Accuracy in Media recently uncovered that Philip Crane, a visiting professor at Virginia Military Institute, previously held a significant role in a controversial pro-Palestinian student organization at Columbia University. The group blamed to Israel for the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, a position that sparked widespread criticism from political leaders, students, and antisemitism watchdogs.

So Accuracy in Media headed to the VMI campus to demand Crane be held accountable.

Crane served as secretary of the SIPA Palestine Working Group during his master’s studies at Columbia University from 2022 to 2024. He was part of a movement within Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs that promoted “awareness, understanding, and engagement” on issues relating to Palestine. This group is aligned with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which has recently faced intense scrutiny for alleged threats and incitements on campus. In 2023, the group signed a letter to the university that not only accused Israel of causing the October 7 attacks but also criticized Israel’s policies, describing them as “aggression, apartheid, and settler-colonization,” while implicating the U.S. and other Western governments for their support.

Despite some group leaders distancing themselves from the letter afterward, Crane did not retract his endorsement. His LinkedIn profile now lists him as a visiting professor at VMI, where he teaches international politics.

AIM President Adam Guillette expressed outrage over the appointment, telling The National Desk, “It’s morally outrageous that VMI students — some of the most patriotic Americans — should be forced to learn from a radical anti-American antisemite.” Guillette, who is known for his proactive approach to exposing antisemitism, including using digital billboard trucks, announced plans to visit VMI to raise awareness about the situation.

Virginia Military Institute claims that statements Accuracy in Media made about professor Philip Crane are false.

This is, itself, not true. The reality is that VMI thinks that our statements are unimportant. Given what our statements about Crane are, this makes VMI’s reaction worse.

AIM noted that Crane, a member of VMI’s Class of 2016, attended Columbia University to do his Master’s from 2022 to 2024.

While there, he served as secretary of the SIPA Palestine Working Group. Membership of a student activist group is not a crime, obviously, nor is it normally reprehensible. However, after the events of October 7, 2023 – where 1,200 young people were slaughtered by Hamas terrorists at a peace and music festival – a number of such student groups at Columbia signed this letter. Which included:

The weight of responsibility for the war and casualties undeniably lies with the Israeli extremist government and other Western governments, including the U.S. government, which fund and staunchly support Israeli aggression, apartheid and settler-colonization.

And:

We cannot view the recent actions of Palestinian fighters in isolation.

But we can. We insist we ought to as well. Slaughtering 1,200 people. Hauling off young women to be repeatedly raped then slaughtered, their dead bodies to be paraded through the streets. Yes, this can and should be viewed in isolation as a gross evil. On the very simple grounds that this is a gross evil.

This is not complicated. What was done that day was vile, should be condemned as vile and is the moral responsibility of those who did it and of those who did it alone. There is no “Yes, but…” to it at all.

Philip Crane signed that letter. Further, he has not reconsidered – we’re entirely willing to agree that some to all of us have done things as students which upon reflection we shouldn’t have done.

So VMI is wrong, untruthful, here. But what’s worse:

Virginia Military Institute is committed to providing an environment that emphasizes the dignity and self-worth of every member of our community. We do not tolerate discrimination, hate speech, or speech that would incite violence or racism of any kind. VMI is a place of leadership and honor, rigorous academic exploration, spirited debate, and civil discourse. VMI does not prevent faculty, staff, and cadets from having difficult debates on controversial topics relevant to the contemporary climate. In fact, we encourage it as a fundamental principle necessary in providing cadets a wide range of ideas and concepts while teaching them to critically examine and evaluate information.

Apparently, VMI does so by supporting a “vile anti-American antisemite” and using him to teach at VMI – the place where they do not “tolerate discrimination, hate speech, or speech that would incite violence or racism of any kind.”

Join us in taking action at SaveVMI.com.