Washington DC – In response to the Trump Administration’s decision to suspend $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University, J Street U Director Erin Beiner made the following statement:
“Since October 7, Jewish students have experienced unacceptable levels of antisemitism on college campuses. In many instances, including at Columbia, universities were too slow to act.
However, we understand that there has been meaningful engagement by academic institutions to address this challenge, through Title VI investigations and other tools available to the Department of Education. The federal government, working with universities, has pushed to improve the situation on college campuses though much work remains to be done.
Today’s decision undercuts all of that. It will only serve to negatively impact students’ experience on campus.
This decision is part of the administration’s broader attack on academic institutions and may cause these same institutions to overcorrect – stifling free speech for fear of having all of their funding cut.
If this administration sincerely cared about antisemitism, it wouldn’t be providing a platform to antisemites in its own ranks including officials working at the Pentagon who have a history of spreading blood libels online.”