Federal funding would be rescinded for colleges that do not condemn antisemitism on campus under a bill pending in the U.S. Senate.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is demanding an immediate vote on the legislation he is cosponsoring. He says the call for a vote on the bill, drafted by Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., in October, comes after Harvard University refused to take action against President Claudine Gay after her testimony before the House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing this month. During the hearing, Gay said that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews require “context” before they would violate the school’s code of conduct.
“I don’t think you ought to be going to schools that don’t want to stop antisemitism, and we’ll call it what it is,” Scott said. “And so I think that we ought to outlaw this. This is absolute hatred, and our schools should not be allowing this.”
The bill, called the Stop Antisemitism on College Campuses Act, would “prohibit institutions of higher education that authorize antisemitic events on campus from participating in the student loan and grant programs,” according to the bill text. It was introduced in the upper chamber last month.
Last month, Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley tried to pass a resolution with unanimous support that would condemn antisemitism on college campuses. Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., blocked the resolution from advancing. Also last month, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., introduced the Ending Subsidies for Pro-Terrorist Activities on Campus Act, which would designate terrorist-related activity as grounds for disqualification from federal student aid.
Rubio cited several student groups on college campuses that have shown support for Hamas, the Islamist terrorist group, after its attack on Israel. Since the October 7 massacre carried out by Hamas, Jewish students nationwide have experienced a surge in incidents such as vandalism, arson and harassment.
Early enrollments to Harvard for the next school year are down 17 percent.
–Dwight Widaman | MV