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Press Release
Knight First Amendment Institution, Columbia University
Excerpt: Multiple universities have recently announced that they will consider or rely on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA’s) definition of antisemitism in policing speech on campus.
The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “It’s disappointing that some of the nation’s leading institutions of higher education are agreeing to curtail and punish criticism of Israel in the name of fighting discrimination. As major free speech groups have recognized, using the IHRA definition of antisemitism to delineate the outer boundaries of free speech will have the effect of proscribing or deterring legitimate political speech and scholarship."
Susan H. Greenberg
Inside Higher Ed
Excerpt: Columbia University is preparing to strike a deal with the Trump administration, taking steps to address alleged civil rights violations on campus in exchange for the release of $400 million of withheld federal funds, The Wall Street Journal and CNN reported.
According to the Journal, the university is in discussions with the administration to pay out roughly $200 million, some of which would go to the government and some to students and professors who allegedly have had their rights violated.
Nitasha Tiku
Washington Post
Excerpt: Influential tech investor and Trump adviser Marc Andreessen recently said universities will “pay the price” for promoting diversity and allegedly discriminating against supporters of President Donald Trump, according to messages he sent to a group chat with White House officials and technology leaders reviewed by The Washington Post.
The billionaire’s messages also cited Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University, a respected institution at the heart of Silicon Valley that has incubated tech companies such as Google. Andreessen and his wife have donated millions of dollars to the school.
Karin Fischer
Chronicle of Higher Education
Excerpt: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security set up a special unit to scrutinize international student and scholar activists for possible violations of visa or immigration law, pulling analysts from investigations in areas such as counterterrorism and cyberterrorism to handle the workload.
William C. Mao and Veronica H. Paulus
Harvard Crimson
Excerpt: One in two faculty members who responded to a survey of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences said the Trump administration’s actions have discouraged them from expressing their political views.
More than 70 percent reported feeling negatively about the state of academic freedom at United States colleges and universities. Pressure from the government was the most cited threat to academic freedom, with 85 percent of respondents identifying it as a major fear.
Tal Fortgang
Manhattan Institute
Excerpt: No one can pinpoint when the fight against diversity, equity, and inclusion started – if it can even be disentangled from related campaigns against affirmative action, minority contracting, and other forms of identity favoritism – but it’s hardly a nascent movement by now. The Supreme Court has ruled that affirmative action, as long practiced in higher education, is illegal. The Trump administration is rooting out racial favoritism in government programs and contracting alongside states that are foregrounding merit in all public investments.
However, to achieve its goals and maintain its victories, the anti-DEI movement must entrench its competing set of principles in non-governmental institutions – and ultimately in Americans’ hearts and minds.
