Since Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attacks, American universities have been roiled by protests against Israel and threats toward Jews. But as far back as 2006, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a report on pervasive and growing campus antisemitism. The commission also has issued statements describing and condemning increases in antisemitic incidents in American society at large, most recently in July 2021. The commission doesn’t have enforcement authority over such matters, so last fall, as incidents of campus antisemitism increased, I proposed that the commission at the very least issue a statement cataloguing and unequivocally condemning the increase in antisemitic incidents on college campuses.
My conservative colleagues all supported issuing such a statement. My progressive colleagues indicated they would be willing to issue a statement, but only if it also condemned, e.g., Islamophobia and anti-Asian racism. In short, they proposed to issue a statement only if antisemitism were simply one concern among many. Yet at the time there were no comparable mass protests calling for killing Muslims or Asians. We declined the progressives’ offer.
Circumstances have deteriorated markedly since last fall. A glancing review of recent history shows that incipient incidents of antisemitism have a tendency to quickly metastasize, sometimes catastrophically. Yet the Department of Education, the Department of Justice, the Department of State, and President Biden have been grudgingly slow to act, and their responses have been tentative and tepid. President Eisenhower didn’t tolerate white mobs preventing black students from attending classes 65 years ago. Nor should Americans tolerate mobs preventing Jewish students from attending school today. At minimum, the following actions should be taken:
- Students who lead or participate in chants exhorting violence or terrorism should — consistent with the First Amendment — be disciplined or, where warranted, expelled.
- The Department of State should require universities to immediately notify State of the names of foreign students who have engaged in violent or otherwise criminal behavior. State should revoke those students’ visas and require them to leave the country immediately. State should ensure these students’ departures or subject them to deportation.
- The Department of Justice should investigate the funding of the violent protests, particularly whether such funding comes from foreign sources.
- The Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education should investigate all college and university campuses where Jewish students have been subjected to persistent and/or unremedied harassment and abuse and withhold federal funding as circumstances warrant.
- Alumni should consider following the lead of Robert Kraft and other major donors and withhold or withdraw their donations until schools adequately address antisemitism.
- The House Education and Workforce Committee should conduct an investigation into foreign funding of American colleges and universities, with particular emphasis on funding from China and the Gulf monarchies.
- The House Education and Workforce Committee should also examine whether the Department of Education is enforcing existing reporting requirements.
- Mayors should allow the police to enforce the law.
Lastly, employers have a major deterrent role. They should make clear that they will not hire any students who threaten, intimidate, or engage in violence against individuals or classes of individuals.