Campus protests against the Israeli bombing of Gaza have led to nearly 3,000 arrests across the United States. Jobs are also on the line. US students face recruitment challenges after Gaza protests, reports the Financial Times.
The newspaper cites the case of Ryna Workman, a New York University law student who made a pro-Palestinian statement in an email as president of the Student Bar Association. “Israel bears full responsibility for the tremendous loss of life,” said the statement. Other students shared the email with a law firm, which had offered a job to Workman. The company then declined to hire Workman, explaining the statement “profoundly conflicts” with its “values”.
There have been other such cases. Another law firm rescinded three job offers to Harvard and Columbia students for similar declarations. Other employers have also threatened to do the same.
Several legal firms have said they will not tolerate bias, discrimination, or hate speech. They are stepping up background checks of prospective employees and scrutinising their activities and social media posts.
Heightened scrutiny
The heightened scrutiny is adding to the stress of college graduates entering an uncertain job market, The National Association of Colleges and Employees estimates recruitment of new graduates is down 5.8 per cent this year – the biggest drop in a decade.
Some of the universities have also cracked down on protests, calling the police and suspending activists.
It has had a chilling effect.
A number of students, especially from poorer families, have avoided getting closely involved in the protests for fear of hurting their career.
Protesters face far more scrutiny than demonstrators in the past, with worrying new trends emerging like “doxing”, disclosing personal information online with malicious intent.
A senior Wall Street bank executive said the protests would affect the schools where they took place. “There are consequences to these people’s behaviour,” the banker said. “We’re still going to hire from Harvard and Columbia but we’re even more open-minded about where we recruit from.”
However, officials at several elite universities rocked by the protests said they had not seen a significant drop in students getting jobs.
Still, students are being urged to be careful. One official running a university student career centre advised: “You need to be very careful about what you’re putting out there and clean up your online presence.” Recommending they keep their social media accounts private, she said: “If it’s online, they are going to find you. Make sure LinkedIn is popping up first.”
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