Protest, policy and power
College campuses are emerging as battlegrounds in a growing national fight over protest, immigration and antisemitism. What began as student-led demonstrations has expanded into something larger: university crackdowns, federal visa revocations and new efforts to police campus speech. For Jewish students, that’s created a complicated landscape — where support for safety, free expression and civil rights don’t always align.
Here’s the latest… At least nine universities — including Harvard, Stanford and several University of California schools — announced late last week and over the weekend that students there had visas revoked, and some had been deported. (Boston Globe, NBC News)
The Trump administration says it has revoked over 300 student visas, mostly targeting international students tied to pro-Palestinian protests. At the heart of those efforts lies a key constitutional question. (Marshall Project)
Many Jews at Tufts are outraged that ICE detained a Turkish grad student, Rümeysa Öztürk, but they're hesitant to protest alongside activists who’ve linked her case to anti-Israel rhetoric. (JTA)
A federal judge ruled that Öztürk’s immigration case should be heard in Vermont, rejecting the government’s push to keep it in Louisiana, where she’s currently detained. (NBC News)
Columbia is taking a tougher stance on campus protests, adding 36 new patrol officers with arrest powers to its security force. (New York Times, Reuters)
Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of the school’s protests and one of the first to be detained by immigration officials, wrote in a letter to the Columbia community that university leaders “manufactured public hysteria about antisemitism without once mentioning the tens of thousands of Palestinians murdered under bombs made of your dollars.” (Spectator)
Trump’s aggressive tactics, like arresting activists in the name of fighting antisemitism, have left many American Jews feeling conflicted — torn between concern and cautious approval. (New York Times)
The White House is pushing to penalize schools over student activism — but Wesleyan‘s president says colleges shouldn't just give in. (New Yorker)
Emerson College allegedly fired a staffer after she screened a film critical of Israel. She’s now suing the school. (Intercept)
According to an analysis, 27 of the 47 policies in the Heritage Foundation's Project Esther plan to fight antisemitism — particularly on university campuses — are being discussed or have moved toward implementation. (Politico, Forward)
The Anti-Defamation League says its campus antisemitism report cards are working — 19 schools, including Northwestern and Stanford, have already improved their grades by adopting new policies in the month since the report dropped. (JTA)
Opinion | Alexander Pascal co-wrote Biden’s antisemitism strategy. He believes Trump is making the problem worse. (Forward) | 