What is Zionism? The different meanings of a contested term

(The Conversation) — Haverford, a small liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, has become the latest U.S. school to settle a lawsuit over how it handled allegations of antisemitism. In a statement on Aug. 7, 2026 , its president, Wendy Raymond, wrote that “all students including those who identify as Jewish, and/or Israeli, and those who support Zionism: that is, the right of the Jewish people to self-determination and statehood in the land of Israel, are welcome and enjoy equal access to the College and all of its educational programs and activities.”

This statement is not unusual . After the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, the United States saw a wave of campus protests against Israel . Those protests led to a surge of complaints about campus antisemitism , and numerous lawsuits and federal civil rights investigations .

Most of these allegations concerned the alleged mistreatment of Jewish students and faculty who identify as Zionists, or merely refuse to denounce Zionism . That has led some administrations, such as Haverford’s, to explicitly affirm that it is forbidden to harass or otherwise discriminate against…