After refusing to meet demands for reform and losing $8 billion in funding, Harvard faces loss of its tax-exempt status and its authorization to enroll foreign students.
Woke DEI is contrary to civil rights law because it discriminates on the basis of race and sex. The Federal Government has solid grounds to demand the end to DEI (and whatever else it is re-labeled). But it is worth noting that DEI is also an important foundation of university antisemitism. DEI "social justice" Marxist ideology divides society into "oppressors" and "victims." Successful minorities--Asians and Jews--are designated "white oppressors" or "white adjacent" or "hyper-white." So Jews officially become villains. And Israel is a white state villain, oppressing "people of color" Palestinians (a counter-factual characterization of the Arabs who were great slavers in Africa and who despise blacks as slaves, and the Israeli Jews, half of whom originated in the Middle East). As long as DEI and its many antisemitic DEI bureaucrats remain, Jews will be discriminated against and in danger in our universities.
"As a Jewish convert to Orthodox Christianity with a fairly wide set of historical books under my belt, it troubles me to see some hierarchs and channels following the world's narrative about "anti-Semitism" and all the things that have been done to "combat anti-Semitism." I'll tell you directly, as a 100% pure blooded Ashkenazi man, how to fix "anti-Semitism:" Anti-Semitism will end when faithless Jews leave other groups of people alone and stop trying to transform their nations and cultures in ways that invariably harm the populations in question. It is really not that complicated.”
Things are getting really interesting but are moving in the right direction. First...FIRE and AFA's responses to the Trump administration both operate from a false premise. None of the campuses where the Trump administration has imposed sanctions actually has academic freedom for faculty and students on their campuses. FIRE's own data demonstrate this. You cannot claim the Trump administration is destroying something that does not exist.
Second, contrary to what many academics wish to believe, foreigners in the US, student/faculty or otherwise do NOT have the same freedom of speech as American citizens. Their presence in the country is contingent upon good behavior as determined by the US government. Advocating for positions considered anti-semitic, anti-black, anti-American, anti-American allies and participating in demonstrations that undermine American institutions, peace and tranquility are more than sufficient grounds for deportation. Foreign students/faculty do NOT have diplomatic immunity and should stop pretending that they do.
Third, another step that the federal government can take is to remove institutional immunity from students, faculty, staff and administrators of these universities. That would open up faculty, staff and students to PERSONAL liability for damages when the institution fails to protect Jewish students. If Harvard admits a pro-Hamas student, that student harasses/threatens Jewish students on campus and Harvard fails to expel that student, the student, admissions staff, president, conduct officers, faculty judicial board members etc. can each be held personally and separately liable for their failure to protect Jewish students. How many of these pompous faculty members are prepared to have their personal assets lost once Harvard's endowment is no longer a shield for them?
Lastly, my grandfather got his PhD in physical chemistry at Harvard at age 23. He and my grandmother both participated in science and supported colleges and museums all their lives encouraging their children and grandchildren to go to college. All were encouraged to study whatever subject they wished at whatever college they wished with one exception. They would NOT support anyone seeking to study at Harvard which they found to be an arrogant, corrupt and immoral institution. He graduated in 1936! It's long since time for reform to be imposed along the Charles!
It is disheartening to see that antisemitism is being dismissed as separate from the wave of hatred sweeping across our campuses. Antisemitism has become normalized. DEI and wok ideology are like a disease undermining the foundations of America—if we don’t confront and uproot it now, our country risks falling apart.
Fact check for the doctor: I am in no way dismissing antisemitism. I'm pointing out that this administration doesn't give one iota about antisemitism. It's using it as a pretext to go after its perceived enemies, and breaking every constitutional right in the process. If you're in favor of a government that deports students who signed an op-ed you may not agree with, you might have felt right at home in the USSR or worse. Gosh, if they actually cared about antisemitism, can you think of a couple of more effective ways to address that than bullying institutions at random?
"this administration doesn't give one iota about antisemitism"
I realize this is the new coping strategy for Jewish liberals who are caught bw the rock of admitting the Dems didn't lift a finger to help Jewish students and the hard place of admitting that only Trump and the Republicans have any kind of plan to help them, but it does raise a question: what would they have to do differently to oppose antisemitism? I don't understand why their current aggressive actions are ipso facto illegitimate, except that it makes Jewish liberals uncomfortable.
And this hysteria about the USSR is absurd. In the USSR you were faced with gulag or execution, here we're talking about stripping a visa and sending students home to mom and dad. (Also, wasn't our professoriate the most ardent backers of the USSR? lol)
The law is clear that the Secy of State has the right to revoke visas if he deems that the visa holder in question is a threat to national security interests, and Hamas supporters certainly fit the bill. I know it's hard for Jewish liberals to admit that the campus Hamasniks would like to see them dead, but they say it constantly, ie "Globalize the Intifada" (which includes firebombing the Pennsylvania Governor on Passover.)
—If they actually cared about antisemitism, can you think of a couple of more effective ways to address that than bullying institutions at random?
Certainly none of this is "at random", quite the oppostite, esp the two leaders of CUAD @ Columbia, who were front and center at all the "pro-Palestinian" protests. (And if you don't think CUAD hates Jews, I encourage you to read their Substack, which reacted to 10/7 the same way sports fans react when their team wins the championship.)
"Can you think of a couple of more effective ways"? I honestly really can't. Threatening Ivy League funding has certainly been incredibly effective, easily more effective than any prior act, which have been mostly empty words. It's just a fact that the Trump admin (regardless of how crassly done) and people like Elise Stefanik have done more to protect Jewish students than all the Dems combined.
Sorry to interrupt the mutual congratulatory society here. I'll take you at your word that you actually believe this, despite evidence to the contrary.
To be clear, antisemitism is a real and growing problem. I believe in confronting it. I'll say that till I'm blue in the face. That is NOT what is happening here. Universities are under attack. It's outlined in Project 2025. Antisemitism is but one of the pretexts this administration is using to attack universities. The other is a sudden, inexplicable cancelling of research grants, resetting at random indirect cost numbers, threatening international students (which is actually part of our international trade: we buy goods from China, we get tuition dollars back), and up next is a gutting of Pell grants. Just listen to Christopher Rufo. He explains the attack clearly in a recent appearance on The Daily podcast.
History has shown again and again that anti-intellectual attacks are the first cousin of antisemitism. And yet, here you are, riding on the Red Cavalry to destroy higher education.
And you're silent, even mocking, when Elon Musk praises antisemites, takes aim at the ADL, offers a Hitler salute twice, endorses (along with JD Vance) the AfD. All that is outside of your evidence. History shows how tragically this ends.
Deporting the mobster of terror, Mahmoud Khalil—who openly called for the extermination of the Jewish people—is far from a random act. This is a deliberate and calculated move targeting individuals hiding behind the façade of student activism while being funded by regimes —Qatar and Iran. These are not peaceful activists—they are ideological extremists whose goal is to undermine and ultimately destroy Western civilization.
There we go. Again, just a fact-check here: You are certain that Mahmoud Khalil, green card holder, husband of an American citizen, is a "mobster of terror"? And that he was funded by Iran and Qatar? (By the way, Jared Kushner gets a lot of funding from Qatar.) I would love to see that evidence. Please provide it in the comment below.
So let's talk about rights. Khalil had not be accused or charged with any crime. He was detained and sent to a far away jail. There was no deliberation, evidence provided by the government to make the case that he had committed a crime, etc. Zilch. You're comfortable with that? No due process?
I was actually referring to Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts student pulled off the street and into a van and then also sent to far away confinement. Her crime? Apparently she co-authored an op-ed in the student newspaper.
I just want to make sure we're on the record with you being ok with that, Doctor?
A foreigner in the US can be removed for participating in anti-American demonstrations including expressing opinions that are hostile to the US government or its policies. The conditions of their visa do NOT permit them to engage in the same speech and protests as American citizens. This is no different when Americans travel abroad to work or study. The Trump administration is perfectly within its rights on this. If foreign students aren't comfortable with those restrictions they are free to return to their home countries and express themselves from there.
Actually, it's quite different. First of all, Khalil is a green card holder, which gives him many of the same constitutional rights as U.S. citizens. Second, there must first be due process where evidence is presented in a courtroom or some similar forum to (gasp) prove that the activities were anti-American. Please read the Constitution. You might find the First Amendment interesting.
Second, for Ozturk, I just want to make sure that you are endorsing the Administration's actions of grabbing her off a street, no warning, no evidence, no proceedings and no opportunity for her to make her case. You good with getting rid of any due process?
If so, you might want to read the whole Constitution first.
You must have either fallen asleep or deliberately turned a blind eye not to see both of these individuals’ speeches—on social media and during mob activities! Yet, in order to preserve your ideology, you're clearly willing to ignore the obvious. I can email you the full report if you'd like.
Not quite. I'm well aware of the speeches, as well as the other blatantly antisemitic acts and threats that emerged during the Columbia protests. And yet, if Khalil had committed a crime, or had attacked someone, he should be prosecuted for that crime.I think you fell asleep when we were talking about the Constitution.
I can think of some more effective ways...including stripping antisemites like Ilhan Omar, who are naturalized US citizens, of their citizenship and deporting them for conduct that violates the oaths they took to become citizens.
Wow! Let's revoke the citizenship of people we disagree with! That's a great way to foster understanding. Kudos to you! Just curious, who gets to decide this? Will it be you, judge, jury and executioner?
Revocation is entirely appropriate when a "naturalized" citizen violates the oath on which their naturalization is based. It's no different that firing a tenured faculty member who violates the core tenets of the contract they signed by...say engaging in violent attacks on members of your campus community simply because they are Jewish. No society, American included, has any obligation to extend residency or citizenship to hostile foreigners.
Ah, the old refrain: It's all the fault of the Jews. You can ignore the overrepresentation of Jews in contributions to science, medicine, and technology which have enriched the world for all people. But you cannot ignore the persecution of Jews as a small, weak, non-conforming population, especially in Europe. The Middle East, which had large indigenous Jewish populations, i.e. population present before the Arab Islamic Empire conquered the region, fell under the control of fanatical Muslims who, for religious motives, made Jews a population to subordinate brutally. Once, after millennia of suppression, Jews reestablished their independence from Muslim control in their ancient homeland of Israel, Muslims took it as their religious duty to destroy the disobedient (to Islam) Jews. Military invasion after military invasion by Arabs failed to achieve this, and more recently the Persians of the Islamic Republic of Iran took up this religious "duty" with the aid of the Arab Palestinians. So far they have failed again. But they are encouraged by people like you, turncoats who spew hate toward Jews. You have no interest in truth.
So as to avoid the endless back and forth with people who are giving moral cover to this Administration and actually believe that this has anything to do with antisemitism, let's be clear:
If you support the "arrest" (with no charges!), detention and removal of Khalil, and the grabbing off the street of Tufts student Ozturk and subsequent detention, you are supporting an administration who uses extrajudicial measures to do whatever it wants. It does not obey the courts. It grabs perceived enemies at random. They just happen to be people you detest. So you're ok with it.
But if you support an administration not bound by the rule of law, that consolidates power at all levels, please tell me when in history, has situation like that has ever been good for Jews?
Anti-university is anti-business! Foreign student revenues, jobs, contracts with local businesses and service providers, tech start-ups. This is way beyond ideological BS. It's a gut punch to local economies.
Universities should not depend upon foreign students for financing. Local businesses that benefit from universities should encourage them to operate in a legitimate fashion rather than importing anti-American elements who disrupt education and local life.
Woke DEI is contrary to civil rights law because it discriminates on the basis of race and sex. The Federal Government has solid grounds to demand the end to DEI (and whatever else it is re-labeled). But it is worth noting that DEI is also an important foundation of university antisemitism. DEI "social justice" Marxist ideology divides society into "oppressors" and "victims." Successful minorities--Asians and Jews--are designated "white oppressors" or "white adjacent" or "hyper-white." So Jews officially become villains. And Israel is a white state villain, oppressing "people of color" Palestinians (a counter-factual characterization of the Arabs who were great slavers in Africa and who despise blacks as slaves, and the Israeli Jews, half of whom originated in the Middle East). As long as DEI and its many antisemitic DEI bureaucrats remain, Jews will be discriminated against and in danger in our universities.
"As a Jewish convert to Orthodox Christianity with a fairly wide set of historical books under my belt, it troubles me to see some hierarchs and channels following the world's narrative about "anti-Semitism" and all the things that have been done to "combat anti-Semitism." I'll tell you directly, as a 100% pure blooded Ashkenazi man, how to fix "anti-Semitism:" Anti-Semitism will end when faithless Jews leave other groups of people alone and stop trying to transform their nations and cultures in ways that invariably harm the populations in question. It is really not that complicated.”
– Brother Augustine (Michael Witcoff)
Excellent summary of everything that has been happening. Thank you to the authors.
Things are getting really interesting but are moving in the right direction. First...FIRE and AFA's responses to the Trump administration both operate from a false premise. None of the campuses where the Trump administration has imposed sanctions actually has academic freedom for faculty and students on their campuses. FIRE's own data demonstrate this. You cannot claim the Trump administration is destroying something that does not exist.
Second, contrary to what many academics wish to believe, foreigners in the US, student/faculty or otherwise do NOT have the same freedom of speech as American citizens. Their presence in the country is contingent upon good behavior as determined by the US government. Advocating for positions considered anti-semitic, anti-black, anti-American, anti-American allies and participating in demonstrations that undermine American institutions, peace and tranquility are more than sufficient grounds for deportation. Foreign students/faculty do NOT have diplomatic immunity and should stop pretending that they do.
Third, another step that the federal government can take is to remove institutional immunity from students, faculty, staff and administrators of these universities. That would open up faculty, staff and students to PERSONAL liability for damages when the institution fails to protect Jewish students. If Harvard admits a pro-Hamas student, that student harasses/threatens Jewish students on campus and Harvard fails to expel that student, the student, admissions staff, president, conduct officers, faculty judicial board members etc. can each be held personally and separately liable for their failure to protect Jewish students. How many of these pompous faculty members are prepared to have their personal assets lost once Harvard's endowment is no longer a shield for them?
Lastly, my grandfather got his PhD in physical chemistry at Harvard at age 23. He and my grandmother both participated in science and supported colleges and museums all their lives encouraging their children and grandchildren to go to college. All were encouraged to study whatever subject they wished at whatever college they wished with one exception. They would NOT support anyone seeking to study at Harvard which they found to be an arrogant, corrupt and immoral institution. He graduated in 1936! It's long since time for reform to be imposed along the Charles!
It is laughable that the authors of this post are gullible enough to believe that this action against Harvard has anything to do with antisemitism.
It is disheartening to see that antisemitism is being dismissed as separate from the wave of hatred sweeping across our campuses. Antisemitism has become normalized. DEI and wok ideology are like a disease undermining the foundations of America—if we don’t confront and uproot it now, our country risks falling apart.
Fact check for the doctor: I am in no way dismissing antisemitism. I'm pointing out that this administration doesn't give one iota about antisemitism. It's using it as a pretext to go after its perceived enemies, and breaking every constitutional right in the process. If you're in favor of a government that deports students who signed an op-ed you may not agree with, you might have felt right at home in the USSR or worse. Gosh, if they actually cared about antisemitism, can you think of a couple of more effective ways to address that than bullying institutions at random?
"this administration doesn't give one iota about antisemitism"
I realize this is the new coping strategy for Jewish liberals who are caught bw the rock of admitting the Dems didn't lift a finger to help Jewish students and the hard place of admitting that only Trump and the Republicans have any kind of plan to help them, but it does raise a question: what would they have to do differently to oppose antisemitism? I don't understand why their current aggressive actions are ipso facto illegitimate, except that it makes Jewish liberals uncomfortable.
And this hysteria about the USSR is absurd. In the USSR you were faced with gulag or execution, here we're talking about stripping a visa and sending students home to mom and dad. (Also, wasn't our professoriate the most ardent backers of the USSR? lol)
The law is clear that the Secy of State has the right to revoke visas if he deems that the visa holder in question is a threat to national security interests, and Hamas supporters certainly fit the bill. I know it's hard for Jewish liberals to admit that the campus Hamasniks would like to see them dead, but they say it constantly, ie "Globalize the Intifada" (which includes firebombing the Pennsylvania Governor on Passover.)
—If they actually cared about antisemitism, can you think of a couple of more effective ways to address that than bullying institutions at random?
Certainly none of this is "at random", quite the oppostite, esp the two leaders of CUAD @ Columbia, who were front and center at all the "pro-Palestinian" protests. (And if you don't think CUAD hates Jews, I encourage you to read their Substack, which reacted to 10/7 the same way sports fans react when their team wins the championship.)
"Can you think of a couple of more effective ways"? I honestly really can't. Threatening Ivy League funding has certainly been incredibly effective, easily more effective than any prior act, which have been mostly empty words. It's just a fact that the Trump admin (regardless of how crassly done) and people like Elise Stefanik have done more to protect Jewish students than all the Dems combined.
Well said -- and to the point.
Thanks!
Sorry to interrupt the mutual congratulatory society here. I'll take you at your word that you actually believe this, despite evidence to the contrary.
To be clear, antisemitism is a real and growing problem. I believe in confronting it. I'll say that till I'm blue in the face. That is NOT what is happening here. Universities are under attack. It's outlined in Project 2025. Antisemitism is but one of the pretexts this administration is using to attack universities. The other is a sudden, inexplicable cancelling of research grants, resetting at random indirect cost numbers, threatening international students (which is actually part of our international trade: we buy goods from China, we get tuition dollars back), and up next is a gutting of Pell grants. Just listen to Christopher Rufo. He explains the attack clearly in a recent appearance on The Daily podcast.
History has shown again and again that anti-intellectual attacks are the first cousin of antisemitism. And yet, here you are, riding on the Red Cavalry to destroy higher education.
And you're silent, even mocking, when Elon Musk praises antisemites, takes aim at the ADL, offers a Hitler salute twice, endorses (along with JD Vance) the AfD. All that is outside of your evidence. History shows how tragically this ends.
Deporting the mobster of terror, Mahmoud Khalil—who openly called for the extermination of the Jewish people—is far from a random act. This is a deliberate and calculated move targeting individuals hiding behind the façade of student activism while being funded by regimes —Qatar and Iran. These are not peaceful activists—they are ideological extremists whose goal is to undermine and ultimately destroy Western civilization.
There we go. Again, just a fact-check here: You are certain that Mahmoud Khalil, green card holder, husband of an American citizen, is a "mobster of terror"? And that he was funded by Iran and Qatar? (By the way, Jared Kushner gets a lot of funding from Qatar.) I would love to see that evidence. Please provide it in the comment below.
So let's talk about rights. Khalil had not be accused or charged with any crime. He was detained and sent to a far away jail. There was no deliberation, evidence provided by the government to make the case that he had committed a crime, etc. Zilch. You're comfortable with that? No due process?
I was actually referring to Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts student pulled off the street and into a van and then also sent to far away confinement. Her crime? Apparently she co-authored an op-ed in the student newspaper.
I just want to make sure we're on the record with you being ok with that, Doctor?
A foreigner in the US can be removed for participating in anti-American demonstrations including expressing opinions that are hostile to the US government or its policies. The conditions of their visa do NOT permit them to engage in the same speech and protests as American citizens. This is no different when Americans travel abroad to work or study. The Trump administration is perfectly within its rights on this. If foreign students aren't comfortable with those restrictions they are free to return to their home countries and express themselves from there.
Actually, it's quite different. First of all, Khalil is a green card holder, which gives him many of the same constitutional rights as U.S. citizens. Second, there must first be due process where evidence is presented in a courtroom or some similar forum to (gasp) prove that the activities were anti-American. Please read the Constitution. You might find the First Amendment interesting.
Second, for Ozturk, I just want to make sure that you are endorsing the Administration's actions of grabbing her off a street, no warning, no evidence, no proceedings and no opportunity for her to make her case. You good with getting rid of any due process?
If so, you might want to read the whole Constitution first.
You must have either fallen asleep or deliberately turned a blind eye not to see both of these individuals’ speeches—on social media and during mob activities! Yet, in order to preserve your ideology, you're clearly willing to ignore the obvious. I can email you the full report if you'd like.
Dr. Arieli chai
Not quite. I'm well aware of the speeches, as well as the other blatantly antisemitic acts and threats that emerged during the Columbia protests. And yet, if Khalil had committed a crime, or had attacked someone, he should be prosecuted for that crime.I think you fell asleep when we were talking about the Constitution.
I can think of some more effective ways...including stripping antisemites like Ilhan Omar, who are naturalized US citizens, of their citizenship and deporting them for conduct that violates the oaths they took to become citizens.
And look what her daughter is doing now at Columbia! Like mother like daughter
The point, doctor, is that you can disagree with her actions and statements (as do I). But you don't deport someone because you disagree with them.
Exactly!
Wow! Let's revoke the citizenship of people we disagree with! That's a great way to foster understanding. Kudos to you! Just curious, who gets to decide this? Will it be you, judge, jury and executioner?
Revocation is entirely appropriate when a "naturalized" citizen violates the oath on which their naturalization is based. It's no different that firing a tenured faculty member who violates the core tenets of the contract they signed by...say engaging in violent attacks on members of your campus community simply because they are Jewish. No society, American included, has any obligation to extend residency or citizenship to hostile foreigners.
Ah, the old refrain: It's all the fault of the Jews. You can ignore the overrepresentation of Jews in contributions to science, medicine, and technology which have enriched the world for all people. But you cannot ignore the persecution of Jews as a small, weak, non-conforming population, especially in Europe. The Middle East, which had large indigenous Jewish populations, i.e. population present before the Arab Islamic Empire conquered the region, fell under the control of fanatical Muslims who, for religious motives, made Jews a population to subordinate brutally. Once, after millennia of suppression, Jews reestablished their independence from Muslim control in their ancient homeland of Israel, Muslims took it as their religious duty to destroy the disobedient (to Islam) Jews. Military invasion after military invasion by Arabs failed to achieve this, and more recently the Persians of the Islamic Republic of Iran took up this religious "duty" with the aid of the Arab Palestinians. So far they have failed again. But they are encouraged by people like you, turncoats who spew hate toward Jews. You have no interest in truth.
So as to avoid the endless back and forth with people who are giving moral cover to this Administration and actually believe that this has anything to do with antisemitism, let's be clear:
If you support the "arrest" (with no charges!), detention and removal of Khalil, and the grabbing off the street of Tufts student Ozturk and subsequent detention, you are supporting an administration who uses extrajudicial measures to do whatever it wants. It does not obey the courts. It grabs perceived enemies at random. They just happen to be people you detest. So you're ok with it.
But if you support an administration not bound by the rule of law, that consolidates power at all levels, please tell me when in history, has situation like that has ever been good for Jews?
Anti-university is anti-business! Foreign student revenues, jobs, contracts with local businesses and service providers, tech start-ups. This is way beyond ideological BS. It's a gut punch to local economies.
Universities should not depend upon foreign students for financing. Local businesses that benefit from universities should encourage them to operate in a legitimate fashion rather than importing anti-American elements who disrupt education and local life.
Maybe watching again these speeches can summed up pure hatred which is nothing about freedom of speech
https://www.instagram.com/p/DInKxOXMDJu/?img_index=7&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==