https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm-plus/columbias-challenge-to-reverse-years-of-antisemitism-on-campus/
The Trump administration is going after colleges and universities which, in Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s words, have “ignored relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses” since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led genocidal attacks inside Israel. Early last March, the Trump administration showed it meant business by announcing the cancellation of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, which became ground zero for the post October 7th campus mayhem against Jews. The Trump administration is cracking down on other institutions of higher learning as well, most notably Harvard University which has chosen to resist rather than deal meaningfully with its own antisemitism crisis.
For its part, Columbia University’s leaders early on showed callous indifference to the safety of Jewish students, faculty members, and staff caused by the antisemitic mob activities on campus. They only requested New York City police assistance as a last resort. But the university’s Task Force on Antisemitism did manage to produce two meaningless reports in March and August of last year.
The first task force report discussed disciplinary issues. However, while the task force recommended that the university should “intervene more proactively in real time” before a demonstration gets out of hand, it cautioned strongly against any physical confrontation. In other words, the university should avoid forcible removal of protesters, no matter how disruptive and threatening the protesters become. The report recommended instead such milquetoast responses as telling the offending protesters that they are violating the rules, handing them cards containing the relevant rules, and asking them to disperse within a specified time. This report makes no mention of long suspensions, expulsions, or rescinding the offending protesters’ diplomas, much less filing criminal charges.