Campus Watch April 16, 2025

Trump Administration Freezes More Than $2 Billion to Harvard After Rejecting Admin’s Demands

The Trump administration froze more than $2 billion to Harvard University on April 14 after University President Alan Garber announced the university is officially rejecting the Trump administration’s demands to retain nearly $9 billion in federal funding.

The administration had initially demanded that the university ban masks and rescind its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program; on April 11, the administration issued more demands, which included “asking Harvard to derecognize pro-Palestine student groups, audit its academic programs for viewpoint diversity, and expel students involved in an altercation at a 2023 pro-Palestine protest on the Harvard Business School campus,” according to The Harvard Crimson. The administration also demanded that the university screen students in their admissions process to see if they support terrorism and antisemitism. Garber said in his announcement the new demands suggest “that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner” and that the demands violate the university’s “First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI [of the Civil Rights Act].” Garber added that “we do not take lightly our moral duty to fight antisemitism.” The Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism responded by saying that the university’s statement “reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.” The Task Force further announced that it would be freezing $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contract value from the university.

Judge Says Mahmoud Khalil Can Be Deported

An immigration judge ruled on April 11 that Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate, can in fact be deported.

Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans agreed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s memo that Khalil, a legal resident with a green card, could be deported under the government’s reasoning that his “beliefs, statements or associations” undermines the United States’ foreign policy interests and that Khalil participated “in antisemitic protests and disruptive activities.” Keeping him in the U.S. would “undermine U.S. policy to combat anti-Semitism around the world and in the United States, in addition to efforts to protect Jewish students from harassment and violence,” according to CNN. Khalil’s attorneys will be appealing the decision to the Board of Immigration Authorities and will in all likelihood be filing an asylum claim for him.

ICE Arrests Columbia Student

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Columbia University graduate philosophy student Mohsen Mahdawi on April 14 in Burlington, Vt.

According to The Washington Free Beacon, Mahdawi, a green card holder, was the co-president of the university’s Palestinian Student Union––a coalition of anti-Israel groups on campus––and a member of the suspended Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. A senior State Department official told The New York Post that Mahdawi “played an active role in fall 2024 student protests at Columbia University, instructing protesters to physically push a small group of pro-Israel students.” The official also alleged that Mahdawi promulgated antisemitism at protests by calling Israel Defense Force soldiers terrorists and using a megaphone to yell “at Jewish bystanders and supporters of Israel,” per the Post. Mahdawi’s attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition contending that the Trump administration is engaging in “retaliatory” action over Mahdawi’s “constitutionally protected speech.” His attorneys also pointed to Mahdawi shouting “shame on the person who [called] for ‘death to Jews’” during a Nov. 2023 protest as evidence that he is not antisemitic, reported The Columbia Daily Spectator.

12 Anti-Israel Protesters Charged with Vandalism, Trespassing After Occupying Stanford Building

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen charged twelve anti-Israel protesters with felony charges of vandalism and conspiracy to trespass on April 10 after the protesters occupied a building at Stanford University on June 5.

The building had the university president’s office in it; Rosen alleged that the twelve charged individuals, ages 19-32 and are current and former Stanford students, caused damage ranging from $360,000 to $1 million. He accused the protesters of breaking “windows, furniture, disabled a camera and splashed fake blood,” ABC7 News reported. “Dissent is American, vandalism is criminal,” Rosen said in a statement, adding that the 12 charged individuals “had been conspiring for days in advance to do this.”

The university said in a statement, “As we’ve maintained consistently, we believe the decision on how to proceed with these cases rests with the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office based on the evidence gathered. We respect their decision in this matter. With regard to Stanford’s internal disciplinary proceedings, panels from the Office of Community Standards (OCS) found that students were responsible for violations of university policies and issued sanctions, including two-quarter suspensions followed by probation, delayed degree conferrals, and community service hours.”