The College Fix

Yali Amit calls it his ‘small contribution’ to anti-Trump movement

University of Chicago students were excused from a midterm exam so they could protest Donald Trump and Elon Musk, according to emails obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Yali Amit, an anti-Israel professor, canceled the May 1 exam at the elite university and allowed students to submit the test as a homework assignment instead.

As the Washington Free Beacon reported, Amit said he was making his “small contribution” to the “national day of action” on May 1.

The Free Beacon reported on his email:

The country is in an emergency. The Trump administration is kidnapping people off the street, deporting them to foreign prisons, jailing and threatening to deport students who demonstrated in support of Palestinians,” Amit wrote in his email.

“So, today, thousands across the country are demonstrating in a national day of action. As a small contribution to this day of action I am cancelling the midterm and calling you, if you are able, to join the Chicago demonstration announced here” (emphasis in the original).

“Marching against this dangerous authoritarian administration is of utmost importance!” he added in the email.

One student called the email “inappropriate,” an assessment the university generally agreed with, according to the Free Beacon. However, it is not clear if the school plans to take any concrete action against Amit.

“While people at the University are free to attend political events, it is not appropriate to cancel classes for them, or to use channels intended for course communication to call on students to attend political events,” spokesman Gerald McSwiggan told the Free Beacon. “The University is working with faculty to reinforce this principle.”

The news outlet also reported on Amit’s history of opposing Israel. For example, in 2001, he signed onto a letter that endorsed “Palestinian violence.”

“While we totally condemn acts of terror against innocent civilians, we regard Palestinian violence as being, on the whole, a legitimate revolt against colonial occupation,” the letter stated, as reported by the Free Beacon.

Liberal UChicago Professor Jerry Coyne criticized Amit’s decision to cancel classes.

“[T] point is clear: this is a violation of academic freedom,” Coyne wrote on his personal website Why Evolution is True.

“Even in a private university, no professor has the right to indoctrinate his students, nor to impede their learning to favor a preferred political cause. He should be disciplined.”

MORE: UChicago reportedly investigates professor for ‘Deport Israelis’ sign

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: University of Chicago Professor Yali Amit; University of Chicago

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