Defund Universities Time for Accountability Is Now

In November 2019, I was invited to the White House for the first time to attend the Hanukkah Party under President Trump as the head of the Students Supporting Israel movement. That moment wasn’t just a highlight of my years as a campus advocate—it was deeply personal. President Trump was about to sign Executive Order 13899 to combat antisemitism by including Jewish students under the protections of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

As someone who faced antisemitism firsthand on a college campus, that Executive Order held special meaning.

During my senior year at the University of Minnesota, I went through a long and difficult interview process for a position on the Student Services Fees Committee—a group that recommends how millions of dollars should be allocated between university administrative units and student organizations. I was one of the most qualified candidates. Yet out of more than 30 applicants, I was the only one to be voted down.

Why? Not because of my skills. But because I was the president of Students Supporting Israel.

I stood in front of the entire graduate student government as they challenged my affiliation with SSI. They compared our group to the KKK and attacked me in ways no other candidate was subjected to. I was denied a spot not for what I had said or done, but simply because of who I was and what I represented. That was discrimination, plain and simple. The story eventually made national headlines, including coverage in the Washington Post by American law professor Eugene Volokh. “Is excluding a student activist from a university job based on his political activity a crime in Minnesota?”

The university later reversed its decision, gave me the position, and claimed there was “nothing wrong” with the process I had endured. But the damage was already done. Had Executive Order 13899 been in place in 2015, I believe the university would have responded differently. My case could have been resolved in days, not months. I was attacked because of my identity—but I didn’t back down. I used every tool available to fight back.

When President Trump signed EO 13899 on December 11, 2019, it was a game-changer. For the first time, Jewish students were protected under the same legal framework that defends other minority groups. The goal was clear: hold universities accountable when they allow antisemitism to fester on campus.

The right thing was finally being done.

Following President Trump’s departure from office, the Executive Order remained in place under President Biden. Jewish students all across the country began submitting complaints to the Department of Education, from the University of Vermont, to UCLA, to UC Berkeley, and dozens of other schools. But instead of action, we saw settlements. Instead of consequences, we got excuses. Not a single university lost federal funding. Not a single one had its funds frozen.

The Department of Education either found “no issues” or quietly reached settlements that did nothing to change the hostile environments Jewish students were facing on the ground. Settlements don’t create change. Consequences do.

Now, with President Trump back in office, things are different. His administration is taking the issue seriously. Over 70 universities—including Columbia, Harvard, and my very own alma mater, the University of Minnesota—are finally being investigated and held accountable. Members of SSI at DePaul University are part of a lawsuit filed against the school by the Lawfare Project. My own physical assault on May 1, 2024, outside of the encampment at UC Berkeley, is part of a Title VI case being led by the Brandeis Center.

For years, universities allowed violent antisemitic displays—and even attacks—to take place on campus. But those days are over.

The truth is simple: antisemitism is like a cancer. It may start with the Jews, but it never ends there. Universities that allow this hate to thrive are also breeding grounds for extremism, intolerance, and policies that treat Jewish students differently from every other minority group on campus.

Antisemitism shouldn’t be politicized. But we must give credit where credit is due. And we must acknowledge that the elite universities in this country only respond to two things: cutting funds and bad publicity.

I call on the current administration—and every future administration, Democrat or Republican—not just to talk the talk, but to walk the walk. Stop issuing statements. Start taking action. Cut the funding. Freeze the dollars.

Just like coming to the United States is a privilege—not a right—so is accepting taxpayer dollars. Make it clear: receiving federal money is a privilege, not a right. And if universities won’t fix themselves, then the federal government must step in and fix them instead.

We either stand up and fight Jew-hatred and Hamas-supporting students, or we continue hiding behind empty neutrality while the next generation of students and leaders in this country is being indoctrinated—and Jewish students stop enrolling in universities because of their inaction on antisemitism.

The time for words is over. The time for accountability is now.