A Colorado University university official on Thursday sought to distance the educational institution from a department’s accusation that Israel’s retaliatory strikes amounted to an “unprecedented genocidal attack,” a development that mirrors the tension roiling America’s colleges after Hamas militants crossed the border from Gaza earlier this month and killed 1,400 Israelis.

Israel’s retaliatory strikes killed 8,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

Philip DiStefano, chancellor of University of Colorado Boulder, stopped short of admonishing the Department of Ethnic Studies – which called Israel’s response following the Hamas attack “another unprecedented genocidal attack on the Palestinian people” – but he said the latter’s position does not reflect the university’s stance on the conflict.  

“While the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression protect the speech of University of Colorado Boulder faculty, staff and students, that does not mean their points of view represent the perspectives of the university – nor that we endorse them,” DiStefano said.

In a statement posted on the College of Arts and Sciences’ website, the ethnic studies department described Israel’s actions as an “intentional collective punishment and forced displacement with unprecedented levels of air bombings on civilians.”

“This statement affirms our unwavering and continued commitment to a free Palestine. We stand with our Palestinian students, faculty, staff, and broader community to demand an immediate ceasefire, as we continue to support complete liberation, de-occupation, decarceration, and decolonization of Palestine,” the department said.

The tension in CU Boulder is but the latest example of the discord permeating America’s universities, where students have launched protests to denounce Israel and show support for the Palestinian people. The rallies have attracted counter-protests from students who back Israel.

In response, some university officials have walked a tightrope, expressing horror at the violence, while noting the heavy losses on both sides.

The statement on the Israel-Hamas war from University of Colorado system’s leaders sought to do just that. 

“We at the University of Colorado are horrified and saddened by the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel that have sparked a war with the full breadth of consequences not yet known,” said university President Todd Saliman, along with Chancellors DiStefano, Don Elliman, Michelle Marks, and Jennifer Sobanet.

“Our hearts weigh heavy for all those who have been impacted by the conflict and the killing and wounding of so many. We have students, faculty and staff on our campuses who are intimately connected to many experiencing these horrors. We share our heartbreak with you,” they said.

In his response to the ethnic studies department, DiStefano said the university will continue “to stand for academic freedom, free speech and non-discrimination, and we will never condone or abide the direct or indirect endorsement of antisemitism, Islamophobia, violence, discrimination, racism or hatred in any form.”

He added: “Productive discussion is at its core inclusive discussion, and any expression that aims to harass or demean others is antithetical to our values as an institution.”

In its statement, CU Boulder’s Department of Ethnic Studies demanded that the university “take a stand with Palestinians and not be complicit in their genocide.” The department said it acknowledges that, “historically, Jews have been victims of genocide and continue to be victims of antisemitic discrimination and violence.”

“At the same time, we caution against false equivalences between the settler colonial violence of disproportionately powerful militarized states on one hand and colonized peoples on the other. The state of Israel’s violence against Palestinians in Gaza and other parts of occupied Palestine is not a ‘conflict’ that is equally violent ‘on both sides,'” the department said, adding it also “(rejects) the language of ‘terrorism’ used by the U.S. and Israel to justify the Israeli state killing machine.”

The department added: “As a department whose work is informed by intersectional, anti-racist, and decolonial feminist, queer, and trans scholarship and activism, we join the scholars and activists of the Palestinian Feminist Collective in affirming Palestine as a feminist issue.”

Elsewhere, more than 100 college and university presidents across America signed a statement expressing support for Israel and arguing that the Israel-Hamas war requires “more clarity” from higher education institutions.  

“We are horrified and sickened by the brutality and inhumanity of Hamas. Murdering innocent civilians including babies and children, raping women and taking the elderly as hostages are not the actions of political disagreement but the actions of hate and terrorism,” the statement said.

“The basis of all universities is a pursuit of truth, and it is times like these that require moral clarity. Like the fight against ISIS, the fight against Hamas is a fight against evil. We, the presidents and chancellors of universities, colleges and higher education associations across the United States of America and the world, stand with Israel, with the Palestinians who suffer under Hamas’ cruel rule in Gaza and with all people of moral conscience,” the statement added.

In Colorado, two university presidents – Eric Hogue of Colorado Christian University and John Marshall of Colorado Mesa University – signed the declaration.