F-the University of Chicago

If you want a prime example of how our universities have gone off the rails, look no further than the University of Chicago’s Eman Abdelhadi. Speaking at a socialist conference on July 5 in Chicago, she told the audience, “F- the University of Chicago.” She called the university “evil” and also bragged about how she used her teaching position to advance the Palestinian agenda.

It’s all about power, according to Abdelhadi. 

(All these years, I thought it was all about education.)

Here is her University of Chicago faculty page.

Checking the campus fishwrap, the Maroon, it seems there is no news on this as yet, but there is an article about a recent protest (March 2025) in support of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student whom the government is trying to deport. Here is what she had to say on this occasion.

“Mahmoud Khalil has not been charged with a crime. I repeat, he has not been charged with a crime. Even according to the unjust system of laws that govern this country, Mahmoud Khalil is innocent,” Abdelhadi said. “Mahmoud Khalil is a political prisoner. Tyrant-king Trump is sending a message that we could all be political prisoners, that nothing can protect us if we dissent, not our legal statuses and not even the constitution of this land.”

And what is the reaction of the “evil” university administrators to Abdelhadi’s most recent comments?

Jul 9, 2025

“The University is aware of a faculty member’s publicized comments at a recent conference. The University of Chicago is deeply committed to the values of academic freedom and the free expression of ideas, and for this reason does not limit the comments of faculty members, who speak for themselves and not for the University. It is the responsibility of our faculty to advance scholarship and to teach our students to the highest standards of the profession. That includes creating classrooms that are free from discrimination, welcome many different viewpoints, and focus on developing students’ rigorous critical thinking skills. This is the basis on which faculty are evaluated. We take any concerns that our faculty are not fulfilling this responsibility seriously, and are investigating this situation.”

In the interest of full disclosure, when I was teaching part-time at UC Irvine from 1998-2016, I criticized UCI and the entire UC system,  not to mention some of its presidents and chancellors. I even wrote an op-ed in the Orange County Register whose title and theme were that UCI had to do more to protect its Jewish students. But I always did it in a professional manner, and to its credit, the university respected my freedom of speech. However, I never called the university “evil” or said, “F- UCI”. There is nothing professional about that kind of language about your employer. Where I come from, there are consequences for those kinds of insults about the people you work for.

I will leave it to the University of Chicago to decide if they want to keep Abdelhadi on their faculty given how she feels about the institution. I just wish universities would take a long, hard look at professors who use their positions and classrooms to advance their political causes.  And if Eman Abdelhadi wanted to embarrass her university, she certainly succeeded.