Hypocritical outrage over Trump's crackdown on universities
These naysayers would have us believe that such outcomes risk our very democracy, and that the government has no business applying a heavy hand in the name of protecting Jewish students from violence, intimidation and harassment.
They would, however, do well to consider the hypocrisy of their position.
Those raising the alarms might imagine an executive order directing federal troops onto campuses in the name of protecting Jewish students. Or they might imagine a Supreme Court decision endorsing the 'weaponization of the IRS against a political adversary of the president' through the revocation of the tax-exempt status of a private university, as Harvard professor and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers recently lamented.
Such possibilities are easy to imagine because this has all happened before.
The former occurred when President Dwight Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10730 on Sept. 24, 1957, ordering federal troops to the campus at Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. to enforce racial desegregation.
The latter happened in 1983, when the Supreme Court issued its decision in Bob Jones University v. U.S. The court ruled that the private Christian university's First Amendment rights did not override the 'fundamental' governmental interest in 'eradicating racial discrimination in education.' In that case, the government opposed Bob Jones University's admissions practices for Black applicants and its ban on interracial dating.
I imagine that today's incessant handwringers, raising alarms and fretting over lost freedoms, would have fully supported the presence of federal troops in Little Rock and the revocation of Bob Jones University's tax-exempt status. To them, the argument would have been simple: Schools can enjoy federal assistance or they can discriminate in ways that violate federal law, but they cannot do both at the same time.
So why the inconsistency? Why is it permissible to punish Bob Jones for discriminating against Black students but not Harvard for throwing its Jewish students to the wolves?
Antisemitism on college campuses since the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 has skyrocketed to dizzying levels, with no meaningful steps taken to address it — that is, until the Trump administration forced the issue. Up to that point, 83 percent of Jewish college students either experienced or witnessed antisemitic incidents. Sixty-six percent believed that their university would not prevent antisemitic incidents. Forty-one percent said they were forced to hide their Jewish identities, according to a survey by the Anti-Defamation League.
At Cooper Union in New York, Jewish students hid in the library as crowds shouting 'Free Palestine' banged on the windows and doors. Cornell University still employs Professor Russell Rickford, who shouted into a microphone that Oct. 7 was 'exhilarating' and 'energizing.' At San Francisco University, vandals defaced the Hillel Center with the word 'Khaybar,' a reference to early Muslims slaughtering a tribe of Jews.
Columbia University still employs Professor Frank Guridy, who held a 'teach-in' class in its encampment, a space Jewish students were only permitted to enter if they disclaimed their identity as 'Zionist.' As the vast majority of American Jews identify as Zionist, almost all Jews were banned from this swath of campus and Guridy's class.
Few dispute that the situation for Jews on campus has been dire, nor is there much dispute that universities have failed to protect their Jewish students. Rather, today's apologists for these universities claim to place the sanctity of freedom of speech above all else. Never mind that these same apologists were totally silent when angry mobs shut down university classes or events with pro-Israel speakers. Never mind that not one of them spoke out when the Biden administration's federal investigation of Brigham Young University implicated another First Amendment right — the freedom of religion.
This is not about consistency, but rather ideology cloaked by a semblance of virtue. Certainly, there would be no apologies for a university that employed professors who were exhilarated and energized by Ku Klux Klan lynchings, or one in which Hispanic students were forced to hide from angry mobs.
By design, federal civil rights laws and federal funding can be weaponized as a cudgel to force wayward recipients of such funds back into compliance with the law. This is a feature, not a bug. They have been used at various points to protect Black, Hispanic, Muslim and gay students. Jewish students have the right to enjoy the benefits of those powers as much as any other minority student.
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New York Post
17 minutes ago
- New York Post
A stranger told me I was sending my kids to ‘Nazi camp' — this shows how mainstream anti-Jew hate has become
My children go to a Zionist Jewish summer camp. It's the kind of place that instills pride in Jewish identity and love for Israel while giving kids the normal joys of camp: canoeing, hiking, and endless games of soccer. But on the last Friday before the session ended, the kids and staff experienced a scare that revealed just how fragile Jewish life in America has become. During a live-streamed ceremony, paragliders appeared over the campus. They swooped low, and panic rippled through the crowd. For most American campers, it was confusing. For the Israeli staff and campers, many of them children directly impacted by the October 7th terror attacks near Gaza, the sight was terrifying. Paragliders were how Hamas terrorists descended that morning to murder, rape, and kidnap. The sound of their motors and the image of their canopies burned into memory. 4 The cyber-attacker used their real name in the messages. bethanyshondark/X The camp had fundraised to bring dozens of these traumatized Israeli children to safety for the summer. For them, seeing paragliders overhead was not a quirky airshow, it was the beginning of another attack. Staff acted instantly. State police were called. The children were evacuated to a secure location on campus. The livestream was cut off after we watched the evacuation begin. Parents, myself included, went into panic mode, wondering if we were watching another massacre unfold in real time. Thankfully, the paragliders were not terrorists. It was a misguided stunt, not an attack. But the trauma was real. Jewish children, American and Israeli alike, relived October 7th that afternoon in the middle of a peaceful American summer camp. When I shared what happened online, my post went viral, with over 5 million views. Instead of compassion, what flooded in were thousands of hateful comments. Strangers mocked the idea that Jewish children could have PTSD. They sneered at traumatized kids as if they were actors in some propaganda campaign. And then I opened a direct message that made my stomach turn. A woman, using her real name, wrote: 'F— you and f— your kid who goes to Nazi summer camp! Free Palestine from you sick f—s!' After I called her out, she went on, 'You are literally indoctrinating your children with the idea that raping and murdering people for their land is not only okay but promised to you by god. Zionism is a disease that you are spreading to your children and one day you will be recognized as the supporter of Genocide that you are.' 4 Mandel decided to search up the person behind the messaged and exposed them to their workplace. bethanyshondark/X That message didn't come from a troll in a dark basement. Thirty seconds of searching showed me that Danielle Gordon of Denver is a white, middle-class, college-educated employee of Fidelity, one of the largest financial institutions in the country. Her LinkedIn profile describes her as 'dedicated to working in inclusive, respectful, and ethical places.' And yet here she was, spewing genocidal hate at Jewish children. I decided to expose her name for three reasons. First, to show just how mainstream this kind of hate has become. Danielle isn't some fringe extremist hiding behind an anonymous account. She's a professional at one of the most respected financial institutions in the country. She's a typical progressive parroting TikTok talking points about Jews, Zionism, and Israel. At one point she even lectured me that 'Zionism goes against your religion' — a laughable claim for anyone who has read a page of Jewish history. Her hatred isn't rare; it's disturbingly ordinary. And that's what makes it so dangerous. This strain of progressive antisemitism thrives side by side with self-aggrandizing claims of moral superiority. Second, accountability matters. If Danielle Gordon is representing Fidelity and a client mentions assets or travel plans tied to Israel, should that client trust their money in her hands? 4 Mandel found her LinkedIn profile, where she works at Fidelity. bethanyshondark/X These are not abstract concerns; they go to the heart of whether Jews can participate equally in American life without fear that professionals charged with safeguarding our futures secretly despise us. (In a statement to The Post, Fidelity responded on Tuesday: 'Fidelity does not tolerate hateful, harassing or discriminatory behavior of any kind. The individual no longer works at Fidelity.') And third, I am an October 8th Jew. October 7th shattered the illusion of safety. October 8th was the day after, the day we realized the world would excuse terror and that the hatred we always suspected was there was now fully in the open. I am done playing nice. If you want to make Jewish children relive their trauma, if you want to mock their PTSD and celebrate their fear, then don't expect to do so with anonymity and no consequences. For too long, Jews in America have been told to keep our heads down, not make waves, not 'provoke.' That strategy hasn't worked. The murders of Jews in Los Angeles, Detroit, Denver, and Washington, D.C., prove that. A Zionist Jewish summer camp is, in fact, a target. To pretend otherwise is delusion. 4 Mandel said that she exposed the name to show how this type of hate has become mainstream. bethanyshondark/X So here is my message: if you come at Jews, expect a fight. That's what being an October 8th Jew means. It means the days of pretending antisemitism is rare or fringe are over. It means no longer accepting excuses for those who dehumanize us. It means fighting back with every tool we have: our voices, our platforms, and our refusal to be silent. Get opinions and commentary from our columnists Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Jewish children should be able to go to camp in America without fearing that paragliders overhead signal another massacre. Parents should not have to wonder if strangers online want their kids dead. And no professional should be able to boast about 'inclusivity' by day while preaching genocide against Jews on weekends without being held accountable. October 7th was the day of horror. October 8th was the day of reckoning. And we are still living in it. Bethany Mandel writes and podcasts at The Mom Wars.
Politico
18 minutes ago
- Politico
Live by the tweets, die by the tweets
Presented by NY Offshore Wind Alliance 'I TWEET THEREFORE I AM': Andrew Cuomo shouted out his new social media gurus at a Hamptons fundraiser Saturday evening. 'They're going to do all sorts of stupid things on social media,' the mayoral candidate said in audio obtained by Playbook. 'And I'll do it. Sometimes it works.' Sure enough, the team did a stupid thing. The Cuomo campaign is scrambling to distance themselves from self-proclaimed memelord Jason Levin after he proudly boasted on X late Monday about making a meme the Cuomo campaign posted — and his plan to do more. The problem for Cuomo is that Levin's online persona is that of a provocative MAGA booster, proudly proclaiming he voted for Trump last year. 'I'M A PROUD JEW WHO VOTED FOR HITLER,' Levin posted over a photo of Trump in a yarmulke. Calling him 'Hitler' was meant as a sarcastic criticism of liberals who do the same, since Levin made clear in other X posts he believes Trump has been 'the best supporter of the Jewish people and Israel we could ever ask for.' Levin didn't respond to a request for comment. But he 'is not paid by the campaign, he suggested one meme to someone on that team,' Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi told Playbook. 'Hatred, bigotry, misogyny and anything like that has no place in this race.' His questionable posts were quickly spread by Mamdani allies, but Azzopardi said the Democratic nominee's team should be careful suggesting guilt by association. 'If Mamdani's campaign wants to play that game, there are plenty of problematic people who think America deserved 9/11 and who think 'from the river to the sea' is a perfectly fine thing to say standing next to him at a rally,' he said, referring to lefty streamer Hasan Piker, who's backed Mamdani. 'Hatred, bigotry, misogyny, and racism have in fact found a home in this race — on Andrew Cuomo's new-look digital team,' Mamdani campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec responded. 'There's no strategy they won't embrace in their tragic efforts at relevance. Their digital presence perfectly encapsulates Cuomo's regressive, conservative politics and wouldn't be out of place in Trump's D.C. — but it has no place in New York City.' The memelord arose at a bad time for Cuomo, as his campaign is also trying to downplay the former governor's comments at the same Hamptons fundraiser — first reported by POLITICO — where he said he hoped to benefit from Trump's involvement in the race. Levin posted a photo with Cuomo that appeared to be taken at a Monday night young professionals fundraiser, co-hosted by the candidate's actual social media manager, Daniel Liss. Azzopardi declined to talk about Liss's team or how he's getting paid until the campaign reports its financial disclosure on Friday — but he noted that Levin's meme Liss approved 'did very well.' Cuomo has pivoted to a much more 'online' voice on X since losing the Democratic primary to the social media savvy Mamdani. He explained at the Hamptons fundraiser that's part of his strategy to win the general, saying he was now 'very social media adept.' But minutes later, he lamented the political culture today while suggesting Mamdani was thin on policy. 'This whole business has gotten very superficial, right? I tweet therefore I am. It's all about Tiktok now, right? And it all comes down to three words. Every policy is three words, right?' he said. 'But the more you discuss and explore with people what exactly you're talking about, the less sense it makes.' — Jeff Coltin From the Capitol GHOST IN THE GRID: Cuomo's successful quest to shut down the Indian Point nuclear plant dirtied the grid of the city he's now fighting to lead and spiked costs for consumers. Cuomo fought for decades to shut the nuclear plant located 25 miles north of the city. He raised concerns about the safety of the aging plant and its proximity to the city, where an evacuation — if the worst happened — would be impossible. When the plant was shuttered, gas power plants filled in the gap. The state's electricity emissions increased 22 percent from 2019 to 2022 after the nuclear plant closed, making the state's and city's climate goals more challenging to achieve. 'The city is much more reliant on its in-city fossil generation in a way that didn't have to happen the way it did,' said Dan Zarrilli, former chief climate policy adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio. 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Still, Hochul made clear her plan is to have new, Democrat-friendly congressional maps redrawn in time for House elections three years from now — the soonest the state's Constitution allows. 'Everyone says, 'Why don't you do what Gavin Newsom does?'' Hochul told reporters today, referencing California's governor, at an unrelated event in Albany. 'Gavin Newsom has a very different situation, because if I could, I would. I didn't ask for this. I wish everybody played fair. But if you're going to change the rules of the game in the middle of it, then I'm not sitting on the sidelines and letting that happen.' On Monday, the Texas Democratic lawmakers who bolted from their state to prevent their Legislature from moving forward with Trump-led redistricting efforts returned after a two-week sojourn. Ohio is also looking to redraw its maps in a way that would favor Republicans, though their redistricting efforts were already on the calendar before the Texas showdown. Missouri's governor has yet to confirm whether he will embrace calls from his fellow Republicans to redraw maps there, too. Newsom and the California's Democrats released their plan to redraw California's maps in response to Texas' efforts on Friday. Hochul has said she wants to change or eliminate New York's independent redistricting commission — which she says forces her to 'fight with my hand tied behind my back' — and replace it with a process that is nakedly partisan. That would require a constitutional amendment. But Hochul noted today there's 'no urgency' to move forward because the state's Constitution says amendments must be approved by the Legislature in two consecutive sessions — so acting now instead of January won't change the timeline. (We're currently in the 2025-2026 session). After that, voters need to approve the measure at the ballot box. 'That'll be in place for the 2028 Congressionals,' Hochul said of the new maps, noting voters will likely see the amendment on their ballots in the fall of 2027, if all goes to plan. 'Right now, we're on a path to have it not happen until 2032, so I can shave those years off.' — Jason Beeferman From City Hall TARGETING COURTHOUSE ARRESTS: Mayor Eric Adams filed an amicus brief today in support of a lawsuit by immigrant advocacy groups against the Trump administration calling for an end to the arrests at immigration court proceedings. Masked federal immigration agents have been detaining noncitizens outside courtrooms — including at 26 Federal Plaza — to fast-track them for deportation, though the practice has slowed as fewer people show up for court. The amicus brief comes as the mayor, running for reelection as an independent, seeks to delineate when he will work with Trump and when he'll stand up to the president's deportation agenda. 'If people are afraid of the legal process, then they will live in the shadows, and people will prey on them,' the mayor told reporters today. 'We have to allow people to go through the legal process.' Several New York Democratic officials have condemned the courthouse arrests, saying migrants are doing the right thing by showing up to their court dates and they're not the violent criminals Trump said he would prioritize for deportation. New York City Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant was more blunt than Adams in her statement about the city's move to back plaintiffs African Communities Together and The Door in the Southern District of New York. 'New York City has become the epicenter of the Trump administration's courthouse arrest campaign,' said Goode-Trufant. 'With every illegal courthouse arrest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is chipping away at the bedrock principles of fairness and due process that support our entire system of justice.' — Emily Ngo IN OTHER NEWS — TORRES FOR HOCHUL: Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres endorsed Hochul for reelection today after spending eight months harshly criticizing her on a host of issues while floating a primary challenge. (News 12) — CRYPTO PAC PROBLEM: A pro-Adams Super PAC backed by cryptocurrency firms didn't disclose its spending to the city's Campaign Finance Board for weeks. (Daily News) — SPITZER SPEAKS: Former governor Eliot Spitzer talked about Mamdani's victory, his relationships with Cuomo and Trump, and his refusal to consider whether his prostitution scandal would've led to his downfall today. (Vanity Fair) — NEVER SETTLE: Adams' city lawyer said that there is 'no interest' in settling with the woman who filed a civil suit claiming he sexually assaulted her. (Courthouse News Service) Missed this morning's New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Associated Press
18 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Oregon city at heart of Supreme Court homelessness ruling to ensure camping spaces under settlement
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon city at the heart of a major U.S. Supreme Court homelessness ruling has agreed to ensure camping spaces for at least 150 people as part of a settlement reached with a disability rights group that sued the city over its camping rules. Disability Rights Oregon, which sued Grants Pass in January, said Friday that it had reached a settlement agreement. The advocacy group accused the city of discriminating against people with disabilities and violating a state law requiring cities' camping regulations to be 'objectively reasonable.' 'This settlement represents a significant step forward in ensuring people with disabilities experiencing homelessness have places to rest, basic necessities like drinking water, and real opportunity to stabilize their lives,' Jake Cornett, executive director and CEO of Disability Rights Oregon, said in a statement. Grants Pass Mayor Clint Scherf said in an email Tuesday that the city appreciates having reached an agreement and will 'continue to work toward effective measures to benefit all members of our community.' A copy of the settlement agreement showed the city signed off on it earlier this month. Josephine County Circuit Court Judge Sarah McGlaughlin issued a preliminary injunction in March blocking the city from enforcing its camping rules unless it increased capacity at city-approved sites for camping and ensured they are physically accessible to people with disabilities. City ordinances prohibit sleeping or leaving personal property in a park overnight in most cases. Those found in violation can be fined up to $50. The city said Friday on Facebook that law enforcement 'will begin noticing the parks, and occupants will have 72 hours to remove their belongings.' The city's website shows three 'designated resting locations' in the downtown area, near City Hall and the police station, where people can stay for four days before having to relocate. The time limit can be enforced unless disability accommodations are necessary, the city said on Facebook. At resting sites, individuals are limited to spaces that are 8 feet by 8 feet (2.4 meters by 2.4 meters), with buffers of 3 feet (0.9 meters) between spaces, as outlined in city code. Under the settlement, Grants Pass must ensure that at least 150 camping spaces are available in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act for the next 12 months. Drinking water and hand washing stations must be available on-site. The city must also provide $60,000 in grant funding to a nonprofit for homeless services. Grants Pass, a small city of about 40,000 along the Rogue River in the mountains of southern Oregon, has struggled for years to address the homelessness crisis and become emblematic of the national debate over how to deal with it. Its parks in particular became a flashpoint, with many of them becoming the site of encampments blighted by drug use and litter. Last June, in a case brought by the city, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that communities can ban sleeping outside and fine people for doing so, even when there are not enough shelter beds. After the high court ruling, Grants Pass banned camping on all city property except locations designated by the City Council, which established sites for the town's hundreds of homeless people in a bid to move them from the parks. Upon taking office in January, the new mayor and new council members moved to close the larger of the two sites, which housed roughly 120 tents, according to Disability Rights Oregon's complaint, which said the sites were frequently crowded with poor conditions and inaccessible to people with disabilities because of loose gravel. After the lawsuit was filed, the city reopened a second, smaller site. McGlaughin's order in March said the city had to increase capacity to what it had been before the larger site was closed. Homelessness increased 18% last year nationwide, driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and an increase in migrants in some areas.
