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Enough with the empty promises, task forces, and studies—it’s time for real action. Columbia University, including Barnard College, and The New School have allowed antisemitism to thrive on their campuses, fostering an environment where Jewish students and faculty are harassed with impunity. Schools that fail to protect their Jewish communities should not receive taxpayer funding.
A new Anti-Defamation League (ADL) report confirms what many have long suspected: Columbia, Barnard, and The New School rank among the worst offenders when it comes to tolerating antisemitism. Among 135 colleges analyzed, 30% received a D or F in combating campus Jew-hatred. The New School was graded an F, while Columbia and Barnard each received a D. These institutions have consistently failed to take meaningful action, allowing antisemitic incidents to escalate without consequences.
At The New School, radicals took over a building, established encampments—one exclusively for faculty—disrupted the university president’s speech, and displayed anti-Zionist propaganda, including symbols associated with Hamas. Columbia, meanwhile, has become a national symbol of unchecked Jew-hatred, as extremist student groups engaged in weeks-long encampments, took over Hamilton Hall, and physically attacked a worker. Just last week, Barnard’s Millman Hall was stormed by antisemitic agitators, forcing class cancellations and sending a school employee to the hospital.
These universities have utterly failed to uphold even the most basic standards of campus safety and respect for Jewish students. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt rightly points out that every school should easily achieve an A in fighting antisemitism. Yet, out of the 135 schools reviewed, only eight earned top marks.
If any other minority group—Blacks, Muslims, or LGBTQ+ individuals—faced similar levels of targeted harassment, there would be immediate and severe consequences. In New York, colleges allowing such hostility toward any other community would be held accountable without delay. Yet, when it comes to antisemitism, administrators respond with weak task forces, vague studies, and empty platitudes about opposing “all forms of discrimination and hate.”
Enough is enough. Universities may have the legal right to permit Jew-hatred on their campuses, but taxpayers have no obligation to fund it. It’s time for elected officials who claim to stand against antisemitism to take real action—starting with cutting off federal and state funding to institutions that allow antisemitism to fester unchecked. The government must defund Columbia. Now.
