Education Secretary Linda McMahon stated that there has been “progress” from Harvard and Columbia University when it comes to meeting the Trump administration’s demands regarding antisemitism on their facilities.
During an interview with NBC News, McMahon suggested that the White House’s actions against the schools have prompted them to change how they implement their policies.
“I have seen progress,” McMahon told the news outlet. “And you know why I think we’re seeing progress? Because we are putting these measures in place, and we’re saying we’re putting teeth behind what we’re looking at.”
The Education Secretary said the universities have more to do when it comes to dealing with anti-Jewish bigotry on campus and vetting foreign students. She said that these institutions must make sure that the students they are admitting “aren’t activists, that they’re not causing these activities.”
McMahon was referring to the spate of pro-Hamas protests that have been rampant on college campuses since the war in Gaza started on October 7, 2023. She insisted that “Students should not come on campus and be afraid to be there and not feel safe to be on campus.”
The secretary acknowledged that the universities have taken positive steps to combat what she said was growing antisemitism on campus, but credited Trump for pushing them to do so.
"I'm really happy to see what Harvard did, but I wonder if maybe they didn't get a little spur from our action, because they talk a lot about it, but I think we really started to see a lot of their actions once we were taking action," McMahon said.
Her comments came after Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation that aims to deny visas for foreign students seeking to study at Harvard. A federal judge in May had blocked Trump from revoking Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students.
Asked directly about whether international students already enrolled at Harvard would have to leave the U.S. due to Trump's proclamation, McMahon demurred, saying, "Well, that's actually more up to the State Department than it is to Department of Education," and reiterating that, "we have to do more careful vetting."
The Trump administration recently began looking into challenging Columbia University’s accreditation status after an investigation revealed it had violated civil rights law by allowing pro-Hamas agitators to target Jewish students.
President Donald Trump last month began taking steps to slash Harvard’s federal funding, a move he also made against Columbia, accusing the two schools of allowing antisemitism to flourish on their campuses.
Columbia has begun implementing reforms to comply with the Trump administration’s demands, which is a positive sign. Still, the fact that the White House even had to take this step is disturbing. Why would it not be common sense for any learning institution to prevent violent people from threatening and assaulting students — especially because of their ethnicity or religion?
Either way, perhaps these moves will discourage other universities that seem to have no qualms with turning a blind eye when a group of people is being targeted by vicious thugs with a political agenda.
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