Today’s college students entered elementary school as fire drills gave way to active-shooter drills and their parents navigated the 2008 recession. They came of age as the climate crisis gained attention and the 2016 election of Donald Trump polarized their communities.

Their schools closed during the pandemic, then streets shut down for protests following the murder of George Floyd. Now they are struggling with high rates of anxiety and depression as they prepare to enter an economy in which income inequality is near all-time highs.

Nearly half of 18- to 29-year-olds favor socialism—more than those who support a market economy, which many blame for the compounding disasters they face, according to a 2022 poll from Pew Research.

Noah Thompson, a 24-year-old senior at the University of Oregon, works in a university dining hall to put himself through school. Raised by a single mother, he believes too much of the nation’s wealth has accrued to the most affluent, and capitalism is skewed to help the rich and exploit the poor. He said he’s troubled by war profiteers selling arms to Israel, who then use the weapons to kill children, and has helped organize a “No Money for Massacres” campaign to promote a cease-fire in Palestine.

“There always seems to be enough money, bombs, for war, for intervention abroad, and never enough money for education, for healthcare, for creating a better and secure society for us here now,” he said.

Some student protesters have minimized the brutality of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, when militants killed more than 1,200 Israeli civilians, including concertgoers and children, and took 240 hostages. Health authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza say more than 13,000 people had been killed there in the war.

Some protesters have referred to the attack in demonstrations and public statements as an “armed uprising” or “act of resistance.” That framing has been particularly abhorrent to Jewish leaders, who have called on campus administrators to denounce such language as antisemitic.

Many who support the Palestinian cause on campuses say they’re uncomfortable speaking publicly for fear of being harassed or called antisemitic. Trucks have circled some campuses, including at Harvard and Columbia, identifying the names and faces of students accused of blaming Israel for the Hamas attack. Ads for many rallies encourage attendees to wear masks to protect their anonymity, not take pictures and avoid reporters.

College presidents are struggling to navigate between championing free speech, mollifying outraged alumni and protecting Jewish and Arab students from harassment. Universities in recent weeks have announced advisory committees, task forces and research centers to address rising antisemitism.

At Columbia University, a male student was hit with a wooden stick after he confronted a female student who was ripping down posters advertising a rally supporting Israel. At both Tulane University and the University of Massachusetts, Palestinian supporters punched Jewish students during protests. At Cornell University, a student was charged with threatening to shoot up a kosher dining hall. Students at schools across the country have torn down or scribbled over posters of Israelis who are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

A 62-year-old doctor found out he was stateless after he applied for a renewal of his US passport. Siavash Sobhani was born in the US, went to school, and has practiced medicine in the country for more than 30 years. So, it came as a shock to him when an official informed him that Sobhani was granted US citizenship by mistake when he was an infant.

“This was a shock to me,” Sobhani, who turned 62 this month, told the Washington Post. “I’m a doctor. I’ve been here all my life. I’ve paid my taxes. I’ve voted for presidents. I’ve served my community in Northern Virginia. During Covid, I was at work, putting myself at risk, putting my family at risk. So when you’re told after 61 years, ‘Oh there was a mistake, you’re no longer a US citizen,’ it’s really, really shocking.”

According to a letter from a State Department official, Sobhani should not have been granted citizenship at the time of his birth because his father was a diplomat with the Embassy of Iran. Those born in the United States to parents who have diplomatic immunity do not acquire US citizenship at birth, the letter pointed out.