Wokeness has taken a sharp right turn

For years, conservative critics have accused universities of becoming ideological echo chambers. They derided “safe spaces,” mocked the “woke mob,” and warned that academia had devolved into a playground for fragile sensibilities. They called out “cancel culture” as the left’s favorite tool – a way to punish dissent and enforce orthodoxy under the pretense of protecting the vulnerable.

And to be honest, there was something to that criticism. I say this as the president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where I have been personally attacked for taking positions that contradict prevailing left-wing orthodoxy, while also being told, abroad, that Israeli academics should be shunned altogether due to our nationality.

But now, in both Israel and the United States, those same conservative voices are taking notes – and turning them into policy.

In Israel, some on the nationalist right are now mimicking the very tactics they once claimed to despise. The emerging right-wing “woke” movement has made it its mission to monitor, shame, and publicly pressure academics whose views they deem dangerous or even insufficiently patriotic. Like their progressive counterparts, they demand ideological purity. 

They pressure institutions to punish dissent; call for firings, for defunding, for intervention. Not because of academic failure, but because of perceived disloyalty. Within this climate, dissent from government policy, particularly regarding the war, or even expressions of humanitarian concern for Gaza civilians, are frequently framed as existential threats to the state.

The targets of outrage have changed. The cancel tactics have not.

This is not a principled defense of academic excellence. It’s hypersensitivity with a nationalist accent. And it isn’t confined to Israel. The same dynamics are playing out in the United States, where political leaders threaten universities with funding cuts for speech they don’t like, and student groups demand institutional action against speakers and scholars they find offensive.

Let’s be clear: universities are not designed to make people comfortable. That has never been their purpose. They are spaces of intellectual friction, where disagreement is not a threat, but a precondition for progress. Academic freedom means engaging with ideas you may deeply oppose, without calling for the cancellation of those who hold them.

Of course, academic freedom is not a blank check. It protects the pursuit of knowledge through teaching and research. It does not extend to all speech in all contexts, especially when speech crosses the line into incitement. When that line is crossed, universities must act, though not by appeasing political fashion or silencing dissent.

And crucially, the line between protected expression and harmful rhetoric cannot be drawn by pressure groups or politicians. It cannot shift depending on which party holds power.

The irony is that many who now decry ideological rigidity on campus are actively promoting it, just under different colors. In both the US and Israel, loud voices are treating academic disagreement as an existential threat, rather than a democratic strength.

But here’s the reality: the sky is not falling. The university is still here. At BGU, registration is at an all-time high. Students from across the political spectrum still believe that we are the greatest multiplier of their opportunities. And just weeks ago, thousands of those same students, right, left, and everything in between, danced together at the largest Purim celebration we’ve ever hosted.

Debate is still happening. People still disagree. And somehow, the world continues to spin.

If I could offer a bit of unsolicited advice to the loudest voices on the right attacking academia, it would be this: in the words of former Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, drink some water, take a deep breath.

Disagreement on campus is not a national crisis. It’s a sign of national health. And if you find yourself using the tactics you once condemned, maybe it’s time to reconsider what, exactly, you’re fighting for.