International students at Harvard face uncertain academic futures

Jewish concerns

Since Trump took office, his administration has been pressuring colleges by citing "antisemitism". Yet, some Jewish Americans are concerned that antisemitism is being used by the US government to attack colleges.

"I support Garber and Harvard's vigorous defense of its academic freedom and integrity. At heart this is a battle for democracy itself, being waged all across the country," a reader named Daniel posted on the NYT site.

"But as a Jewish faculty member, I must say that Harvard has strengthened Trump's hand by conceding to a fundamental falsehood: that protests against the war in Gaza are antisemitic and should be punished," he wrote.

"One student, an elected officer of the graduating class, described a 'climate of fear' against saying anything about the war or killing of children, because of Harvard's heavy-handed punishment of protesters. The irony is that most Jews at Harvard bitterly oppose the war. By claiming that anti-war protest is antisemitic, both Trump and Garber slander the Jewish population, by making this horrible war 'our war'. In our fight against Trump, we need to defend Harvard's founding principle: veritas (truth). It is not antisemitic to protest against this war."

Another NYT reader posted that "whatever one's views on Israel-Palestine, that issue should be debated freely and openly in the US" and "silencing — even deporting! — dissenting voices is unwise and profoundly un-American."

Before he left Yale University to teach in Canada in late March — citing the US political climate as the primary reason — Jewish philosophy professor Jason Stanley told the Public Broadcasting Service that the Trump administration's efforts to fight antisemitism on college campuses are actually "reinforcing antisemitic tropes all across the political spectrum".

Stanley said it's the first time in his life that he's fearful not because of the protests on campus, which had a lot of Jewish students participating in them, but because Jewish people are suddenly "at the center of US politics" and "we are being used to destroy democracy".