OPINION:
We are finally witnessing major victories in the fight against antisemitism and anti-Americanism at our nation’s universities. First, the White House announced over the weekend that it will cut $400 million in taxpayer funding for Columbia University, easily the most notorious hotbed of racist, anti-Western activity in America. Then, federal immigration agents arrested a graduate student who played a leading role in inciting the wave of violent pro-Hamas actions on Columbia’s campus. Columbia University has made a name for itself as America’s most antisemitic university, and the chickens are coming to roost.
After the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, antisemitic activity skyrocketed across the United States. Harvard University made headlines when several radical student groups wrote and released a letter blaming Israel for the attack, acting as a catalyst for the violent eruption of antisemitism at universities nationwide. Within weeks, Columbia students signed a proclamation blaming America and Israel for the Hamas terrorist attack. Columbia students, faculty and outside protesters vandalized the campus, spewed hateful rhetoric, harassed Jewish students and led aggressive demonstrations.
In May, during a particularly violent riot at Columbia, several maintenance workers were held hostage for nearly 20 hours as protesters occupied a building on campus. The maintenance workers said they felt the school had abandoned them and that more should have been done to protect them. Unfortunately, this behavior was not unique to the student body. Dozens of Columbia faculty members were complicit in the antisemitic activity by signing letters countering the university’s antisemitism task force and participating in campus protests. Columbia University betrayed its duty to protect students, create an environment conducive to learning and safeguard its campus from violence.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik ultimately failed the university by allowing radical extremists to hijack the campus with minimal repercussions and refusing to protect Jewish students and faculty. In August, Ms. Shafik resigned. Her overdue departure sparked optimism that Columbia might be going in the right direction. Katrina Armstrong was hired as interim president with the explicit mandate to end antisemitism on campus. Unfortunately, she has continued Ms. Shafik’s shameful legacy.
Ms. Armstrong had the opportunity to spark meaningful change and restore Columbia to the prestigious Ivy League institution it once was. Instead, she made a series of decisions that inflamed the conflict on campus. She hired Joseph Massad, a pro-Hamas professor, to teach a course on Zionism. Then, rather than holding radical antisemites accountable, Ms. Armstrong apologized to students who were “hurt” by the university’s decision to clear out the protests. Columbia has proved time and time again that it is not willing to act against antisemitism. As a result, it does not deserve millions in taxpayer dollars.
Columbia students pay an average of $80,000 in annual tuition. A whopping $14 billion sits in the university’s endowment, and the Qatari government has donated millions of dollars. Given the pervasive culture of hate at the university, there is no reason Columbia should be receiving $1.2 billion in taxpayer dollars annually. Although the announcement last week was a decisive first step, the government should cut more than $400 million in funding. For far too long, American taxpayers have been forced to fund this radical, hateful institution. Thanks to the Trump administration, that ends now.
Funding cuts are key to holding the university accountable, but student leaders who orchestrated violent protests, spread hateful propaganda and harassed Jewish students must also face repercussions. Columbia’s leadership failed to act, and the worst offenders were often let off with a mere slap on the wrist. As a result, Accuracy in Media stepped in to hold these radicals accountable. First, we deployed mobile billboards to Columbia’s campus to expose students at the center of the antisemitic movement. We then deployed the billboards to their homes so their families, friends and neighbors would be made aware of their hateful views. After some of the protesters graduated from Columbia, we sent billboards to their new places of employment for their employers and colleagues to see. The federal government has stepped in because Columbia failed to take meaningful action.
Justice was again served this month when federal immigration agents arrested Hamas sympathizer and former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil. Mr. Khalil played a major role in organizing violent, pro-Hamas activism and spreading racist propaganda on Columbia’s campus. Mr. Khalil’s arrest sends a message that antisemites and terrorist sympathizers are not welcome in America.
Defunding radical universities and arresting violent antisemites mark tremendous steps forward, but they are only the beginning. Antisemitism on university campuses nationwide should be condemned at the highest level, and the perpetrators must be held fully accountable. Let this be a lesson to university leadership across America: If you refuse to act against antisemitism on campus, the federal government will do it for you. It’s time to root out antisemitism from our institutions for good.
• Adam Guillette is the president of Accuracy in Media, which uses investigative journalism and cultural activism to expose corruption and hold bad public policy actors accountable. Mr. Guillette launched the Florida chapter of Americans for Prosperity and served as vice president of Project Veritas. Since 2004, he has served as a distinguished faculty member for the Leadership Institute.
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