The son of the band Wilco’s frontman vowed to never step foot at Sarah Lawrence College again after he says he became a “pariah” for identifying as Jewish and supporting Israel – and promised to warn others “to avoid the school at all costs.”
Sammy Tweedy, whose father is singer Jeff Tweedy, said he has decided not to return to the Bronxville, New York school campus because of its inhospitable climate for Jewish students.
“The feeling of being a pariah was so intense that I developed these stomach problems that just made life really difficult, and I think they went away since leaving. So just literally for my health I can’t go back there,” Tweedy told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA).
The Chicago native is a history and music major at Sarah Lawrence, but he chose not to return to campus after his study abroad program at Tel Aviv University was put on hiatus due to the Israel-Hamas war, citing years of social ostracism for his vocal support of Israel.
“As long as you’re not willing to call for the destruction of the State of Israel and the expulsion or murder of the inhabitants of the State of Israel, you’re in for some trouble as a Jewish young person or college student,” Tweedy told the JTA, noting that he first faced criticism for going to Israel on Birthright in 2020.
“It was just like, I had done something very wrong by going to Israel, which I found to be very hypocritical,” he lamented of his classmates’ reactions to the trip, which is a free, 10-day heritage tour for young people of Jewish descent.
From that point forward, Tweedy explained, he widened his knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and became more outspoken on the topic in the classroom.
“I just realized I might as well just be the one person in these environments, in these classrooms, presenting an opinion that is somewhat more sympathetic to Israel,” he said, noting that he is also very critical of Israel’s right-wing government.
“Like, I’m not [a supporter of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party]…but I think that people misunderstand fundamentally why Jewish people are there.”
His peers, he claimed, denounced his views as “racist.”
“I was like, ‘What did I say that was racist? Why are they saying that?’ It’s because ‘you said Jewish people are indigenous to Israel.’ And I was like, that’s not f—ing racist. That doesn’t mean that Palestinians shouldn’t be able to live in that land or call it Palestine or whatever,” he recalled.
Tweedy also felt isolated by Sarah Lawrence’s Schools for Justice in Palestine chapter, which backed an “armed struggle” against Israel and even allegedly enshrined Khaire Alkam – a terrorist who killed seven Israelis at a synagogue in January – on a “wall of martyrs.”
“There was an active campaign on campus of saying that if you go to Hillel, you’re racist,” he recently told the New York Times for a piece on antisemitism on college campuses.
“I did not have friends anymore. And I would hear that people had heard I was a fascist or a Nazi or a racist. And I was like, ‘Where is this coming from?’”
Tweedy went to study abroad in Tel Aviv in August, he said.
However, even from thousands of miles away, people from Sarah Lawrence still found a way to target him in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack that left 1,200 dead, he told the JTA.
One post he shared with the outlet even told him “the blood of gaza is on your hands,” seemingly in response to Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of civilians the Gaza Strip.
Tweedy filed a bias incident report with the college administration when he saw the SJP chapter say online that the US media is “controlled by Zionists,” he continued.
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The school, however, decided that the use of the term “Zionist” – referring to those who endorse Jewish nationalism and believe in the continued existence and protection of Israel – made the post okay, he claimed.
He is not the only one troubled by the realities of Jewish life on campus: On Oct 31, Hillel’s Westchester chapter sent a letter to Sarah Lawrence President Cristle Collins Judd alleging that Jewish students have been “harassed, intimidated, bullied, and ‘canceled’ for simply expressing themselves as Jews, or discussing or identifying with Israel” since at least 2014, the JTA noted.
The letter also criticized diversity, equity, and inclusion director Briana Martin’s message to students after Oct. 7, which did not mention the Israelis who were killed in the attack.
Martin also endorsed an “Hour of Solidarity with Palestine” that was hosted by SJP, the outlet said.
Judd responded to the letter by downplaying Hillels of Westchester’s role on campus.
“Hillels of Westchester has no official relationship with the College, nor do you speak in any official capacity for our students,” she wrote, according to the JTA.
A spokesperson for Sarah Lawrence re-shared Judd’s statement with The Post on Thursday, adding that “Sarah Lawrence college is committed to a safe environment for all of our students.”
“Since Saturday October 7th, our focus has been, first and foremost, on the welfare and education of all our students and it remains so,” they continued.
“We are deeply disappointed that, at such a challenging time, misleading claims are circulating, serving to fuel the information wars that have clouded the news these past several weeks. This benefits neither our students nor our community at large, and actually hinders the College’s concerted efforts to support all on our campus during this excruciating and painful time, when nationally and globally anti-Semitism and Islamophobia both are on the rise.
“We are actively engaged in direct conversations with students from our various Jewish student organizations, and have responded individually and collectively to concerns shared with us by students and families, while also respecting and providing not only the privacy but also the supports our students request to foster a safe campus culture.”
The college’s statement also called attention to the planned renovation of the historic Ruth Leff Siegel Center into “an important gathering place on campus to support intercultural dialogue, a welcoming home for religious meals and rituals, and a new spiritual space for students of all faiths.”
Tweedy, meanwhile, was “having a really great time” in Israel before the war broke out, he told the JTA.
He is now staying with his girlfriend in Florida and is wrapping up his last classes remotely.
“But I’m going to transfer credits and graduate from [Sarah Lawrence and say goodbye and never donate a cent and tell everyone I know to avoid the school at all costs,” he said of his current relationship with the college.
Despite the difficulties, Tweedy also remains undeterred in his relationship with Israel.
“I just felt very attached to that vision of Israel, and preserving that sort of modern, more tolerant idea of what Israel could mean,” he said of the few months he spent joining protests against the government’s plan to overhaul the judicial system as well as the “secular nightlife.”
“I’m probably the most vocally pro-Israel, pro-normalizing the existence of Israel so that we can actually work to end this conflict,” Tweedy said of his family, which, in addition to his rock star dad, includes his mom, a former talent agent, and his older brother, Spencer.
“But I think we all are united by this idea that you can’t delegitimize the existence of one people or another and expect that to lead to any bettering of the situation,” he added.
Tweedy, his brother, and their dad performed a Hebrew song together in a Facebook video their mom shared on Oct. 9, two days after the Hamas attack.
Tweedy is also considering writing about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and getting involved with peace organizations.
“I care about the region. And I want people to stop killing each other,” he said.
Sammy Tweedy did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for a comment.
