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Editor’s note: Over the past several decades, few places in America have become more hostile to free speech than our universities. Yet in the wake of rising anti-Semitism and the pro-Hamas campus rallies and occupations that were sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre, university administrators seem to have had a sudden change of heart.

The Freedom Center is exposing the most egregious perpetrators of these double standards in free expression as the Top Ten Ivory Tower Hypocrites. These are universities whose leaders have permitted woke leftist activists to run roughshod over campus rules and violate codes of conduct with impunity, while failing to extend even basic free speech protections to students and faculty with opposing views. The University of Illinois-Chicago is #8 on our list.

During the weeks and months following Hamas’ horrific October 7^th massacre of innocent Israeli Jews, the University of Illinois-Chicago, like many campuses across America, played host to pro-Hamas protests and riots that created a hostile climate for Jewish students on campus.

In March of 2024, campus demonstrators deliberately targeted the university’s Jewish population by holding a rally in front of the campus Chabad house and chanting genocidal slogans including “There is only one solution; Intifada, revolution” and “We don’t want no two states; we want all of [19]48.”

At another rally held the following month, pro-Hamas activists chanted “Resistance is justified”—an endorsement of terrorism—and held signs with the genocidal message “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a call for the elimination of Israel and the slaughter of its Jewish population.

A third demonstration featured blatantly anti-Semitic signs accusing the Jews of blood libel and invoking one of their most sacred symbols to do it. “There is blood on your hands” read signs at the event with a Star of David replacing the “A” in “hands.”

Faculty and staff at UIC also promoted Jew hatred. Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP) and the Arab American Cultural Center at UIC hosted an event titled “UIC Art and Love Fest for Palestine.” The event invitation demanded that Israel institute a ceasefire without acknowledging that Hamas and Palestine were the instigators of the conflict and continued to hold innocent Israeli Jews hostage in barbaric conditions. “Drop by to create art to show our love for Palestine,” urged the invitation, adding that “We stand for ceasefire and an end to the Palestinian genocide.”

Throughout this months-long outpouring of Jew hatred, UIC administrators were deafeningly silent. Curiously though, the university very recently revised its policy on open expression, which dates from October 3, 2024.

“The University of Illinois Chicago, in its role as an academic institution, is committed to an environment in which a variety of ideas can be reasonably proposed and critically examined,” states the policy. “We encourage the free exchange of ideas and the expression of dissent within the university community, while remaining committed to creating and nurturing an environment that balances our respect for individual freedom with our beliefs in responsibility towards community.”

The new policy also highlights the importance of “contentious” speech, declaring that “Individuals are encouraged to engage in dialogue, debate, and deliberation; and to hear diverse points of view – including controversial and, at times, contentious speech – all of which is critical to the development of active and analytical thinking skills.”

While these statements in support of free expression are laudable, UIC has not historically stood by them. Consider the case of UIC law professor Jason Kilborn, who found himself in hot water with the university for including redacted references to racist and sexist slurs in a 2020 law exam.

The exam question asked students to consider a hypothetical example in which an employee was called “a ‘n____’ and ‘b____’ (profane expressions for African Americans and women)” as evidence of discrimination in a lawsuit. Kilborn notably did NOT actually spell out the slurs—which would have also been within his rights—but instead used the first letter and dashes as quoted above. But even this minimal reference to the existence of these slurs was enough to set off the campus speech police.

The Black Law Students Association put out a statement on social media claiming that Kilborn’s reference to these redacted slurs “shocked students and created a huge distraction from taking the exam.” The Association also created a petition demanding that Kilborn be removed as chair of the academic affairs committee and from his other committee appointments.

Kilborn offered to send a letter of apology to his students, but that failed to satisfy the UIC administration.  Yielding to the mob, UIC suspended Kilborn, and required him to undergo diversity trainings in order to return to the classroom. In an ironic twist, the readings that Kilborn was assigned to complete for this diversity training used a censored form of the same ethnic slur which had prompted his suspension in the first place.

“They assign me to do this online sort of diversity course…  But they also, of course, wanted to make it more burdensome and painful for me, and so they assign me a series of these supplemental readings,” Kilborn told CampusReform.org.  “[UIC has] subjected me to a year-long relentless campaign of torment because I wrote “N” space on my exam, and now, the very first reading that you give me says “N (space) in it,” he said.

Kilborn has filed a lawsuit against UIC alleging violations of his academic freedom, UIC policy, and several constitutional amendments.

Nor is this the only case in which UIC administrators have persecuted individuals for free expression which contradicts the woke leftist narrative of the oppressed and their oppressors. Members of the conservative student group, TPUSA, were threatened with arrest when they set up a table to distribute leaflets on campus without first reserving a space.

Video of the incident shows that the TPUSA students were approached by Ruby Lepe, assistant director of building management, who ordered them to leave.

“You have to make a reservation,” Lepe declared. “All this space here, this space inside the building, and the grassy areas, are reserved for meetings and conferences.”

When a TPUSA member objected that, “You shouldn’t have to reserve a space on a public property,” Lepe responded, “This isn’t public property, it’s university property,” ignoring the fact that as a public university, UIC is bound by the First Amendment.

UIC’s blatant failure to protect the free speech of the TP USA members and Professor Kilborn while giving pro-Hamas fanatics free reign to terrorize Jewish students on campus, demonstrates why it belongs on the list of Ivory Tower Hypocrites.

Previously in this series…

#9: George Mason University

#10: The University of Washington