal democracy, Zionism and antisemitism.