March 14, 2025

For years, antisemitism has been quietly festering in higher education. What was once confined to radical student groups has now infected faculty, administration, and campus culture itself. Jewish students have been harassed, intimidated, and physically attacked—all while universities issued empty statements and ignored their own policies.

But now, the game has changed. The Trump Administration has sent a $400 million message to Columbia University: enough is enough.

A Campus Hostile to Jews

Since October 7, antisemitic incidents at Columbia have exploded. Jewish students have been spit on, shoved, and told to “go back to Poland.” Protests have turned violent, and faculty members have openly defended Hamas while Jewish students are left fearing for their safety.

In one particularly disturbing case, the Columbia Law School chapter of the National Lawyers Guild publicly justified Hamas’s massacre of Israeli civilians, calling it “necessary resistance.” At the same time, Columbia’s administration allowed student groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) to disrupt campus life, intimidate Jewish students, and spread anti-Israel propaganda with zero consequences.

Columbia even tolerated calls for the destruction of Israel at protests on its own campus. And while universities are usually quick to investigate speech they deem offensive, when it comes to Jewish students, the same urgency is nowhere to be found.

BDS and the Institutionalization of Hate

Columbia’s antisemitism problem isn’t new. The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has been active on campus for years, fueling anti-Israel activism that frequently crosses the line into outright bigotry. In 2020, Columbia’s student body voted in favor of a referendum calling on the university to divest from companies that do business with Israel. While Columbia rejected the resolution, the hostile climate it created left Jewish students feeling alienated and targeted.

The rise of “anti-Zionist” rhetoric on campus has only made matters worse. Columbia faculty members have signed letters defending Hamas, and professors have openly called for Israel’s destruction. The message is clear: if you’re a Jewish student who supports Israel, you are not welcome here.

Federal Dollars, Federal Standards

The Trump administration has now taken the extraordinary step of revoking $400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia. This is not a symbolic move, but a direct response to the university’s failure to protect its Jewish students and enforce basic campus safety.

And it’s not just Columbia. The Department of Education has opened investigations into multiple universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University, and Northwestern, over similar concerns about antisemitic discrimination. The message is clear: if universities refuse to protect Jewish students, they will pay the price.

For too long, elite institutions have prioritized radical activism over student safety. They have excused antisemitism, emboldened hate groups, and allowed their campuses to become breeding grounds for extremism. But now, for the first time in decades, they are facing real consequences.

Columbia is the first school to lose funding, but chances are, it won’t be the last. Universities now have a choice: will they take a stand against antisemitism, or will they wait until the money runs out?

Andrew Lawrence is a graduate of the George Washington University and founder of the Georgia Jewish Heritage Fund. He resides in Savannah, Georgia.

Campus protests have long shaped America’s cultural and political landscape. From women’s suffrage to the civil rights movement, students have been catalysts for justice. The Vietnam War protests, though controversial, were rooted in democratic ideals.

But the anti-Israel protests that have engulfed universities since Hamas’s brutal October 7, 2023, attacks against Israel are of a different nature entirely. They have not been peaceful or democratic. Instead, they have been fueled by hate, intimidation, and violence—threatening the very freedoms their organizers claim to defend.

Now, President Trump’s decision to revoke $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University is being met with outrage. But it is a necessary step to preserve the integrity of American institutions. This is not an attack on free speech—it is a defense of it, ensuring that campuses do not become breeding grounds for extremism and threats against Jewish students or any other group.

It is crucial to distinguish between genuine advocacy and the hate-fueled spectacles that have hijacked campuses. These protests have not been about peaceful dissent or constructive dialogue. Instead, they have been defined by violent mobs storming buildings, professors legitimizing bigotry, and students openly glorifying terrorism. References to the Holocaust have been invoked carelessly, while symbols of hate have tainted these gatherings.

What may have begun as a democratic exercise in critiquing Israeli policies has devolved into rallies steeped in the rhetoric of genocide and annihilation. Chants of “Globalize the Intifada” and banners depicting the Israeli flag in flames are now commonplace. At Columbia, student leader Mahmoud Khalil even referred to Hamas’s October 7 attacks as “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” the very term Hamas uses to celebrate the slaughter of innocent civilians.

Hate speech is protected under the First Amendment, but only to a point. Legal precedent (Brandenburg v. Ohio, 1969; Virginia v. Black, 2003) makes it clear: speech that incites violence, constitutes a true threat, or amounts to harassment is not protected. These campus demonstrations check every one of those boxes. Universities, charged with shaping the next generation, have utterly failed to maintain a safe learning environment.

The most alarming aspect of these protests is how they have imported not just the Middle Eastern conflict, but the Middle Eastern tradition to persecute its Jews. Jewish students have been harassed, physically blocked from classrooms, and subjected to open calls for Israel’s destruction… in the heart of New York. Barnard College’s historic Milbank Hall was stormed by masked demonstrators, and many Jewish students now fear attending class or simply walking through their own campuses.

The consequences are chilling. According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents on U.S. campuses surged by 321% following these protests, while the country as a whole saw a 200% spike. This hatred is not confined to academia—it is spilling into the streets, poisoning public discourse, and normalizing violence.

Universities should be sanctuaries of knowledge, not arenas for mob rule. They should encourage rigorous debate, not embolden extremism. Yet elite institutions—Columbia, Harvard, Penn, Berkeley, and even my own alma mater, McGill—have allowed radical ideology to flourish under the guise of “academic freedom.”

Some claim that cutting federal funding violates free speech. But what is truly unconstitutional and un-American is allowing a minority group to be targeted while administrators look the other way. Free speech is fundamental, but it is not absolute. It does not extend to incitement, threats, or harassment.

By revoking funding, Trump is sending a clear message: institutions that abandon democratic values will no longer be rewarded with taxpayer dollars. This is not an attack on education—it is a defense of it.

History has repeatedly shown that when antisemitism is left unchecked, it does not remain confined to Jewish communities—it spreads like wildfire. The Jewish people have long been the canaries in the coal mine; when hate against them flourishes, broader societal decay follows.

These protests did not champion peace or human rights. They did not call for the release of hostages or demand democratic reform within Palestinian leadership. Instead, they glorified destruction, deepened racial and religious divides, and undermined the very freedoms that define America.

If universities refuse to act, then it is up to leaders like Trump to step in. The future of democracy depends on it.

Margaux Chetrit is a writer, public speaker and entrepreneur.  She is a former parliamentary intern in Israel’s Knesset. From 2008-2015, she served at the Consulate General of Israel in Montreal.