A top law firm has reportedly rescinded its job offers to Ivy League students who signed anti-Israel statements in response to the mass murder of Jews in Israel by Hamas.
Davis Polk, a top U.S. law firm, said in an internal email to employees that the students’ statements do not represent the firm’s values, according to a report by NBC News.
The law firm announced that it has already rescinded three letters of employment for law students from both Harvard and Columbia University, as they signed onto organizational statements about Israel.
Harvard Law campus (The Associated Press)
“These statements are simply contrary to our firm’s values and we thus concluded that rescinding these offers was appropriate in upholding our responsibility to provide a safe and inclusive work environment for all Davis Polk employees,” Neil Barr, Managing Partner of Davis Polk & Wardwell, said in the email.
“At this time, we remain in dialogue with two of these students to ensure that any further color being offered to us by these students is considered,” Barr added.
A representative of Davis Polk reportedly pointed out a statement that was included in the email:
The views expressed in certain of the statements signed by law school student organizations in recent days are in direct contravention of our firm’s value system. For this reason and to ensure we continue to maintain a supportive and inclusive work environment, the student leaders responsible for signing on to these statements are no longer welcome in our firm; and their offers of employment have thus been rescinded.
As Breitbart News reported, more than 30 student groups at Harvard reacted to the terrorist attacks against Israel — which left more than 1,300 Israelis dead, and also involved rape, beheadings, bodies being set on fire, and kidnappings — by signing anti-Israel statements.
In their letter, the Ivy League students declared, in part, “We hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”
The mass murder of Jews in Israel by the Palestinian terror group Hamas also galvanized students across the U.S. into putting on pro-Palestine, anti-Israel demonstrations on their college campuses, with one student at Ohio State University even referring to the slaughtering of Jews by Hamas as “a resistance movement.”
Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman reacted to the Harvard statement by calling on the university to release the names of students that are members of groups that signed the statement, so that employers do not “inadvertently” hire pro-terrorist graduates in the future.
Sweetgreen CEO Jonathan Neman responded to the Harvard statement by taking to social media to say that he would “like to know” which students signed onto the letter “so I know never to hire these people.”
“Same,” EasyHealth CEO David Duel posted in response to Neman.
Same
— David Duel (@ddueltech) October 10, 2023
FabFitFun CEO Michael Broukhim also reacted to the Harvard statement, writing, “Discriminating against terrorist supporters is the most comically easy decision I’ll ever have to make as a CEO.”
Discriminating against terrorist supporters is the most comically easy decision I’ll ever have to make as a CEO
— Michael Broukhim (@broukhim) October 12, 2023
Meanwhile, Judge Matthew Solomson of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims revealed that he will not let any of the students who signed onto the statements clerk for him, NBC News noted.
Prominent donors, including the Wexner Foundation — co-founded by Leslie Wexner, the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret — have also cut ties with Harvard over the students’ statement.
Student groups at other Ivy League universities, including Columbia, issued similar joint statements.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.