The new law aims to punish university campuses that allow for protest camps, a phenomenon that spread last year as a way to protest the Israeli-Hamas war.
R-Ind. “No Tax on College Camps,” sponsored by Sen. Jim Banks of , will change the 1965 Higher Education Act, to stop federal taxpayers’ dollars from going to schools that do not properly share policies on how to deal with cases of “filitzles.”
“Many of our ‘elite’ academic institutions have become hotbeds for anti-Semitism and pro-terrorist ideologies,” Banks said in a statement.
Supporters of Colombian students arrested after clashes with the NYPD as Trump administrators are seeking deportation
The anti-Israel agitator performed the camp on the Columbia University campus. (Getty Images)
“My bill will take these universities accountable and prevent US taxes from being wasted on institutions that serve as safe shelters for anti-American harassment and violence,” the senator added.
Bank bills are just one aspect of wider crackdowns on public or private campuses about how they handled protests that often targeted Jewish students or made them feel unsafe on campus.
The Trump White House has scrapped $400 million with federal funds directed at Columbia University, attracting national attention for the camp that its supporters said was in support of Gaza. Mahmoud Khalil, a key figure in these protests, is now held by immigration and customs enforcement, as he was in the country under a student visa. In a post to The Truth Society earlier this week, President Donald Trump said it was “the first arrest of many people going forward.”
“Following the executive order I previously signed, Ice proudly arrested and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a radical foreign pro-Hamas student, on the Columbia University campus,” Trump said in a post about the students.
Who is Mahmoud Khalil, an anti-Israel Columbia University activist and ice activist?
Rep. Jim Banks questions witnesses at a House hearing in Capitol Hill on February 28, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“We know that Columbia and other universities have more students at other universities that are engaged in counterterrorism, anti-Semitism, and anti-American activities. The Trump administration doesn’t tolerate that. Many are not students.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education is currently investigating 60 universities across the country for possible Title VI violations related to anti-Semitism.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon praises the department for taking steps to eliminate “bureaucratic bloat.”
Education Secretary McMahon and President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
“The agency is extremely disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite US campuses continue to fear safety amid more than a year of ruthless anti-Semitic eruptions that have disrupted campus life so badly, the university leader said in a statement.
“U.S. universities and universities benefit from the enormous public investment funded by US taxpayers. That support is a privilege and conditional on strict compliance with federal differentiation laws,” she continued.
