Trump Says Pressure On Columbia Is Only The Beginning For College Campuses

Trump tower protest — Hundreds gathered at Trump Tower in New York on Thursday to protest the detention of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil. (Cate Brown/The Washington Post)

By Isaac Arnsdorf and Susan Svrluga

President Donald Trump’s crackdown on alleged antisemitism on college campuses is alarming students and instructors who say the administration is trying to outlaw criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza and bend universities to his will.

Trump says he’s just getting started.

Since last Saturday’s detention of a Columbia University graduate student and green card holder without criminal charges, the Department of Homeland Security has publicized the removal of two students who participated in Gaza protests at the school. Federal agents entered two dorms on the New York campus with search warrants Thursday night, the university’s interim president announced, saying she was “heartbroken.” No one was arrested.

Several agencies sent a joint letter demanding disciplinary changes and the right to monitor an academic department as a precondition to restoring $400 million in federal funding. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department is investigating Columbia not only for civil rights violations but also for “terrorism crimes.”

Administration officials, including Trump, have been vague about what constitutes antisemitism. But the crackdown fulfills multiple campaign promises: a pledge to stand with American Jews, whom he heavily courted for their votes in November; a promise to combat “anti-American” behavior on liberal campuses; and, perhaps his top policy priority, the deportation of noncitizens living in the United States illegally.

What is clear is that Trump is willing to use the full power of the federal government, including its purse strings, to dramatically change behavior — by both students and administrators — on college campuses. Trump applauded the detention of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and called it “the first arrest of many to come.”

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