Ora Pescovitz

Jan 3, 2024 | bridgemi.com | Ora Pescovitz |David A. Dulio |Mark Navin |James Naus

Higher education is at an inflection point. According to a July Gallup survey, only 17 percent of Americans have a “great deal” of confidence in their colleges and universities, an historic low and down from 28 percent in 2015. Recent months have intensified national debates about leadership, education, free speech, ethics and how (or if) to combat hate at America's universities. These developments have likely driven down confidence even further.

Dec 15, 2023 | thehill.com | Ora Pescovitz

During their testimony last Tuesday before a House committee addressing the increase of antisemitism on college campuses, three prominent university presidents were asked if calls for the genocide of Jews were permissible. They could not give a convincing or decisive answer and instead resorted to legal rationalizations of what was “allowable” depending on the context.

Dec 4, 2023 | detroitnews.com | Ora Pescovitz

Ora Hirsch Pescovitz |  The Detroit NewsSince the Hamas massacre in Israel seven weeks ago, university campuses have been places of vociferous and volatile protests. Amid the ongoing war, increasing numbers of discriminatory acts against Jews, Muslims and Arabs have occurred. On Nov. 17, pro-Palestinian protesters violently pushed their way into the University of Michigan’s Ruthven building, breeching security on their way to occupy the president’s office.

Aug 28, 2023 | jamanetwork.com | Ora Pescovitz

In the 1960s when I was a child, my mother was always pointing out remarkable women who had achieved unusual things, encouraging me to aspire to do the same. Once when one of my brothers was hospitalized at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, my mother came home to tell me with enormous excitement that not only was there a woman physician on the faculty but that she was pregnant! Many years later when I gave grand rounds at the same institution, I shared that story with the faculty.