When an antisemitic tsunami engulfed America's elite educational institutions, most university presidents cowered in fear of the violent anti-Israel minority. In extreme cases, they managed to stammer a few condemnatory sentences attempting to cleanse themselves of moral failure.
Even at the height of the protest wave, when campus lawns transformed into centers for anti-Israel activism, prestigious institutions deliberately ignored Jewish students and staff who were forced to conceal their kippot and remove mezuzahs from their homes, or who fled to their parents fearing for their lives. This horror story, however, had an expiration date – January 2025.
Columbia's punishment
Days after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump implemented what should have been done on Oct. 8, 2023: he signed a series of executive orders, supported by the creation of a special Justice Department team to combat antisemitism, tasked with investigating and holding accountable those who enabled the wave of anti-Israel protests across numerous universities.
The impact of these signed orders resonated strongly from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC to 116th Street in northern Manhattan, home to Columbia University – the first institution to pay the price for the moral decay that had become emblematic of this elite institution. Recently, the administration announced a $400 million reduction in federal funding to the university, which had become a symbol of anti-Israel protests and served largely as inspiration for other institutions throughout the US and globally.
"And this is just the beginning," a senior advisor on the team said. "This is the strongest step we have taken thus far to demonstrate that the federal government will not financially support an institution like Columbia, which fails to protect Jewish students and staff."
The Free Press website reported in November that a group of alumni and former professors from the university conducted an analysis concluding that the institution could lose up to $3.5 billion in federal funding – more than half of its operating budget. "This represents an existential crisis," the report's authors asserted, urging the university to avoid "becoming the focus of public outrage."
Despite these warnings, the university administration apparently failed to learn from or seriously consider the report's findings. In recent weeks, anti-Israel demonstrations resumed, particularly in the Barnard College area. Though smaller in scale, protesters barricading themselves in the library forced its closure.
Cuts and boycotts
Columbia won't be the only institution paying for its failures. The US Department of Education has sent letters to 60 of America's largest universities, informing them they are under investigation for discrimination and harassment on antisemitic grounds. The letters serve as warnings that the administration will take action against institutions failing to protect Jewish students.
The anxiety about Washington's new approach extends beyond these institutions' bank accounts to their daily operations. Uncertainty and instability have pushed some universities to cut employment contracts, reduce medical research funding, and decrease student enrollment. Universities including California and Pennsylvania have decided to reduce admissions for advanced degree programs, including doctoral studies, due to uncertainty regarding future federal funding. Harvard has temporarily frozen hiring of both staff and faculty.
Compounding fears of federal funding cuts is an ongoing boycott by numerous donors, primarily Jewish, who withdrew financial support from prestigious institutions when the war began. Reports indicate that during 2024, donations to Harvard dropped by 15%, while one of Columbia's major donation days saw a 29% decline compared to 2023.
The masked, keffiyeh-wearing "protest stars" and advocates of "from the river to the sea" operated with inexplicable confidence as they shattered campus windows, burned flags, wore Hamas ribbons, and called for an intifada on American soil. The current administration is settling accounts with them as well.
Order and justice
One may disagree with President Trump – but any person, Jewish or not, whose heart isn't filled with hatred for others, cannot remain indifferent to Western educational institutions being transformed into battlegrounds against Israel, the nation single-handedly leading the entire West's war. To prevent such scenes from recurring, order must be established and justice ensured. And that appears to be precisely what's happening these days.
