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Samuel J. Abrams
American Enterprise Institute
Excerpt: Well over a decade ago, when I started teaching at Sarah Lawrence College, I realized that many of my faculty colleagues were anti-Semitic. Because I am visibly Jewish and refuse to denounce Israel, I have been hazed; I have been called a “white skinned Taliban” by a senior professor. I was told that I was part of a colonial, genocidal Jewish people. I have had swastikas drawn on my office door. Somehow, I was expected to do more work than other colleagues to earn their support for promotion. It became clear that my Jewish faith and heritage was a problem for large numbers of professors on campus.
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For the good of the Nation, university leadership must seize this occasion to drive essential reforms—a process some began by adopting positions of institutional neutrality and improving policies related to campus protests. Before the end of 2026, I call on every postsecondary institution to describe to the American public your commitments to rigorous teaching, pathbreaking research, and national service—commitments that make our universities a bedrock institution of the American republic.
Now the administration is back with Compact 2.0, formally titled "A National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards." It includes some rhetorical flourishes intended to make it seem less threatening to teaching, learning and research. But make no mistake: It once again asks colleges and universities to align themselves with a far-right agenda at the expense of students’ education and the public’s well-being.
