In recent decades, universities across the country have become bitter political, ideological and cultural battlegrounds. The new war between Israel and Hamas, which coincided with the 50-year anniversary of the 1973 October War, has provoked sharp opinions on American campuses, with many institutions and students alike in a competition to see who denounces or supports which side in the conflict.

At Harvard University, some 30 student groups issued a statement blaming Israel “for all unfolding violence.” The statement resulted in not only the university being scolded by Harvard alumni, but also provoked a prominent law firm, Davis Polk & Wardwell, to revoke job offers to students who had participated as signatories in the statement. Other students at other universities have also experienced similar backlashes for their opinions on the conflict.

Because many progressive and conservative partisans have made support for or opposition to either side a key part of their activist rhetoric, national pressure to punish or reward academic institutions and student groups has reached a fever pitch amidst the ongoing conflict. 

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina even recently suggested of protesting students, “If any of those students on college campuses are foreign nationals on a visa, they should be sent back to their country.”

I’ve written before about the dangers of hyper-partisanship taking America into an Orwellian direction where we have enemies and allies of the day and one must engage in a kind of “Two Minutes Hate” to be socially accepted. This latest conflict in the Middle East is one that arouses intense arguments and yet contains moral, legal, historical and even spiritual dimensions that are not easily untangled.

To put students in an environment where one must openly side with, or oppose, a particular nation or people, unnecessarily divides young people. Unless you’re going to school at a military service academy, places of higher education should be neutral ground where all voices are able to peacefully interact with each other. 

This is why I was so impressed when University of Hawaii president David Lassner earlier this month issued a statement on the conflict that took a position of supporting students and their mental/emotional health above all else.

“We know from experience that issues in the Middle East and wars across the world have direct and devastating impact on our ʻohana,” Lassner wrote. “Regardless of anyone’s stance on the longstanding issue in the Middle East, this is a time when we need to not only keep hate and intolerance from our campuses and classrooms, but also show compassion for one another. We need aloha.”

The University of Hawaii has shown great institutional courage by choosing to put students and academics over partisanship. Lassner’s statement is precisely the kind of example that we need to set in Hawaii. Compassion for one another is a crucial virtue that we need more of in our world, and it’s powerful to be able to say to people no matter what they believe, where they are from, who they are or when they came to Hawaii, they will be treated as family. 

Most people have an opinion on the things going on in the world today. And others may not. But in Hawaii, a place of aloha, having the power to step back from division and be at peace with different people is a gift that we should all be thankful for.

Teaching people that they can have different beliefs and still get along is the most important thing we can impart. As we work for a more connected future, being able to see all people as citizens of a Planet Earth is something that the younger generations can benefit from.

This fall semester, I have had the amazing honor of studying for the very first time at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for my second master’s degree. It’s been 20 years since I took classes at a state public university, and I am so grateful that UH is a place where all of us are welcome, and all of us are valued. 

One of the things that has really impressed me is the fact that since my first day attending classes, every single professor and staff has emphasized the importance of mental health and self-care. At UH, the first thing they teach us is that we matter and that we aren’t alone. This is in stark contrast to the mainland university experience I had in my 20s, where we were expected to always study, perform and live in a zero-defects, high performance mindset.

This should be a safe space and neutral ground.

There are many things that one can fight over in this world, but it says something to be able to attend a university where we have neutral ground and peace with one another. Teaching people that individuals matter is a great way to sow the seeds of peace and build a better future.

All of us should not be blind to the fact that the new conflict in the Middle East is terrible. But in spite of that, we don’t need to fight the Battle of Armageddon thousands of miles away in the United States of America or here in Hawaii. This should be a safe space and neutral ground.

I know what I believe, I know what others believe, and I’m glad that at UH, no matter how different we may be, we are all the same thing while we’re there: Friends.