College protests: Law firm eyeing applicants’ pro-Palestine activity

(NewsNation) — A New York law firm says students who took part in pro-Palestinian protests need not apply, promising to verify applicants’ participation, or lack thereof, through social media sweeps and background checks.

Police arrested more than 2,600 people during the widespread protests in the spring. Some employers are now turning away those who participated.

That includes a prominent New York law firm that hired a company to perform background checks and scour social media posts to ensure new hires didn’t join the protests.

New York Wall Street law firm Sullivan and Cromwell is the latest company to take a stance against protesters, requiring job applicants to explain their participation, according to The New York Times.

Sullivan and Cromwell did not respond to NewsNation’s repeated requests for comment.  

The firm declined to tell The New York Times whether it had already denied applicants based on their protest involvement. While they must adhere to some antidiscrimination rules, private firms are generally allowed to hire whom they want.

Sullivan and Cromwell’s reported actions go beyond singling out students who participated in protests. Joseph C. Shenker, senior chair at the firm, told The New York Times that behavior that could exclude a candidate includes antisemitism and slogans and statements that may be “triggering” to Jewish people.

The firm isn’t alone in its messaging, but it stands out for its potential rejection of students who didn’t use “antisemitic” language but were involved in protests where others did, according to The New York Times. That includes the often-used chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Some consider the chant a threat against Israel. Others say it’s a call to liberate the West Bank and Gaza from Israeli occupation, which predates the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.

Those views could cost some applicants jobs — not just at Sullivan and Cromwell. A new poll by the online research group Intelligent.com suggests students who participated in protests may face long-term consequences. Of the 672 student protesters polled, 29% said an employer rescinded a job offer in the past six months.

Seven in 10 pro-Palestine protesters also said interviewers have asked about their protest history.

Finance titan Bill Ackman was among the first to kick off the trend, calling on Harvard to release names of pro-Palestinian students so companies and CEOs wouldn’t hire them.

Not all agree.

Andrew Dudum, CEO of the online men’s health company Hims, encouraged student protesters to apply.

“Moral courage > College degree,” Dudum wrote on X in May. “If you’re currently protesting against the genocide of the Palestinian people & for your university’s divestment from Israel, keep going. It’s working. There are plenty of companies & CEOs eager to hire you, regardless of university discipline.”