As US college campuses continue to be embroiled in demonstrations and internal conflict over the Israel-Hamas War more than one year after its outbreak, it is worth examining how the conflict initially boiled over into American higher education. To this end, the authors analyzed how university leaders chose to initially communicate with their communities following the horrifying October 7 terrorist attacks and the subsequent outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War that has victimized and displaced so many Palestinians and Israelis. It appears that university leaders generally either angered or exacerbated tensions within their campus communities with their insufficiently sensitive or ill-advised communications.