Balancing religious observance w/ a potentially antisemitic campus environment

I’m an undergrad and have been working on my commitment to being shomeret Shabbat. In order to graduate, I also need to attend a certain number of one-time lectures by visiting professors, usually given every few Fridays. During the latter half of winter term, this cuts into erev Shabbat.

I went to my first one a week or so after 7/10. The lecture of course had nothing to do with Israel or even current events, I’m not even sure how the topic came up. But out of nowhere, the guest lecturer said something like “Yeah some Israelis died, but look at what they’ve been doing to Palestinians all these decades” in a blatant minimization and thinly-veiled endorsal of the most devastating organized killing of Jews since the Holocaust. All the other students present were beaming and nodding along in agreement. I immediately felt sick and just got up and went home.

Since then, I’ve been really dreading having to attend more of these lectures. The attendees were mostly people from my same department, so now I also feel hesitant to approach anyone in general. I proudly incorporate my Jewish identity and love for Jewish history in all my work and research, but this has caused a huge blow to my confidence and dedication in terms of academics. I’m not exaggerating when I say I’m almost certainly the only Jewish student at this school. Add this to the fact that school counseling is basically nonexistent in this country and most of the staff have probably never met a Jewish person in their lives, and I know that speaking out would just put a big red target on my back.

Anyway, I guess this turned into a rant more than anything. But I also want to know, halachically speaking, whether it’s OK to continue attending lectures that cut into Shabbat. As previously alluded, there’s no way I can get an exemption on this requirement. So what I did was prepare my meals for during Shabbat, then candle lighting (had to do it like two hours before actual sunset), and since I live 10 mins from campus, I walked there without bags or anything in my pockets. Also didn’t use any electricity or write anything while I was there. Is this an acceptable compromise? Is it permissible to ask a non-Jewish friend to take pictures of the board or take notes for me to review later?