Latest news with #Muhlenberg
New York Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
A Professor Was Fired for Her Politics. Is That the Future of Academia?
In January 2024, Maura Finkelstein finished teaching her first classes of the semester, unaware they would be her last as a professor. This was on a Wednesday at Muhlenberg College, a campus stippled with red doors meant to represent both hospitality and the college's Lutheran roots. As Finkelstein prepared to go home, she noticed a text from someone claiming to be the college's provost, Laura Furge. 'I had just done the online phishing training,' she told me later. 'And I was like, 'I know that if the provost texts me on an unknown number, it's spam.'' She deleted and blocked the message. Then she checked her email. There was a message from the provost there as well. 'So, I unblocked her number and called her,' she said. Furge told Finkelstein that the Department of Education had opened an investigation into Muhlenberg for potential civil rights violations. The college had yet to receive the underlying complaint, but they knew a professor had been named, and campus administrators assumed that professor was Finkelstein. It made sense. For months, students, alumni and strangers had been complaining about Finkelstein. They started a petition the previous fall, demanding that she be fired for 'dangerous pro-Hamas rhetoric' and 'blatant classroom bias against Jewish students.' As evidence, the petition, and its 8,000 signers, had offered up screenshots of Finkelstein's posts: a photo of her, on Oct. 12, in a kaffiyeh, a kaffiyeh-patterned face mask and a tank top that read 'Anti-Zionist Vibes Only,' below which she had written 'Free Gaza, free Palestine, stop the ongoing genocide by the Israeli and American war machines.' In another, on Oct. 26, she wrote, 'ISRAEL DOES NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEFEND ITS OCCUPATION.' Furge didn't have many details to share with Finkelstein. 'She was like, 'I wanted you to know so you didn't hear it from the press first,'' Finkelstein recalled. 'And — this is so me — I was like, 'Laura, I am always trying to help the college have different experiences.'' Furge, Finkelstein said, 'didn't really laugh.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Luncheon honors Berks' Best and recipients of more than 120 scholarships
The annual Berks County Community Foundation Scholarship Luncheon was held Wednesday at the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel in Reading. Kim Sheffer, lifelong learning program officer for the foundation, said the awards given out to recipients represented a $700,000 investment in the future of the community. More than 120 scholarships were awarded, some to multiple students, this year. The Berks' Best award winners also were recognized. Each Berks County high school is given the opportunity to nominate up to two seniors in each of the 11 categories. This year's winners: business: Ariyan Patel, Wyomissing; career and technical education: Devra Longacre, Brandywine Heights; communications: Sydney Guida, Fleetwood; computer science: Truman Peters, Wyomissing; mathematics: Jasper Platt, Wyomissing; performing arts: Ariel Metzger Conrad Weiser; science/environment: Samson Evans, Muhlenberg; social studies, Pearl Caldwell, Wyomissing; the Taylor Seitzinger community service and leadership award: Garrett Hyneman, Gov. Mifflin; visual arts: Mackenzie Stoudt, Kutztown; and world languages, Gianna Johnson, Exeter. Some of the 2025 Berks' Best award winners who attended the Berks County Community Foundation Scholarship Luncheon Wednesday, May 21, 2025. From left, are Mackenzie Stoudt, a Kutztown High senior, Garrett Hyneman, a Gov. Mifflin senior, Samson Evans, a Muhlenberg senior, Ariel Metzger, a Conrad Weiser senior and Gianna Johnson, an Exeter senior. (Susan Miers Smith - Reading Eagle) The Wyomissing students were unable to attend due to senior day obligations. Dr. Radha Pyati, chancellor of Penn State Berks since 2023, was the keynote speaker. She has a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to taking the Penn State job, she served as dean of the college of science and mathematics at West Chester University. Pyati called Wednesday 'a day filled with pride, promise and possibility.' She said she tapped ChatGPT to write her speech, saying she wanted to stay current with what she called the latest newfangled things. 'Today's ChatGPT was yesterday's smartphone and that was the computer of 30 or 40 years ago,' Pyati said. She said the artificial intelligence results were good in some places and shared a part she kept for her address. 'I realized it lacked some things, so I wrote those things myself,' she said. 'First of all, the speech did not speak at all to Berks County and believe me, I asked it to. 'Berks County is special. Berks has some amazing students who come from a wide range of backgrounds and high schools — urban, suburban and rural. Berks schools, teachers and families offer our kids some amazing experiences that rival those in any county anywhere.' The AI speech did not even touch that, she said. Secondly, the AI speech made up a story of a student named Maya. 'I don't know that story and I wanted to share some real stories from people I've actually known and admired,' she said. Pyati emphasized that it was important for the students to find their voices and that their original thinking, their original ideas will make the most difference in the future. 'Only you, your unique voice, your special strengths, what you bring will make your original contributions to this world groundbreaking and one of a kind,' Pyati said. 'So use the best tools you have and go out there and write the next chapter of your story.'
The Guardian
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Conservatives fighting ‘antisemitism' are actively targeting US Jews. Why?
The Trump administration claims that its moves to defund universities, arrest and deport students and force schools to demote or monitor professors are meant to combat antisemitism, protect Jewish students and remove 'Hamas-supporting' foreign nationals from the country. American pro-Israel groups including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Hillel International, Aipac and the Heritage Foundation have united behind Republican measures to crack down on higher education and its putative antisemitism. Religiously identified groups such as the Orthodox Union and Christians United for Israel have joined the chorus, celebrating the punishment of supposedly antisemitic students and professors. Whatever their varied pasts, today's pro-Israel groups are not about protecting American Jews. Instead, they are allies in Maga's war on free speech, academic freedom and the US's democratic society itself. To be clear: the pro-Israel campaign to 'protect' Jews by punishing anti-Zionist speech often targets Jews. After a student complaint about a tenured Jewish professor's Twitter post, Muhlenberg College fired her. The ADL has rewarded Muhlenberg by grading it 'better than most' colleges for fighting 'antisemitism'. The ADL also accused Jewish Voice for Peace, a large, anti-Zionist Jewish group with chapters on many American campuses, of 'promot[ing] messaging' that can include 'support for terrorists'. Under pressure from the Trump administration, Columbia University expelled a Jewish graduate student and United Auto Workers local president who demonstrated against the war in Gaza. To be clear: the pro-Israel campaign to 'protect' Jews by punishing anti-Zionist speech often targets Jews. After a student complaint about a tenured Jewish professor's Twitter post, Muhlenberg College fired her. The ADL has rewarded Muhlenberg by grading it 'better than most' colleges for fighting 'antisemitism'. The ADL also accused Jewish Voice for Peace, a large, anti-Zionist Jewish group with chapters on many American campuses, of 'promot[ing] messaging' that can include 'support for terrorists'. Under pressure from the Trump administration, Columbia University expelled a Jewish graduate student and United Auto Workers local president who demonstrated against the war in Gaza. Most chillingly, the Trump administration recently sent all staff at Barnard College a questionnaire inquiring if they were Jewish, ostensibly to gauge campus antisemitism. For many, the experience of being asked by the government to self-identify as a Jew was terrifying; as one historian put it: 'We've seen this movie before, and it ends with yellow stars.' Canary Mission, a pro-Israel website that publishes information on students and professors who supposedly 'promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews', has been targeting an Israeli American scholar of the Holocaust along with many other Jews (including the author of this piece). Project Esther, an initiative launched by the conservative Heritage Foundation – the thinktank behind Project 2025 – blames the 'American Jewish community's complacency' for the 'pro-Palestinian movement's' ability to continue working for 'the destruction of capitalism and democracy'. Maga's pro-Israel partners do not protect Jews; they help Trump in his war on our academic freedom and open society more generally. Of course, unlike some pro-Israel groups, the Trump administration has a broader antipathy toward higher education. As JD Vance put it, 'the professors are the enemy'. But the pro-Israel movement furnishes Maga with a crucial weapon in their war on this 'enemy': charges of antisemitism. The entire 'US education system', according to Project Esther, has been 'infiltrated' by 'Hamas-supporting organizations' that now 'foster antisemitism under the guise of ''pro-Palestinian,' anti-Israel, anti-Zionist narratives … within the rubric of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and similar Marxist ideology'. Of course, by linking Palestinian solidarity with longstanding rightwing bogeymen like antiracism and communism, Project Esther gives away the game; their 'antisemitic' charge is a tool to silence Maga's left-leaning critics in higher education. Meanwhile, many pro-Israel groups seem to tolerate Maga's proximity to antisemitism. If they didn't, we might expect to hear more about JD Vance's meeting with Germany's neo-Nazi-linked AfD, Steve Bannon's singling out of 'American Jews that do not support Israel and do not support Maga' as 'the number one enemy to the people in Israel', or Trump's claim that the Democratic senator Chuck Schumer is 'not Jewish' but 'Palestinian'. The ADL went so far as to defend Elon Musk's apparent Nazi salute at Trump's inauguration. True, the ADL rightfully criticized some of these other incidents, as well as Trump's antisemitic advertisements, and his meeting with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes. But these cases do not seem to merit breaking with Maga. Why? Because the pro-Israel movement advocates for Israel, not American Jews. For this reason, the American pro-Israel movement has been collaborating in the Trump administration's campaign to roll back everyone's constitutional rights. By now, most of us have seen the footage of Mahmoud Khalil and Rümeysa Öztürk, both students at American universities, being surrounded by groups of government agents and forced into the backs of unmarked vehicles. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, promised that hundreds of other students have been stripped of their visas. Neither Khalil nor Öztürk have any demonstrated ties to Hamas. Khalil even spoke out against antisemitism, declaring that 'antisemitism and any form of racism has no place on this campus and in this movement'. Furthermore, as a permanent resident and a student visa holder, both Khalil and Öztürk are guaranteed first amendment protections. Yet Hillel International failed to condemn the arrests, and the ADL outright celebrated Khalil's. Ultimately, Trump and many in the pro-Israel movement have allied against free speech in higher education because it is a pillar of an open society that threatens both of them. The right has long had it out for universities. The pro-Israel movement, meanwhile, saw the campus encampments with horror; a wide cross-section of students and professors from a variety of religious, racial and ethnic backgrounds came together to speak out against Israel's killing of tens of thousands of people. Even more galling for the pro-Israel movement, Jews actively participated in the protests – even conducting Passover seders, as well as Kabbalat Shabbat and Havdalah services amid them. These young Jews are not alone; less than half of Americans now sympathize with Israel, and one-third believe Israel is committing genocide. These facts do not threaten American Jews, but they do threaten Maga and the heavily evangelical pro-Israel movement. As long as increasing numbers of students, professors and many others speak out for Palestinians' humanity, the pro-Israel movement, armed with disingenuous accusations of antisemitism, will aid Maga's war on American higher education and democracy itself. Joshua Schreier is a professor of history and Jewish studies at Vassar College.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
These universities are in Trump's crosshairs. Many don't know why.
By Helen Coster and Julia Harte NEW YORK (Reuters) - When Muhlenberg College learned in January 2024 - as pro-Palestinian protests were sweeping campuses across the United States - that it was under investigation for discriminating against Jewish students, the small liberal arts institution in Pennsylvania took action. The college fired a tenured professor who had been accused of targeting Jewish students, and the U.S. Education Department, satisfied with Muhlenberg's response to complaints of antisemitism on campus, ended its investigation. So Muhlenberg's inclusion on a list of 60 universities and colleges under investigation by the Education Department for antisemitism was "not anticipated," Todd Lineburger, a spokesperson for Muhlenberg, said. "To our knowledge, Muhlenberg is not on the DOE list of institutions with open investigations," Lineburger said. "We have received no further information from the Department of Education and continue our robust efforts to remain fully compliant with all laws and regulations." The March 10 letter to 60 institutions, signed by the Education Department's acting civil rights chief Craig Trainor, focused on antisemitic activity following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. It warned that Donald Trump's administration would not tolerate antisemitic acts - and institutions that did risked losing federal government funding. Nearly a third – 19 in total – of the academic institutions under investigation for antisemitism by the Trump administration had already resolved earlier complaints or had never been subject to such complaints at all, according to 31 colleges' responses to Reuters queries and an analysis of publicly available records maintained by the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights. The seemingly haphazard composition of the list – and the potentially enormous financial implications – raised immediate concerns in the academic community. "I certainly was hearing confusion from campus leaders whose institutions were named," said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the advocacy group American Association of Colleges and Universities. "That's part of the distress that they're experiencing, because they don't even know the nature and extent of the allegations against them." A spokesperson from the Education Department did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. In her announcement that warnings had been issued to the colleges, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said Jewish students at "elite U.S. campuses" were in fear of their safety. She went on: 'U.S. colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers. That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.' The Reuters analysis found at least 15 of the 60 universities on the education department's list - including Muhlenberg - had already resolved antisemitism complaints. Four universities - including American University in Washington - had no record of a recent discrimination complaint at all. Another five universities were under investigation for discrimination against Muslim, Arab and pro-Palestinian students and faculty as well as Jewish groups. Three more institutions were the subject of complaints about discrimination against pro-Palestinian students, but not antisemitism, which was the sole focus of the March 10 letter. IVY LEAGUE AND STATE INSTITUTIONS The Trump administration's list also departed from the 'Campus Antisemitism Report Card' of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization founded to fight antisemitism and other forms of discrimination. Seven of the universities on the Education Department's list – including Muhlenberg – received B grades or 'better than most' from the ADL. Meanwhile, the list left out seven universities receiving F grades from the ADL, including Haverford College, Scripps College, and Loyola University. Five other institutions that received an "F" grade – including University of California, Santa Barbara; Pomona College and Portland State University – were included on the list. Other universities that had drawn severe criticism from Jewish groups for their handling of pro-Palestinian protests, such as University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) were excluded. The Department database includes three complaints against UCLA. The letters marked an expansion of the administration's war against the institutions Trump has disparaged as 'infested with radicalism.' Trainor, the Education Department official who signed them, was a former attorney for the Trump policy-promoting America First Institute. The notices spanned a cross-section of higher education institutions: Ivy League institutions like Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton as well as state universities in California, Florida, Ohio, and New York. They were issued three days after the Trump administration canceled grants and contracts worth about $400 million to Columbia University, the epicenter of the pro-Palestinian campus protests. It was also unclear how the Trump administration would conduct its investigation with current staffing constraints, three former attorneys with the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights told Reuters. The day after it sent the letter to 60 universities, the Trump administration closed seven of the 12 regional offices of the OCR that investigate antisemitism and other discrimination complaints. Two attorneys who lost their jobs as a result of those cuts, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that they were not involved in creating the list and did not know how it was created. 'We're really watching an attack on higher education under the guise of fighting antisemitism, but I cannot emphasize enough how much it will not actually protect Jewish students,' said Erin Beiner, director of the student wing of J Street, a liberal Jewish-American lobbying group. WIDE-RANGING COMPLAINTS The discrimination complaints against the institutions cover a wide range of events, according to the Education Department database. Drexel University in Philadelphia was censured for not pursuing tougher disciplinary measures when a vocally pro-Israeli Jewish student's dorm room was set on fire three days after the Hamas attacks. No one was hurt in the attack, and the Education Department closed the investigation after Drexel bolstered dorm security, arranged implicit bias training sessions for dorm staff, and issued university-wide reminders of safety and support resources. At Florida's University of Tampa, the father of a student suspended for scuffling with another student over a balloon said the school was 'guilty of anti-Semitism' for not believing his son's claim that the other student had used an antisemitic slur. The only complaint against Pomona College in California was filed by Palestine Legal, an advocacy group that said the administration had allowed police to violently quash pro-Palestinian protests, and by requiring those protestors to remove their masks, exposed protesters to the risk that their identities and personal information could be publicly released. Neither Drexel, the University of Tampa, nor Pomona responded to inquiries from Reuters about the complaints. Billions of dollars of federal grants and contracts are at stake if the Education Department determines that the universities have allowed discrimination. The Trump administration could withhold funds to pressure universities to change their disciplinary policies, admissions practices, and even the way certain academic departments are managed. It has levied all of these demands against Columbia, which meted out new punishments against students who were involved in last year's protests, and later acquiesced to several demands. Several schools told Reuters they would do whatever it takes to retain federal government funding. 'Both our president and our board have said we're not going to take any risks for loss of research funding. We're just not,' said Paul Allvin, vice president and global brand manager for George Mason University in Virginia. The Education Department notified George Mason of an antisemitism complaint in December 2023. The university sent a lengthy account of its response to the complaint, and the department requested no further information. A spokesperson for American University said the school would 'comply with any communications or requests from OCR.' The Education Department's databases have no record of a recent antisemitism complaint against or investigation into American University. Some interventions on behalf of the targeted schools appeared to get immediate results. Hawaii Governor Josh Green said he called the White House the morning after the state university received its letter to explain that conflict on its campus during Israel's war in Gaza 'paled in comparison' to other universities. 'They assured me the University of Hawai'i is not on the chopping block for antisemitism,' the governor said in a statement to Reuters. Other schools struck a more defiant tone when asked how the school would react if the Trump administration withheld funding. 'There is no lawful basis to withdraw federal funding,' said a spokesperson for Santa Monica College, pointing out that the letter 'did not identify any violations by SMC or ask for a response.'
Reuters
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Trump officials target dozens of colleges for antisemitism - even those cleared by probes
Summary Nearly a third of colleges under investigation have already resolved complaints - or received no complaints at all Some colleges targeted by Trump officials have above-average ratings from the Anti-Defamation League At stake are billions of dollars in federal government grants NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - When Muhlenberg College learned in January 2024 - as pro-Palestinian protests were sweeping campuses across the United States - that it was under investigation for discriminating against Jewish students, the small liberal arts institution in Pennsylvania took action. The college fired a tenured professor who had been accused of targeting Jewish students, and the U.S. Education Department, satisfied with Muhlenberg's response to complaints of antisemitism on campus, ended its investigation. So Muhlenberg's inclusion on a list of 60 universities and colleges under investigation by the Education Department for antisemitism was "not anticipated," Todd Lineburger, a spokesperson for Muhlenberg, said. "To our knowledge, Muhlenberg is not on the DOE list of institutions with open investigations," Lineburger said. "We have received no further information from the Department of Education and continue our robust efforts to remain fully compliant with all laws and regulations." The March 10 letter to 60 institutions, signed by the Education Department's acting civil rights chief Craig Trainor, focused on antisemitic activity following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. It warned that Donald Trump's administration would not tolerate antisemitic acts - and institutions that did risked losing federal government funding. Nearly a third – 19 in total – of the academic institutions under investigation for antisemitism by the Trump administration had already resolved earlier complaints or had never been subject to such complaints at all, according to 31 colleges' responses to Reuters queries and an analysis of publicly available records maintained by the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights. The seemingly haphazard composition of the list – and the potentially enormous financial implications – raised immediate concerns in the academic community. "I certainly was hearing confusion from campus leaders whose institutions were named," said Lynn Pasquerella, president of the advocacy group American Association of Colleges and Universities. "That's part of the distress that they're experiencing, because they don't even know the nature and extent of the allegations against them." A spokesperson from the Education Department did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. In her announcement that warnings had been issued to the colleges, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said Jewish students at "elite U.S. campuses" were in fear of their safety. She went on: 'U.S. colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers. That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.' The Reuters analysis found at least 15 of the 60 universities on the education department's list - including Muhlenberg - had already resolved antisemitism complaints. Four universities - including American University in Washington - had no record of a recent discrimination complaint at all. Another five universities were under investigation for discrimination against Muslim, Arab and pro-Palestinian students and faculty as well as Jewish groups. Three more institutions were the subject of complaints about discrimination against pro-Palestinian students, but not antisemitism, which was the sole focus of the March 10 letter. IVY LEAGUE AND STATE INSTITUTIONS The Trump administration's list also departed from the 'Campus Antisemitism Report Card' of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization founded to fight antisemitism and other forms of discrimination. Seven of the universities on the Education Department's list – including Muhlenberg – received B grades or 'better than most' from the ADL. Meanwhile, the list left out seven universities receiving F grades from the ADL, including Haverford College, Scripps College, and Loyola University. Five other institutions that received an "F" grade – including University of California, Santa Barbara; Pomona College and Portland State University – were included on the list. Other universities that had drawn severe criticism from Jewish groups for their handling of pro-Palestinian protests, such as University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) were excluded. The Department database includes three complaints against UCLA. The letters marked an expansion of the administration's war against the institutions Trump has disparaged as 'infested with radicalism.' Trainor, the Education Department official who signed them, was a former attorney for the Trump policy-promoting America First Institute. The notices spanned a cross-section of higher education institutions: Ivy League institutions like Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton as well as state universities in California, Florida, Ohio, and New York. They were issued three days after the Trump administration canceled grants and contracts worth about $400 million to Columbia University, the epicenter of the pro-Palestinian campus protests. It was also unclear how the Trump administration would conduct its investigation with current staffing constraints, three former attorneys with the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights told Reuters. The day after it sent the letter to 60 universities, the Trump administration closed seven of the 12 regional offices of the OCR that investigate antisemitism and other discrimination complaints. Two attorneys who lost their jobs as a result of those cuts, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters that they were not involved in creating the list and did not know how it was created. 'We're really watching an attack on higher education under the guise of fighting antisemitism, but I cannot emphasize enough how much it will not actually protect Jewish students,' said Erin Beiner, director of the student wing of J Street, a liberal Jewish-American lobbying group. WIDE-RANGING COMPLAINTS The discrimination complaints against the institutions cover a wide range of events, according to the Education Department database. Drexel University in Philadelphia was censured for not pursuing tougher disciplinary measures when a vocally pro-Israeli Jewish student's dorm room was set on fire three days after the Hamas attacks. No one was hurt in the attack, and the Education Department closed the investigation after Drexel bolstered dorm security, arranged implicit bias training sessions for dorm staff, and issued university-wide reminders of safety and support resources. At Florida's University of Tampa, the father of a student suspended for scuffling with another student over a balloon said the school was 'guilty of anti-Semitism' for not believing his son's claim that the other student had used an antisemitic slur. The only complaint against Pomona College in California was filed by Palestine Legal, an advocacy group that said the administration had allowed police to violently quash pro-Palestinian protests, and by requiring those protestors to remove their masks, exposed protesters to the risk that their identities and personal information could be publicly released. Neither Drexel, the University of Tampa, nor Pomona responded to inquiries from Reuters about the complaints. Billions of dollars of federal grants and contracts are at stake if the Education Department determines that the universities have allowed discrimination. The Trump administration could withhold funds to pressure universities to change their disciplinary policies, admissions practices, and even the way certain academic departments are managed. It has levied all of these demands against Columbia, which meted out new punishments against students who were involved in last year's protests, and later acquiesced to several demands. Several schools told Reuters they would do whatever it takes to retain federal government funding. 'Both our president and our board have said we're not going to take any risks for loss of research funding. We're just not,' said Paul Allvin, vice president and global brand manager for George Mason University in Virginia. The Education Department notified George Mason of an antisemitism complaint in December 2023. The university sent a lengthy account of its response to the complaint, and the department requested no further information. A spokesperson for American University said the school would 'comply with any communications or requests from OCR.' The Education Department's databases have no record of a recent antisemitism complaint against or investigation into American University. Some interventions on behalf of the targeted schools appeared to get immediate results. Hawaii Governor Josh Green said he called the White House the morning after the state university received its letter to explain that conflict on its campus during Israel's war in Gaza 'paled in comparison' to other universities. 'They assured me the University of Hawai'i is not on the chopping block for antisemitism,' the governor said in a statement to Reuters. Other schools struck a more defiant tone when asked how the school would react if the Trump administration withheld funding. 'There is no lawful basis to withdraw federal funding,' said a spokesperson for Santa Monica College, pointing out that the letter 'did not identify any violations by SMC or ask for a response.'
