Students Losing Job Offers Over Palestinian Support

A prestigious law firm has reportedly rescinded job offers to three students who it said led groups at elite universities that expressed support for the Palestinian people and blamed Israel for Hamas' deadly October 7 attack.

Davis Polk & Wardwell's managing partner Neil Barr said in an email to staff that it had rescinded job offers to three law students in leadership positions in Harvard and Columbia University groups that issued statements, Reuters reported.

"The views expressed in certain of the statements signed by law school student organizations in recent days are in direct contravention of our firm's value system," Davis Polk said in a statement provided to Newsweek.

"For this reason and to ensure we continue to maintain a supportive and inclusive work environment, the student leaders responsible for signing on to these statements are no longer welcome in our firm; and their offers of employment have thus been rescinded."

The students were not identified, but two held leadership roles in Columbia groups that signed a letter stating that the responsibility for the war and casualties "undeniably lies with the Israeli extremist government," while the other was affiliated with Harvard Palestine Solidarity Groups, The New York Times reported. More than 30 Harvard groups signed a statement that held the "Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence."

Hamas militants stormed into Israel from the long-blockaded Gaza Strip on October 7, gunning down people and taking some 200 others captive into Gaza. Israel has been bombing the territory in the days since, and has also cut off the supply of food, medicine, water and electricity.

Davis Polk said it was reconsidering the decision for two of the students, who fought their dismissals and argued that they did not authorize the statements, but a decision has not been reached, according to The Times.

Barr told the newspaper that the firm did not want employees who endorsed Hamas' attack working for them.

Newsweek has contacted Harvard and Columbia for comment via email.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Israeli air strikes had killed at least 2,278 people in the territory, before an explosion at a hospital killed at least another 500, The Associated Press reported. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, most of them civilians slain in Hamas' October 7 attack.

In the days since, college campuses across the country have seen tensions rise as students staged protests to express solidarity with Palestinians and criticize Israel's airstrikes in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Davis Polk's decision comes after another law firm, Winston & Strawn, rescinded a job offer it had made to Ryna Workman, a New York University student and president of the college's Student Bar Association.

In an online newsletter, Workman expressed "unwavering and absolute solidarity with Palestinians in their resistance" and blamed Israel for "this tremendous loss of life."

"What's been driving me is the resilience of Palestinians in this moment," Workman told The Intercept. "The fact that they are still using their voice, that they are still standing strong, that they are still here, and that they are asking us to continue to speak out and show up for them through this and to not let this be their end."

Meanwhile, powerful donors have reportedly been pressuring universities to denounce students who have criticized Israel, while others have ended relationships with colleges.

The Wexner Foundation cut ties with Harvard, while the University of Pennsylvania lost one of its biggest donors over what they viewed as insufficient condemnation of Hamas' attack by university leadership.

And after a backlash to the statement signed by Harvard students, Harvard president Claudine Gay issued a statement on October 10 condemning "the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas." Gay said that students have the right to speak for themselves, but do not speak for Harvard or its leadership."

Penn president Liz Magill sent a message to the college community on Sunday referring to Hamas' violence as a "terrorist" attack for the first time.

Others have demanded that universities release the names of members of the student groups that signed statements criticizing Israel so that companies know not to hire them.

"I have been asked by a number of CEOs if @harvard would release a list of the members of each of the Harvard organizations that have issued the letter assigning sole responsibility for Hamas' heinous acts to Israel, so as to insure [sic] that none of us inadvertently hire any of their members," hedge fund manager Bill Ackman wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Update 10/18/23, 8:55 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a statement from Davis Polk.