By: Kenneth L. Marcus Published by The Washington Times on January 8, 2026 The University of California, Berkeley, suspended an electrical engineering and computer sciences lecturer after he told students he was going on a “starvation diet” before directing them to the website for EECS 4 Palestine. The school is right: Political advocacy has no place in science; yet, incidents such as this are becoming increasingly commonplace. What was once immune to antisemitism is now flooded with it. Ideologues are putting university-based scientific institutions at risk. Without outside intervention, these institutions will threaten their own innovation. In the U.S., our national science strategy has increasingly relied on universities’ pouring massive funds into research labs and university programs. These same universities take pride in being places where brilliant minds from around the world come to learn, thrive and drive progress. Right now, though, innovation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs is at great risk, just not for the reasons you may think. The rampant rise of antisemitism on college campuses is well-documented. Although many people view science programs as an innocent casualty in the Trump administration’s crusade against universities, the sciences are not exempt from these biases. In fact, antisemitism is not merely affecting the sciences. This bigotry and hatred are actually thwarting innovation in the field. In 2022, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology welcomed Jewish Israeli postdoctoral associate Lior Alon in the mathematics department. His research lies at the intersection of spectral geometry, mathematical physics and Fourier analysis and has appeared in several world-renowned mathematics journals. Mr. Alon has taught undergraduate seminars, mentored students and organized an international workshop, and he received MIT’s School of Science’s 2025 Infinite Expansion Award. He was a respected member of the scientific and mathematical community. All that changed when another professor saw him at a ceremony in which Israelis were honoring their murdered and kidnapped loved ones after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The professor filmed Mr. Alon at the ceremony and posted his face, name, personal information and the details of his Israeli military service online. As a result, Mr. Alon was harassed and aggressively confronted at several places, including at his child’s day care center and the grocery store. He still has hostile, antisemitic experiences on a daily basis. Mr. Alon, a renowned expert in his field, was working on research that could change the world. Yet his work was cut short by blatant acts of antisemitism. Alarmingly, antisemitism infecting STEM is not unique to Berkeley and MIT. Just last month, the House Committee on Education & Workforce opened an investigation into allegations of antisemitism at the American Psychological Association. That’s not all. With Hitler salutes at Brooklyn Technical High School, swastikas at the Marine Academy of Science & Technology and antisemitic mass shooting threats by a computer science student at Cornell University, bigotry and Jew-hatred have pervaded STEM programs and professions, and it cannot continue. It has long been thought that antisemitism was most prevalent in the humanities and the disciplines of Middle East, ethnic and gender studies. STEM, a field based on facts, evidence and logic, was thought to be immune. It also has a human element. People who study STEM — including scientists, medical professionals, researchers and engineers — have dedicated themselves to improving the lives of others. To see researchers displaying clear and violent signs of antisemitism is highly alarming and carries serious consequences. These actions are dangerous to their fellow researchers and to the reputations of our universities and the research they conduct. The status quo is not sustainable. When Jewish researchers and students are driven out of universities, the universities suffer. Perhaps this is, in part, the reason for the decline in Jewish representation in elite university student bodies and faculties. The first step to addressing a problem is acknowledging its presence. Colleges and universities must acknowledge that antisemitism pervades all disciplines, across all schools and programs. No degree or area of study is exempt from the discrimination or harassment faced by Jewish and Israeli students on a daily basis. School administrators must hold STEM programs, professors and labs accountable in the same way they hold the arts and humanities accountable. STEM professors and researchers must hold their students and colleagues accountable to ensure bigotry does not proliferate and the work is not put at risk by individual biases. Something has to give. If we want to return to a time of innovation and progress, we must fully address the problems within our universities first.