President Donald Trump pulled a staggering $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, one of many hotbeds of antisemitism and pro-terror protests that have sprung up in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel by Hamas.
The campus was, for weeks, occupied by rioters who took control of Columbia's core areas and even, at one point, took over buildings, forcing the police to break in and arrest the students to get them out.
While all this was occurring, professors at Columbia stood around the encampments to protect the students and their apparent right to support terrorism. There was even one professor who spoke out and stated that the Oct. 7 massacre was "astounding," "awesome" and "incredible."
Students outside and inside the campus called for the destruction of Israel and praised Hamas for its actions. They committed crimes and supported terror, and they openly antagonized Jewish students, even refusing to allow them to attend classes.
And what did the school's administration do? They did nothing. They waited weeks and only finally called the police after their buildings were physically broken into and locked up by the protesters. That was too far, apparently. Hardly any students were expelled. Practically no consequences came upon any of the students who praised Hamas and antagonized the Jewish students.
It was an absolute travesty.
Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a major role in organizing the encampments at Columbia. You heard that right. A Palestinian green card holder. A student who has been given the privilege of living in the greatest country on earth to attend one of the best colleges on earth. Organized an event to stoke fear into his fellow students, Americans and Israelis. These are the types of people that Columbia has accepted into their school and bred.
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But what is most shocking is that now, after Trump pulled $400 million in funding from the university, they're finally coming around and making promises to support and protect Jewish students. Now that's all fine and good, but what if Trump had never pulled the funding?
You see, the fact is, money talks. And colleges like Columbia don't actually care about their Jewish students. Because if they did, then the government wouldn't have had to go this far before they finally promised to make a change.
What will happen when that funding is restored? What will happen when Trump or another Republican is no longer in power? Will we just go back to how things used to be?
And Columbia isn't the only school that has caught the ire of Trump. This funding cut came after a multiagency task force to combat antisemitism was put in place following an executive order by Trump. The task force swiftly identified 10 schools, Columbia being one of them, that they found to be hotbeds for antisemitism.
The other schools include George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California. All these schools face a potential funding pull from the Trump administration, and any one of them can be next.
We don't need people in our country who support terrorism, who march down the streets chanting these slogans of terror organizations. And we certainly do not need institutions of higher learning that encourage and protect that type of behavior. Columbia and the remainder of the schools on this list are on this list because of the simple fact that people espoused views in support of terrorism on their respective campuses and encamped the premises of their respective campuses, and no consequences followed. Today, you can be suspended or even expelled for misgendering someone, but support a terrorist organization? Dehumanize Jewish students? That's totally fine, according to these schools.
Pulling funding alone won't cut it, though. We need deep, structural reform in these institutions. The moment their leadership stops facing real consequences, they'll revert to their old ways. That's why we must take strong, dramatic action, like going after those responsible for the antisemitism, revoking licenses and immediately stripping away any government benefits these institutions received. There must be so many safeguards and layers of accountability in place that not even a future Democratic administration could easily restore these institutions to their former state. The consequences must be real and unending, and this should be just the beginning.
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