Colors: Cyan Color

The administration’s demands to elite universities go beyond the narrow question of antisemitism. If DEI and woke ideology are spared, then Jew-hatred will continue to thrive.

(April 21, 2025 / JNS) Critics of the Trump administration’s offensive against antisemitism in academia are right about one thing. The list of demands that President Donald Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism sent to Harvard University, as well as those sent to other schools under intense scrutiny for their tolerance and encouragement of Jew-hatred, do go beyond that issue.

You read the headline right: We are only 100 days into Trump’s second term. As Donald Trump has done more than the last five presidents combined during his first 100 days, it feels like a lot longer. He has issued over 300 executive orders and actions, significantly more than his predecessors. He’s done 50 interviews and 150 press gaggles, compared to Biden’s 22 interviews and 50 press gaggles. He’s traveled more, both nationally and internationally, and met with more world leaders. The only thing Trump has done less in his first 100 days than Biden is take vacation days.

A year ago, the biggest story in America was the rash of college campus protests that was breaking out all over the country. Colloquially termed the “tentifada,” this outbreak was the result of left-wing states and the feckless Biden administration’s refusal to protect Jewish students on college campuses in the way that they would any other minority group that was targeted for harassment and abuse by their fellow students and faculty members. A lot can change in a year, however, and now Donald Trump is President, and he is taking on these universities that refuse to abide by Civil Rights Law and protect students who are attacked on the basis of nationality.

As a black woman in New York State, I believe there are protections in place to protect myself and my family from intimidation and violence. But, as a Jew, our new state budget has a weak and pathetic mask law that says, “We don’t care.” In fact, it gives a green light to masked protesters who prey upon Jews throughout our State.

At a time of crisis for the Jewish people, with an existential war in Israel and anti-Semitism on the rise, we have the opportunity to influence the Jewish future by voting in the elections for the World Zionist Congress. You can vote online at azm.org. Voting closes on May 4, so be sure to make your voice heard right away.