The Trump administration’s efforts to suppress dissent on college campuses have reached a troubling new level. On March 8, ICE arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia University and a key organizer of the Gaza solidarity protest on campus. Following this, the Department of Homeland Security revoked the visa of Columbia graduate student Ranjani Srinivasan and arrested former student Leqaa Kordia.
In a parallel action, President Trump’s administration cancelled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to the university and demanded that its Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department be placed under “academic receivership” for at least five years.
Columbia University responded by expelling students and revoking the degrees of those who participated in the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall, which had been renamed Hind’s Hall in honor of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian child killed by the Israeli military.
The university gave in to the administration’s demands, including banning masks, changing disciplinary procedures, appointing an approved overseer, and giving police more powers on campus, despite widespread criticism from scholars and legal experts.
This attack on freedom of expression and dissent on campus marks a new phase in the weaponization of anti-Semitism accusations. Initially starting with restrictions on speech and campus disciplinary actions, the situation has escalated to arrests, deportations, and interference in university matters.
The ultimate goal is not just to suppress pro-Palestinian activism but to take ideological control over higher education in the United States. This attack on universities is part of a larger right-wing effort to shape academia into a bastion of conservative nationalism.
Trump made this goal clear during his campaign, aiming “to reclaim our once great educational institutions from the radical left and Marxist maniacs”. Targeting Palestinian activism is merely an excuse for dismantling academic independence and enforcing ideological conformity.
This assault on US higher education, which Trump is escalating, began years ago with pressure on universities in the US, Canada, and Europe to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.
The IHRA introduced a working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016, including examples involving criticism of Israel. Initially aimed at assisting law enforcement, the definition has been increasingly used by universities to harass and intimidate critics of Israel.
After the October 7 attacks, the crackdown on pro-Palestinian views and activism intensified, with professors being fired, student groups banned, speakers disinvited, and now, even arrests and deportations are taking place.
This campaign has even affected progressive Jewish communities, with universities suspending organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and targeting Jewish academics critical of Israel.
The weaponization of the IHRA definition and anti-Semitism accusations are not about protecting Jewish people but rather advancing a political agenda that aims to reshape higher education into a stronghold that censors unfavourable political perspectives.
Both Republicans and Democrats have supported these authoritarian measures. Senator John Fetterman praised Trump’s funding cuts to Columbia, while Representatives Josh Gottheimer, Ritchie Torres, and others have pushed for harsher measures against student protesters, aligning with Trump’s broader crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism.
This campaign against US universities reflects historical patterns of state repression, similar to the McCarthyism of the 1950s that used accusations of communism to silence political opponents. Despite its intensity, McCarthyism failed to erase left-wing ideas from public spaces or universities.
Today’s repression of pro-Palestinian activism and academic freedom may succeed in intimidating academic institutions and individuals in the short term, but it will ultimately fail to erase ideas rooted in justice and liberation. The extent of this new McCarthyism will depend on Americans’ willingness to fight back and protect their freedoms.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/3/23/what-the-assault-on-columbia-university-is-really-about?traffic_source=rss
