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Fifth Column

America’s universities, still fighting against Jews and Israel: week of 5/4-5/10

2025-05-11

Whatever I happened to notice over the past week.

NYU Demands Law Students Renounce Protests Or Be Barred From Final Exams
[TaxProfBlog] New York University School of Law barred 31 pro-Palestine law school students from campus facilities and demanded that they sign away their right to protest in exchange for being allowed to return. If the students — deemed “personae non grata,” or PNG — don’t renounce their right to protest on campus, they will be unable to sit for final exams.

Trump administration revokes visas from 37 Johns Hopkins students for pro-Hamas activism
[CampusReform] 37 international students who attend Johns Hopkins University have had their visas revoked amid the Trump administration’s removal of allegedly pro-Hamas protesters. 15 percent of Johns Hopkins first-years are international students, according to the university website. 37 is the first specific number that the university administration has disclosed to the press. Earlier this month, Johns Hopkins said that “approximately a dozen” student visas had been revoked, signalling a significant recent increase, as noted by The Baltimore Banner.

As of publication, the administration has revoked over 1,800 visas for allegedly pro-Hamas activists, according to Inside Higher Ed. On March 27, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the State Department had revoked more than 300 visas, tying the revocations to anti-Israel student protests.

Trump administration informs Harvard of freeze on billions in grant funding
[IsraelTimes] The US Department of Education has informed Harvard University that it’s freezing billions of dollars in research grants and other aid until the elite university concedes to a number of demands from the Trump administration, a senior department official says.

Michigan prosecutors drop felony charges against anti-Israel campus protesters
[IsraelTimes] State prosecutors dropped felony charges against seven people accused of trespassing and resisting police a year ago during the break-up of a pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Michigan. Attorney General Dana Nessel says she believes the cases are strong but suggests her office was worn down by criticism and other factors. She notes that a judge in Washtenaw County still hasn’t decided whether to send the cases to a trial court despite multiple hearings.

The camp on the Diag, a traditional site for campus protests, was cleared by police in May 2024 after a month. The university said the camp had become a threat to safety, with overloaded power sources and open flames.

Protesters had demanded that the school’s endowment stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. The university insisted it has no direct investments and less than $15 million placed with funds that might include companies in Israel.

Courtesy of Skidmark:

Anti-Israel protesters occupy University of Washington building, 30 arrested
[FoxNews] A group of anti-Israel protesters occupied a building at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle on Monday before police in riot gear intervened and arrested at least 30 of them, according to officials. The protesters occupied an engineering building on campus for hours and demanded that the school divest from Boeing, the large aerospace and defense manufacturer which has a long history with the university. Video from the scene shows several dumpsters on fire as police moved in to regain control of the building after the demonstrators had locked themselves inside. One protester outside could be heard shouting: "Abolish the police. Every cop dead is a victory for the resistance."

Standard Black Bloc/anarchist stuff — in case anyone wondered who has been protesting.

US reviews occupation of University of Washington building by pro-Palestinian protesters
[IsraelTimes] The US government says it will review an incident at the University of Washington in which pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a university building Dwhile demanding the school cut ties with Boeing BA.N over its contracts with the Israeli military.The Trump administration labeled the incident as antisemitic activity. While it praised the university and law enforcement officials for their response, it urged the school to take enforcement actions and make policy changes. Boeing gave the school a $10 million donation for an engineering building in 2022.

“The Task Force’s review is in response to the eruption of antisemitic harassment and violence that occurred Monday, May 5 at UW’s campus in Seattle,” the US Education Department, Health Department and General Services Administration says in a statement.

The protest group, called Super UW, said police had removed the students who occupied the building. It also said 30 people were taken into custody but some were released.

The Trump administration has threatened universities with federal funding cuts over pro-Palestinian campus protests against Israel’s military assault on Gaza following Palestinian Hamas militants’ October 2023 attack in Israel.

Trump administration condemns destructive pro-Palestinian protest at Seattle’s UW campus
[IsraelTimes] US secretary of education decries ‘horrifying display of the antisemitic harassment and lawlessness’ as school says group that praised Oct. 7 atrocities caused $1 million in damages

US says it is probing foreign donations at University of Pennsylvania
[IsraelTimes] Education Department says university has 30 days to provide information on tax records dating back to 2017, details on agreements with foreign governments, and more, alleging the Ivy League school made inaccurate and untimely foreign financial disclosures in the past. US law requires universities to report donations from foreign sources exceeding $250,000 in a year.

GOP lawmakers berate Haverford College chief for silence on antisemitism discipline
[IsraelTimes] At congressional hearing, school president Wendy Raymond declines to detail punishments for students and faculty accused of anti-Jewish bias; some lawmakers threaten funding cuts.

Also appearing before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce were Jeffrey Armstrong of California Polytechnic State University and Robert Manuel of DePaul University. It was the latest in a series of hearings scrutinizing university presidents over their responses to allegations of anti-Jewish bias in the wake of Palestinian terror group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel and a wave of protests that swept the nation’s campuses against Israel’s military response to the assault.

WATCH: I asked the Haverford College president about a professor who celebrated the Oct. 7 massacre. Her response? It could be “perceived in many ways.”

She couldn’t bring herself to say that celebrating mass terrorism is wrong. Just more of the same “depends on the context”… pic.twitter.com/aD5ZuamrLT
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) May 7, 2025

Columbia suspends more than 65 students for library protest
[IsraelTimes] Columbia University in New York has suspended more than 65 students for their role in an anti-Israel protest at a campus library on Wednesday, a Columbia official says. The students are on interim suspension pending further investigation.

The official says 33 individuals, including some from affiliated institutions, have been barred from Columbia’s campus.

Link

-Great Cultural Revolution

US demands UPenn strip transgender athletes of women’s sports awards or face enforcement steps

2025-04-29

Keeping them on the back foot.

[IsraelTimes] The US Department of Education alleges that the University of Pennsylvania’s policy on transgender athletes violates federal law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in programs that receive federal funding.

The Education Department says in a statement that it has proposed a resolution agreement to the university under which the Ivy League school would issue a statement saying it will comply with federal law, transfer records and awards won by transgender athletes to athletes assigned female at birth, and issue a letter of apology to the female athletes.

The department says the university has 10 days to resolve or risk a referral to the US Justice Department for enforcement proceedings.

The Education Department does not immediately respond to a request for comment on what kind of enforcement actions it seeks. The university has no immediate comment.

The university, which made national headlines in 2022 when a transgender swimmer competed on its women’s team, has previously said it “has always followed NCAA and Ivy League policies regarding student participation on athletic teams,” and remains in full compliance with regulations.

Following US President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban transgender athletes from participating in female-only school sports, the NCAA — the governing body for US collegiate sports — updated its rules to limit competition in female-only competitions to athletes assigned female at birth.

Last month, Trump’s administration suspended $175 million in funding to the University of Pennsylvania over its transgender sports policies.

This month, the administration sued Maine over the same issue. Maine argues that federal law does not prohibit transgender girls in women’s sports.

Lol I love these humiliation rituals.

The universities just want to leave this stuff behind and pretend it never happened.

This is what I voted for. https://t.co/kU86nJvpuc
— Coddled affluent professional (@feelsdesperate) April 28, 2025

Update from the Post Millennial, at 12:50 p.m. ET, courtesy of Fred:

The Department of Education on Monday announced that its Office for Civil Rights found the University of Pennsylvania had violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 by allowing biological males to compete in women's sports and enter intimate women's facilities.

Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in a statement, "Little girls who look up to Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan can find hope in today's action — the Trump Administration will not allow male athletes to invade female private spaces or compete in female categories. UPenn has a choice to make: do the right thing for its female students and come into full compliance with Title IX immediately or continue to advance an murderous Moslem political project that violates federal antidiscrimination law and puts UPenn's federal funding at risk."

The Office for Civil Rights issued the school a proposed Resolution Agreement to resolve the violations, which the school has 10 days to resolve or risk a referral to the Department of Justice.

Outlined in the agreement are requirements that the school issue a statement saying that it would comply with Title IX in athletic programs; restore the achievements, titles, records, and other accolades won by female athletes who had been defeated by biological males in Division I swim races; and send a letter to each female athlete who has her recognition restored apologizing "on behalf of the University for allowing her educational experience in athletics to be marred by sex discrimination."

Link

-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

Trump to Harvard: Open Your Books On Foreign Income

2025-04-19

[HotAir] The latest salvo from the Trump administration fired at Harvard comes only in part from the current standoff over anti-Semitic intimidation campaigns and discriminatory practices. Five years ago, Trump's team opened an investigation into Harvard's revenue streams over concerns of full reporting as well as foreign influence in Academia. Joe Biden buried that probe, officially last year but almost certainly never took it seriously.

Suddenly the investigation is back on, the Wall Street Journal reports, and this time the Trump administration has at least three years to pursue it:

The Trump administration is pressing Harvard University to turn over records on the money it receives from foreign sources going back a decade, the latest in a growing pressure campaign against the nation’s most prominent university.

American universities get billions in grants, contracts or gifts from foreign sources, which they must report semiannually to the government. In a Thursday letter to Harvard President Alan Garber, the U.S. Department of Education’s office of the General Counsel wrote that Harvard made “incomplete and inaccurate” disclosures between 2014 and 2019.

“Today’s records request is the Trump administration’s first step to ensure Harvard is not being manipulated by, or doing the bidding of, foreign entities,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. The letter to Harvard presented no evidence that was occurring.

A couple of paragraphs later, it certainly looks as though the first administration found probable cause to suspect that Harvard was not in compliance:

In 2020, the first Trump administration also opened an investigation into Harvard, as part of a review that it says found U.S. universities broadly failed to report at least $6.5 billion in foreign funding. The Biden administration notified Harvard in 2024 that the investigation was closed.

That's a lot of unreported foreign cash flowing into universities and colleges. To compare, the US loaned students $107.8 billion in 2020. But in an even more apt comparison, a recent report from Americans for Public Trust estimates that US schools have taken in $60 billion over the last few decades from foreign countries, with ten top schools accounting for more than a third of that amount. Harvard is right at the top of the list (page 2).

National Review covered the issue last month, before the fight with Harvard over its anti-Semitism and discriminatory practices heated up. It's not just the amount of money that's the concern, but the origin of the money:

Harvard University received the most foreign funding at an estimated $3.2 billion, followed by Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon University at $2.8 billion each, the University of Pennsylvania at $2.5 billion, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at $2.1 billion. ...

Americans for Public Trust identified significant amounts of foreign aid from U.S. adversaries and Middle Eastern nations. Last year, Qatar poured over $342 million into colleges and universities, while China spent another $176 million.

Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich, Muslim nation with longstanding ties to the U.S. despite its human rights record and alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks, gave $175 million to colleges and universities last year. Another $81 million came in from Hong Kong, where the Chinese Communist Party has repressed civil liberties and taken complete control of the political system.

And that's the money we know about. The effect from Qatar's money has been evident in the Poison Ivies and elsewhere for the last nineteen months. China's influence on American education is equally evident. Americans for Public Trust also wonders about the money we don't know about, as does the Trump administration:

Lax enforcement enables bad actors from around the world to by-pass safeguards and pour vast sums into US schools, sometimes without any public reporting.

That is a legitimate security concern, as well as a concern for the Department of Education on corruption of educational institutions.

Harvard is a good place to start in pursuing better enforcement and transparency, even without the current feud with Donald Trump. But in that context, it might behoove Harvard to settle all of these accounts and keep from digging themselves an even deeper hole in the near future.

And who knows? Maybe if Trump and McMahon keep pursuing this with other Ivy League schools, Democrats may start begging to shut down the Department of Education.

Link

Fifth Column

Another day, another uni: Trump administration freezes dozens of Princeton grants amid antisemitism probe

2025-04-02

[IsraelTimes] Ivy League school vows to ‘cooperate with the government in combating’ Jew hatred while ‘vigorously defending academic freedom and the due process rights of this university’

Princeton University said on Tuesday the US government froze several dozen research grants to the school, which became the latest academic institution targeted by the Trump administration in a crackdown on antisemitism at campuses amid pro-Palestinian protests against Israel.

Princeton President Chris Eisgruber said government agencies including NASA and the defense and energy departments notified the university of the move. The university, among dozens facing federal investigations into antisemitism, said in a statement it was given no reason for the action and did not provide a dollar value for the grants.

The Trump administration has threatened to slash federal funding for universities over their alleged tolerance of antisemitism and over accusations of failure to protect Jewish students during the pro-Palestinians protests against Israel over the war with Hamas in Gaza, which started by

Both true and a good excuse to review all funding to cull the nonsensical, the counterproductive, and the just plain evil before restarting that which looks worth doing.

“We are committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, and we will cooperate with the government in combating antisemitism. Princeton will also vigorously defend academic freedom and the due process rights of this university,” Eisgruber said in the statement.

A Department of Energy spokesperson said the agency “paused grant funding to Princeton University pending the completion of the Department of Education’s investigation into Princeton regarding antisemitic harassment.” The Education Department, last month, sent a letter to 60 universities, including Princeton, warning it could bring enforcement actions against them.

The other federal agencies had no immediate comment.

Princeton was among 60 universities that received a warning letter from the Education Department in March over accusations of antisemitism. It said the schools could face enforcement action if they didn’t address anti-Jewish bias on campus. All but two Ivy League schools, Penn and Dartmouth, were on the list.

The Education Department launched an investigation at Princeton in April 2024 under the Biden administration. It was in response to a complaint filed by the editor-in-chief of Campus Reform, a conservative news organization, the outlet reported. The complaint cited a pro-Palestinian protest that reportedly included chants of “Intifada” and others described as antisemitic.

The outlet’s editor has filed dozens of other antisemitism complaints with the Education Department.

Princeton’s Eisgruber had came forward as a voice of opposition as the Trump administration ratcheted up pressure on Columbia, calling it the greatest threat to American universities in decades.

And so got the president’s attention. Enjoy!

“The attack on Columbia is a radical threat to scholarly excellence and to America’s leadership in research,” Eisgruber wrote in a March 19 essay in The Atlantic magazine. “Universities and their leaders should speak up and litigate forcefully to protect their rights.”

Oh well, the Atlantic. Nobody of discernment pays any mind to what’s between those covers.

The Trump administration has also targeted schools over other culture war issues like diversity, equity and inclusion programs and suspended $175 million in funding to the University of Pennsylvania over transgender sports policies.

Link

Fifth Column

Trump admin reviews $9 billion in Harvard funding amid campus antisemitism crackdown

2025-04-01

Oh dear. That sounds serious.

[IsraelTimes] School president acknowledges antisemitism problem, but says it’s being addressed and warns that cut would ‘halt life-saving research, imperil key scientific research and innovation’

The Trump administration said on Monday that it was reviewing $9 billion in federal contracts and grants awarded to Harvard University, part of a crackdown on what it says is antisemitism on college campuses.

The Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and the US General Services Administration said in a written statement that $255.6 million in contracts between Harvard, its affiliates and the federal government were being reviewed, along with $8.7 billion in multi-year grant commitments.

The investigation is the latest move by the Trump administration to pressure American universities to change their policies on a number of issues at the heart of culture wars that have beset the US in recent years.

Supporters of Trump’s efforts say it is a long-needed check on far-left extremism at US colleges. Critics say the crackdown is a draconian over-reaction that stomps on academic freedom and the right to free speech.

"If this funding is stopped, it will halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation," Alan Garber, the president of Harvard, said in a written statement.

Some of that, yes. But at Harvard as in the rest of academia, most of the research is a waste of money and never should have been approved.

Garber said that antisemitism "is present on our campus" and that he had experienced it himself, even as the university president.

He said Harvard had been enacting reforms to combat antisemitism during the past 15 months, though, he acknowledged that "we still have much work to do," and the university will work with the federal government’s antisemitism task force on the matter.

The focus on Harvard comes after the Trump administration this month canceled $400 million in federal funding for fellow Ivy League school Columbia University. It was the epicenter of anti-Israel protests that broke out on college campuses following the October 7, 2023, Hamas
..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
attack inside Israel, and Israel’s subsequent incursion in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, the Paleostinian enclave controlled by Hamas.

Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the administration conflates their criticism of US ally Israel’s assault on Gaza with antisemitism and their support for Paleostinian rights as sympathy for Hamas.

Columbia earlier this month announced it had made some changes demanded by the Trump administration to start negotiations to win back its federal funding. The university’s interim president announced over the weekend that she was stepping down after an outcry by some students and faculty over what they characterized as the school’s acquiescence to the federal demands. In addition to targeting funds, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have detained some foreign student protesters in recent weeks and are working to deport them.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration suspended $175 million in funding to the University of Pennsylvania, another Ivy League school, over its transgender sports policies.

The Department of Education this month sent a letter to 60 universities — including Harvard — warning that it could bring enforcement actions against them under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act if they failed to protect Jewish students on their campuses. It said antisemitic "eruptions" have disrupted life at elite schools around the country for a year.

"Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from antisemitic discrimination — all while promoting divisive
...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled...
ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy," said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon

...business executive, and former professional wrestling performer. She was the 25th administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019. McMahon has been nominated to lead the Department of Education under the second Trump administration. McMahon, along with her husband, Vince McMahon, founded sports entertainment company Titan Sports, Inc. (later World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.) where she worked as the president and later CEO from 1980 to 2009. During this time, the company grew from a regional business in the northeast to a large multinational corporation. She made occasional on-screen performances, most notably in a feud with her husband that culminated at WrestleMania X-Seven. In 2009, she left World Wrestling Entertainment to run for a seat in the United States Senate from Connecticut as a Republican, but lost to Richard Blumenthal in the 2010 general election. She was the Republican nominee for Connecticut's other Senate seat in the 2012 race, but lost to Chris Murphy because that's the kind of guy people in Connecticutt like best. ...
. "Harvard can right these wrongs and restore itself to a campus dedicated to academic excellence and truth-seeking, where all students feel safe on its campus."

Harvard and other elite universities came into the crosshairs of conservatives in late 2023, when the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology appeared before a congressional committee looking into a rise in antisemitism on campuses.

Former Harvard President Claudine Gay, along with the other school leaders, declined to give a definitive "yes" or "no" answer when asked if calling for the genocide of Jews would violate their schools’ codes of conduct regarding bullying and harassment, saying they had to balance it against free-speech protections.

Cornell’s new Jewish president says he’s ‘very comfortable’ with where university is currently

[IsraelTimes] As at Columbia University, its fellow Ivy League school, Cornell University, has had a pro-Paleostinian, anti-Israel student protest leader sought for deportation — as well as a handful of disruptive protests this year of the sort that drew attention from the Trump administration.

But Mike Kotlikoff, Cornell’s new president, says he isn’t too worried that protest activity on his campus will ignite the kind of sweeping federal sanctions Columbia has faced.

"I’m very comfortable with where Cornell is currently," Kotlikoff said in an interview on Thursday, five days after being appointed permanently to the position he has held on an interim basis since July 2024.

"We’ve had a relatively peaceful two semesters this year," he added. "We’ve had a couple of situations where individuals who were protesting really went over the line and infringed on other people’s rights, and in both of those cases, there were consequences for those infringements."

Kotlikoff said he believed that conditions on campus for Jewish students are "pretty close" to where they stood on October 6, 2023, the day before the Hamas-led massacre that saw some 1,200 people slaughtered in southern Israel and 251 kidnapped to the Gazoo Strip ignited a war that has elicited widespread protests on campuses and elsewhere.

He noted that both Hillel and Chabad are in the process of constructing new buildings and said there were more than 30 active Jewish organizations at Cornell.

"There’s really a lot of Jewish activity, Jewish life that [is] celebrated on campus," he said. "I periodically go to Shabbat. I’m going to go to Passover Shabbat. So I think it’s pretty normal. If you ask most kids, it’s quite comfortable on campus."

Trump signed an executive order within days of taking office in January that vowed to deport "Hamas sympathizers" on campus under the mantle of combating antisemitism. One, Momodou Taal, is a Cornell graduate student. He has sued the Trump administration to block his deportation, saying that his free speech and that of his fellow pro-Paleostinian students is being infringed upon. A federal judge issued a preliminary ruling against him on Thursday.

Kotlikoff said Cornell had adopted four core principles "for how we would meet the political pressures that we’re currently seeing" that would allow the school to stick to its own values in such a contested environment. They include ensuring access for all, prioritizing diversity and making decisions based on merit. The last principle, he said, was obeying the law: "That is obeying the law as it’s written, not necessarily what’s asserted, but what is we believe is a lawful way to proceed."

The Trump administration applied financial penalties to pressure Columbia into agreeing to overhaul supervision of some of its academic departments that teach about the Middle East. It’s in an unusual intervention of the federal government into academics at a private university, and the American Association of University Professors has decried the move.

Kotlikoff drew criticism last year from the American Association of University Professors for challenging a professor, in private emails that the Jewish Telegraphic Agency obtained, over the content of his course on Gaza. Kotlikoff said the incident reflected the way things are supposed to work — and noted that the course ultimately enrolled only a handful of students, while another course on the Middle East that calls on students to "leave your politics at the door and have a free exchange" of ideas enrolled hundreds.

"The choice of what to teach as faculty is a really a key part of academic freedom," he said. "My private criticism of a course that was publicized was one around balance within the classroom. It’s something that we expect, and we’ve talked a lot about."

But ultimately, he said, expectations for professors are the same as they are for students — and both retain a core right to express themselves, no matter what any advocate or the Trump administration may argue.

"We’re not suppressing speech, we’re not suppressing individual opinions," he said. "But we are saying [to] you there are guidelines that protect all of our community’s rights, and my job as a university president is to protect everybody’s rights."

Link

Fifth Column

Anti-Israel Columbia University student sues to block her deportation

2025-03-25

[IsraelTimes] Filing on behalf of Yunseo Chung, who has been in the US since she was 7, follows her arrest this month during protest at which demonstrators handed out Hamas pamphlets

A Korean Columbia University student, who is a legal permanent US resident and has participated in pro-Palestinian protests against Israel, sued the administration of US President Donald Trump on Monday to prevent her deportation, a court filing showed.

Yunseo Chung, 21, has lived in the US since she was seven, but her legal team was informed two weeks ago that her lawful permanent resident status was being revoked, according to the court filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The Trump administration says her US presence hinders its foreign policy agenda, according to the lawsuit. Chung has not yet been arrested. Immigration agents have made multiple visits to her residences looking for her.

In hiding, is she? That won’t do at all.

Trump has pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestinian protesters and accused them of supporting terrorist group Hamas, of posing hurdles for US foreign policy and of being antisemitic.

Protesters, including some Jewish groups,

…that’s “Jewish” groups, founded by Hezbollah and funded by the Soros Open Society Foundations and some other of the usual suspects…

say the administration wrongly conflates their criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism and support for Hamas.

Actually, the Trump administration very rightly conflates them, because that is your point.

Human rights advocates have condemned the government’s moves.

These particular human rights groups have done, because they are full of vicious, unthinkingly self-righteous people.

Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested this month and is legally challenging his detention, is also a lawful permanent resident. Trump has accused Khalil of supporting Hamas, which the latter denies.

Seriously? Dude, that’s like a toddler denying he ate the chocolate when it’s smeared all over him.

Actions against Chung “form part of a larger pattern of attempted US government repression of constitutionally protected protest activity and other forms of speech,” Monday’s lawsuit says.

One assumes the lady was involved in the riots and harassment of Jews on campus, which is a) not speech, and therefore not protected, and b) beside the point when a non-citizen is engaged in actions to support a listed terror organization like Hamas.

“The government’s repression has focused specifically on university students who speak out in solidarity with Palestinians and who are critical of the Israeli government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza,” referring to the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror onslaught against Israel.

March 9 - ICE HSI agent texts Chung, says its "Audrey from the police" - text message mentions that Chung was arrested, along with many others, during a protest for failing to leave an area, charged with "obstruction of governmental administration," a misdemeanor, often dropped. pic.twitter.com/5VmbrWEwyR
— Jason Paladino (@jason_paladino) March 24, 2025

A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security alleged Chung has engaged in concerning conduct, including when she was arrested by police during a protest at Barnard College earlier this month that DHS termed “pro-Hamas” as the demonstrators who took over the campus handed out Hamas pamphlets.

The spokesperson did not elaborate further on the specifics of that conduct in question but said she was “sought for removal proceedings under the immigration laws” and will have a chance to present her case before an immigration judge.

Some briefs that have been awaiting an excuse to share with you, dear Reader:

Pitt suspends Students for Justice in Palestine
[IsraelTimes] The suspension means that SJP must cease all organizational operations and is banned from using any university resources to advance its mission.

Pitt earns a ‘D’ on ADL’s Campus Antisemitism Report Card
[IsraelTimes] “For schools like Pitt, this is the first year they’re on the report card so, right now, it’s about getting a baseline of where things are,” she said.

Pitt received an overall grade of a D, the same as Columbia University, which has become a national symbol for antisemitic activity on college campuses. By contrast, Carnegie Mellon University, the only other Pittsburgh-area university graded in the report, received a B.

Pitt, the ADL said, performed below expectations in five categories: having an official position against BDS; having a Jewish alumni group; the level of severe antisemitic and anti-Zionist incidents; the level of other antisemitic and anti-Zionist incidents; and the level of hostile anti-Zionist student groups.

University of Pennsylvania Lays Off Anti-Semitic Cartoonist After Trump Slashes Hundreds of Millions in Federal Funding
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] Communications lecturer Dwayne Booth kept teaching at Ivy League school after he published blood libel cartoon

Link

Home Front: Politix

Four ‘sanctuary city' mayors prep for grilling in Congress this week: 'Held accountable'

2025-03-03

[FoxNews] Sanctuary cities limit local cooperation with federal immigration authorities

The mayors of Boston, Chicago, Denver and New York City are prepping for a high-stakes hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government.

"Sanctuary mayors owe the American people an explanation for city policies that jeopardize public safety and violate federal immigration law by releasing dangerous criminal illegal aliens back onto the streets," House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a press release announcing the hearings, which are set to take place Wednesday.

The hearing, which will take place in front of a full committee, comes as so-called sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, have come under increasing scrutiny since President Donald Trump regained control of the White House in January.

While Trump has seemingly made quick work of the situation at the southern border, attention has turned to his promised mass deportation efforts, a process that can be helped along if state and local agencies work hand-in-hand with federal authorities.

Now the mayors of four of the biggest sanctuary cities will attempt to justify their policies in front of what could be a hostile Congress, with one report from Politico noting that the mayors will be seeking to sidestep the kind of "embarrassing" episode that plagued several Ivy League presidents who were testifying about antisemitism on their campuses in 2023.

The report notes that all four mayors have been working with advisers and lawyers and prepping to redact documents ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, with the thought of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill being ousted in the aftermath of her appearance at the 2023 hearing fresh in mind as they seek to avoid similar missteps.

The hearing could sway the political futures of Chicago’s Brandon Johnson, New York’s Eric Adams, Boston’s Michelle Wu, and Denver’s Mike Johnston.

Link

Fifth Column

The college/Hamas nexus round-up: Jan 12 - Feb 1, 2025

2025-02-02

A very incomplete collection of whatever articles I happened across while collecting the usual mostly WoT articles for Rantburg. I’ve seen claims that even before President Trump announced that anti-Israel/anti-Jewish foreign campus agitators would lose their visas and sent home, following the summer break there were fewer incidents, but I have not spent the time to research the subject.

US colleges rush to settle federal antisemitism suits, but some pan ‘toothless’ deals
[IsraelTimes] With over 100 schools under Title VI investigations over anti-Israel campus activity, many are looking to get cases cleared before Trump can make good on threats to cut off funding.

Biden team resolves more Title VI antisemitism and anti-Arab cases before departure
[IsraelTimes] Trump administration will take over a portfolio that includes dozens more outstanding cases involving allegations of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian discrimination

In the final days of the Biden administration, the federal Department of Education has resolved a small number of its many remaining Title VI cases involving allegations of antisemitic and anti-Palestinian discrimination.

The resolutions at the University of Washington, Emory University, Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and Howard County Public Schools in Maryland come in the waning days of the administration’s closely scrutinized handling of campus issues during the Israel-Hamas war.

The Trump administration will now take over a portfolio that includes dozens more outstanding cases. Trump has signaled hostility to both higher education and public education, and has even floated the idea of shuttering the Department of Education altogether.

The Anti-Israel Institute Critics Call a ‘Terrorist Think Tank’: Inside the ICSZ Controversy
“We really idolize somebody... who actually goes to a plane and hijacks it" said ICSZ board member Rabab Abdulhadi.

A new institute dedicated to eradicating Israel has been founded by a collective of elite professors. But some pro-Israel academics have blown their whistle, with one vocal member likening the institute to a “terrorist think tank” that should be reformed.

The Institute for Critical Zionism Studies (ICSZ) was founded in 2023 by former Sarah Lawrence professor Emmaia Gelman — a self described Irish-Jewish queer New Yorker who is known to have cheered for Hamas in a protest the day after October 7th and who is known to justify Palestinian violence against Israelis as retribution.

[X]

EXCLUSIVE: Amy Wax has sued the University of Pennsylvania for race discrimination, arguing that Penn punishes speech that offends racial minorities but not speech that offends Jews.

Here is a table from the complaint, which was filed in federal court this morning.🧵 pic.twitter.com/mIdKNDftfs
— Aaron Sibarium (@aaronsibarium) January 16, 2025

Columbia anti-Israel activists call on followers to ‘fight and escalate’ following announcement of Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
[CampusReform] ‘[T]his is not time for us to rest! This victory is Gaza's alone, we must fight and escalate!’ the group wrote. The group also announced: ‘Ceasefire today, liberation tomorrow.’

Oakland, CA middle school teacher created ‘divisive,’ ‘unwelcoming’ environment for Jewish students: report
[CollegeFix] An atmosphere in which ‘Jewish and Israeli students were labeled as being complicit’ in Israel’s actions

An investigation into an Oakland, California English teacher’s conduct recently concluded he created a “divisive” and “unwelcoming” environment for Jewish students. The independent probe found Arvind Reddy of Montera Middle School had “posted ‘antisemitic materials’ in and near his classroom” during the previous school year, The Jewish News of Northern California reports. The posters (pictured) — which Reddy “refused to take down” — read “END GENOCIDE NOW,” “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and Nelson Mandela’s quote “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

Harvard settles 2 lawsuits over antisemitism on campus
Among other commitments, university to adopt International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, report its responses to harassment for next five years, form official partnership with a university in Israel instead of divesting.

Both lawsuits accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars federal funds recipients from allowing discrimination based on race, religion and national origin. The settlements include unspecified monetary terms. Harvard did not admit wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

Students Against Antisemitism, a Harvard group, sued last January, accusing Harvard of selectively enforcing its anti-discrimination policies to avoid protecting Jewish students from harassment, ignoring their pleas for protection, and hiring professors who supported anti-Jewish violence and spread antisemitic propaganda.

Then in June, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education filed another lawsuit accusing the university of ignoring campus antisemitism.

The lead plaintiff in the SAA lawsuit, Shabbos Kestenbaum, has refused to accept the settlement and intends to continue litigation on his own, the Crimson reported.

American Historical Association Council vetoes resolution about ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza
The council of the American Historical Association (AHA) vetoes a resolution passed earlier this month condemning Israel’s “scholasticide” in Gaza. The resolution, which was approved 428-88 at the AHA’s annual conference, accused Israel of intentionally destroying the Palestinian enclave’s education system amid the 15-month war against Hamas. However, that resolution was subject to the approval of the AHA council. Last Friday, the council concluded that the measure “contravenes the Association’s Constitution and Bylaws, because it lies outside the scope of the Association’s mission and purpose.”

NYU suspends nearly a dozen pro-Palestine students for a year after ‘sit-in’ protest during finals week.

In California and Michigan, a Surprising Force Drives Anti-Israel Campus Activism: Labor Unions
[FreeBeacon] 'You basically have auto workers across the nation subsidizing these trust fund graduate students'

The average United Auto Workers training session involves discussions on how members can negotiate strong health programs, meet federal safety standards, and investigate work accidents. For UAW chapter 4811, which serves the University of California, it involves a panel with the Palestinian Youth Movement, a leading anti-Israel group that's organized protests across the country condemning the "brutal US-Israeli genocide."
The chapter held that panel last summer as part of "four days of classes, conversations, and workshops" through which "members learned about the critical tasks ahead of us: winning strong contracts, helping hundreds of thousands of new workers form unions, and continuing to fight for justice in Palestine." Those classes came in the wake of a UAW-backed strike within the UC system that centered not on wage or working hour disputes but rather on the arrests of illegal anti-Israel protesters at the University of California, Los Angeles, months prior.

The ordeal reflects the growing influence unions like the UAW and American Federation of Teachers have on anti-Israel campus unrest. Those unions typically represent graduate students who work for their universities—a far cry from the high-paid administrators who determine school rules. And yet, they've increasingly provided institutional support for controversial activism.

Those grad students, Frank notes, launched a strike in 2022 to obtain significant increases in wages, childcare subsidies, and paid leave—provisions that he said are "bankrupting the University of California." Shortly thereafter, "they tried to go on strike again, but this time, it's for the right to discriminate against Jews with these protests."
A similar dynamic has emerged at the University of Michigan. There, the Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO), which also represents grad student workers, has promoted and endorsed anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaigns on campus. It's done so in part thanks to support from the American Federation of Teachers, the country's second-largest teachers' union, which provides the GEO with legal defense and strategic support and collects 18 percent of union dues in exchange.

Columbia University identifies 2 more activists who disrupted Israeli professor’s class
Masked anti-Israel activists barged into Professor Avi Shilon’s class on modern Israeli history last week, on the first day of the spring semester, accusing the lesson of fomenting “genocide.” The university said last week that it had identified one of the protesters, a “Columbia participant.”

The university says in a statement that its investigation into the incident has identified two more of the activists. The protesters are not Columbia students, but “from an affiliated institution,” the statement says. The protesters have been barred from Columbia’s campus and “referred to their home institution for further investigation and discipline,” the university says.

Hot Air adds:

The affiliate institutions in this case are Barnard, Union Theological Seminary, and Teachers College. In addition to condemning the behavior, the school's interim president has also discussed the possibility of bringing NYPD officers back onto the campus. Finally, there is also a new effort to create a mask policy on campus which would prevent activists from hiding their identities when they pull these stunts.

NY governor condemns NYC university system’s faculty union for Israel boycott vote
Resolution passed by CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress, representing 30,000 members, puts organization at odds with the university administration and state government. The union, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), has been a battleground for anti-Israel activism for years. Jewish professors said the boycott resolution was the latest discriminatory measure by the union, their sole labor representation. The resolution also divided the union’s delegate assembly, the governing body that voted on the measure.

The resolution passed PSC’s delegate assembly by a close vote of 73-70, on January 23, the union confirmed. The union’s executive council and principal officers opposed the resolution, the PSC told The Times of Israel.

OSU student protesters target Israeli veterans wounded on October 7
Ohio State University activists led by the campus branch of Students for Justice in Palestine demonstrate against lecture by 2 soldiers hurt in Hamas attack who are on Belev Echad American campus tour. The protest gained attention among pro-Israel students, causing attendance at the IDF veterans’ lecture to swell. The morning of the event, 45 attendees had registered, but around 130 showed up.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Saar Arie told The Times of Israel in a phone interview, recounting how he and Maya Desiatnik arrived to find around 60 protesters outside the event in Columbus.

“The first couple seconds I was halfway scared, but after I saw the security at the place and I saw all of the great people that came to support us I wasn’t scared anymore,” he said.

Columbia anti-Israel protesters post ‘anonymous’ video of activists blocking campus sewage lines
Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University in New York City post a video of activists vandalizing the campus by spraying red paint on a building and blocking campus sewage lines. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of student groups led by the campus branches of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, posts the video showing a vandal dousing Columbia’s Kravis Hall with red paint. The video also shows what appears to be a row of blocked toilets. Text accompanying the post says the bathroom is at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

U of Michigan suspends Students for Justice in Palestine’s local chapter for 2 years
A pro-Palestinian group at the University of Michigan has been suspended for two years and will lose its funding in connection with protesters’ demands for divestiture from companies doing business with Israel. Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, also known as SAFE, was accused of violating the university’s standards of conduct for recognized student organizations following a protest last spring outside a regent’s home and a demonstration without school permission on its Ann Arbor campus.

2 High School Basketball Coaches Fired for Antisemitism and Pro-Hamas flags: Denver
[ToniAiraksinen] A Colorado School is facing backlash after their Palestinian baseball coach refused to shake hands with Jewish students on the opposing team, and another staffer also showed up to the Jewish school and decked out the rafters with keffiyehs and Palestinian flags with him.

The basketball game happened on the 22th of January, and many of my readers in the Denver area sent the story to me. Their —“Coach O”, also known as Samir Omar —arrived in a Lotus School uniform and keffiyeh has been fired (as well as Sami Jabai, another coach who wore a keffiyeh).

“The coaches were suspended for 1 day until the end of the investigation, and as of last Friday morning, January 24th, both were fired,” said Lotus School Executive Director Mehmet Nalcaci in an email he sent at 4:45pm EST Wednesday.

According to Lotus School executive director Mehmet Nalcaci, two coaches wore a keffiyeh and a Palestinian scarf flag, which may have triggered the events.

“As a public charter school, Lotus School for Excellence (LSE) does not encourage or tolerate the display of any political or religious symbols.

Encourge, Mehmet? Perhaps not. But clearly both of your coaches believed their display was tolerated or they would not have done it.

In response, we took immediate action and suspended the high school basketball coach and his assistant, both of whom are hourly part-time staff and not full-time employees.”

Link

Fifth Column

‘Deeply troubling’: Top universities ‘refused’ to stop antisemitism, house report says

2024-12-23

[CollegeFix] Report reveals universities likely violated Title VI, calls for increased ‘viewpoint diversity’

A U.S. House of Representatives committee report released Thursday detailed how universities likely violated Title VI by failing to protect their Jewish students on campus.

Following "a more than 7-months long investigation into antisemitism on American college campuses," the Committee on Education and the Workforce found that administrators "refused to crack down on antisemitism," states the 43-page Staff Report on Antisemitism.

"In fact, many colleges handed down disparate disciplinary actions for Jewish students versus their antagonists—the students who engaged in antisemitic behavior, encampments, and intimidating tactics such as campus checkpoints and tax-exempt organizations that enabled and funded ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful campus protests, among other troubling findings," it states.

The report also blames federal government departments and agencies for "entirely avoid[ing] any accountability for institutions to which they award millions of dollars annually."

The key findings of the report include that universities "granted shocking concessions" to "antisemitic encampments" and neglected to "enforce their rules and impose meaningful discipline."

Further, some "radical faculty" hindered meaningful action while "so-called university leaders expressed hostility to congressional oversight and treated campus antisemitism as a public relations issue, not a serious problem demanding action."

The committee recommends that universities enforce conduct policies, "forcefully reject antisemitism," "recognize that discrimination against ’zionists’ is an unacceptable antisemitic civil rights violation," and increase "viewpoint diversity."

"The House-wide investigation has uncovered deeply troubling realities about how antisemitism has been allowed to fester unchecked, including in universities and institutions across the country, with little to no accountability or oversight to prevent its continued spread," the report states.

It specifically cites Columbia University, University of Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, Los Angeles, Harvard University, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, Yale University, and others as the schools responsible for some of the worst violations.

"Columbia stands out for its egregious failure to combat antisemitism on its campus, despite its president acknowledging that the University was in violation of its Title VI obligations," the report states.

In February, the committee subpoenaed Harvard for withholding documents in the House’s antisemitism probe, The College Fix previously reported. Then in August, the committee subpoenaed Columbia requesting information on anti-Israel protesters’ Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Solidarity Encampment.

"On October 8th, the world saw that antisemitic hatred was alive and well at American institutions of so-called ’higher’ education. As a result, the reputation of many of these schools has been in free fall," Chairwoman Virginia Foxx stated in a news release announcing the new report.

"Stopping that free fall comes down to one word: accountability. We need accountability because without it, we cannot guarantee that Jewish students have the safe learning environment they deserve," she stated.

MORE: Bill to combat campus antisemitism stalled in Senate

…stalled in the Democrat-controlled Senate. But Republicans will have a majority in the 2025 Senate session so this can be readdressed then — an issue that I understand is a priority for President Trump as well.

Link

Home Front: Politix

''Buy a Spine'': Sen. Kennedy Gets NCAA Prez to Bend Knee on Key Point in Heated Exchange on Trans Athletes

2024-12-19

More discussion around this story from yesterday.

[REDSTATE] The key issue in particular that is perhaps the most grating of all on Republican members of Congress is the one that has taken center stage in recent years involving so-called "transgender rights" including the inclusion of transgender "women" in women's sports, bathrooms, dressing rooms, etc.

It's an issue that has seen prominent female athletes strongly take public stands in favor of leaving women's sports as they were originally intended. One of those athletes, LGBTQ icon Martina Navratilova, has loudly spoken out on the matter only to see the same far-left groups who had previously praised her for being a groundbreaker in sports turn around and try to cancel her for the crime of WrongSpeak.

Riley Gaines, a champion former University of Kentucky swimmer, has also emerged as a leading voice on this topic after having to share the trophies podium (and locker room) with former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas, who identifies as a woman but who was born a man. Gaines has testified countless times before members of Congress on Capitol Hill and also before various state legislatures on the issue, and is currently part of a lawsuit against the NCAA.

It was Gaines' troubling experiences and those of other concerned girls and women that were at the heart of the aggressive questioning of NCAA president Charlie Baker during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday on sports gambling.

Baker unwittingly set himself up for quite the grilling with remarks made in his opening statement in which he declared that an "essential priority of the Association and its members is coordinating and delivering safe and fair competition."

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) took the ball and ran with it, questioning the former Massachusetts governor's statement and contrasting it with what he characterized as the NCAA's unfairness in not standing up against athletes like Lia Thomas being able to compete against female athletes.

At one point, Kennedy cornered Baker and got him to bend the knee on a key point by having him concede that men who compete against women in sports have an advantage "every time" after Baker initially (and laughably) claimed the point was "debatable."

''Why don't you go onto Amazon and buy a spine online and take a stand?'' Kennedy finally said at one point in frustration over Baker's continued insinuations that the NCAA didn't have a choice but to take the position they have because the courts supposedly have not provided "clarity" on the issue.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

26-year-old Luigi Mangione identified as the person of interest in murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO — arrested and charged

2024-12-10

[X]

26-year-old Luigi Mangione identified as the person of interest in murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO. pic.twitter.com/ISuJhb89mY
— Pop Base (@PopBase) December 9, 2024

More about Mr. Mangione courtesy of NoMoreBS in comments yesterday:

Ex-Ivy League AI Student Luigi Mangione is Person of Interest in UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooting.
[NationalPulse] Authorities have detained Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old from Towson, Maryland, as a person of interest in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, following a rigorous search by police.

According to law enforcement sources reviewing his online activity, Mangione is known for anti-capitalist beliefs and criticism of the U.S. healthcare system. His Goodreads account features quotes from historical figures like Socrates, Bruce Lee, and Ted Kaczynski, the "Unabomber," recognized for his anti-establishment views. Mangione also reportedly carried a manifesto that criticized the financial and ethical practices of the healthcare industry.

Mangione’s educational background includes being the valedictorian of his 2016 class at the Gilman School in Baltimore. He later pursued studies focused on artificial intelligence at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mediaite reports Mr. Mangione was picked up by the Altoona police because he had a gun that looked like the one used by the murderer.
The New York Post adds:

Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old tech whiz suspected of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week, allegedly used a ghost gun that he might have made on a 3-D printer to commit the killing, authorities said.

“He was in possession of a ghost gun that had the capability of firing a 9-mm round and a suppressor,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Monday press briefing, adding that the piece “may have been made on a 3-D printer.”

Cops nabbed Mangione — who sources said is an anti-capitalist Ivy League grad who liked online quotes from “Unabomber’’ Ted Kaczynski — while he ate at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., ending an intense manhunt that began after he executed Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel last week.

Originally from Towson, Md., Mangione may have hated the medical community because of how it treated a sick relative, sources said.

Aside from the untraceable, homemade gun, the former prep school valedictorian was caught with a silencer, a US passport, four fake IDs with names used during the killer’s stint in New York City and a two-and-a-half page manifesto, sources said.

Another murderous nutter writing a manifesto? How tiresome. But at least there won’t be any question about his reasoning… and he is exactly at the right age for schizophrenia to blossom.

In the writing, he seethed that “These parasites had it coming,” law enforcement sources told The Post on Monday.

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

JUST IN: Taylor Lorenz giggles and says she felt “joy” when Brian Thompson, a husband, father, and CEO of UHC was k*lled. pic.twitter.com/Y57NTWfM6C
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 9, 2024

Then she got fired.

It was apparently this kind of thing that led Vox to end its much-ballyhooed distribution partnership with her — and that after parting ways with first the New York Times and then the Washington Post. A busy lady.

Suspect charged with murder in shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO

Booking photo can be seen at the link.

A man suspected in the brazen Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO has been arrested and charged with murder after a quick-thinking McDonald’s customer in Pennsylvania recognized him from a surveillance photo and police officers found a gun, mask and writings linking him to the ambush.

The chance sighting at the restaurant in Altoona led to a dramatic break in a challenging but fast-moving investigation that captivated the public in the five days since the shooting that shook the business world.

Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, had a gun believed to be the one used in last Wednesday’s shooting of Brian Thompson, as well as writings suggesting anger with corporate America, police say.

Late last night, Manhattan prosecutors filed murder and other charges against Mangione, according to an online court docket. He remains jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police.

In his backpack, police found a black, 3D-printed pistol and a 3D-printed black silencer, the complaint said. Such ghost guns can be assembled at home from parts without a serial number, making them difficult to trace. The pistol had a metal slide and plastic handle with a metal threaded barrel.

Link

Fifth Column

Red/Green Anti-Israel actions at the universities for the week ending 16 November

2024-11-17

Not just in academia:

‘Kiss the flag, Nazi’: The anti-Israel event at Microsoft
[IsraelTimes] Media reports on the unauthorized ‘No Azure for Apartheid’ vigil left out the part about how unsafe it felt for Jewish employees like me

University of Rochester: Wanted Posters of Jewish Faculty Members Glued to Walls

University of Michigan Student Government Impeaches Woke President
[HotAir] The Ann Arbor-based school’s Central Student Government voted 30 to 7 in favor of ousting President Alifa Chowdhury and Vice President Elias Atkinson — who are part of a pro-Palestine activist group called “Shut It Down” — for neglecting their responsibilities and actively trying to block funding for student groups on campus, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The pair had reportedly refused to resign after calls from the rest of the CSG, which alleged that they both had also threatened physical harm against its members.

IDF veteran recounts brutal assault at Chicago campus, vows to continue his activism
[IsraelTimes] Max Long, whose weekly stand invites DePaul University students to talk with him about Israel, says attack left him with concussion, fellow activist with broken arm

Jewish students at the University of Pittsburgh were slashed in the face by a Keffiyah-clad man. Another student wearing a Star of David was beaten by a mob. The response from the school’s DEI group? Delay the creation of an antisemitism committee due to “concern of its scope” pic.twitter.com/InKxsKlCoZ
— Yael Bar tur 🎗️ (@yaelbt) November 13, 2024

At Columbia’s Gates, Anti-Israel Activists from Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) Recruit Classmates To 'Get Involved' With Designated Terror Financier Samidoun
[FreeBeacon] 'A reasonable argument could be made that whoever produced these flyers are providing material support to a designated terrorist organization,' expert says.

The following are all from Campus Reform:

Columbia University anti-Israel activists mock Veterans Day, proclaim a ‘Martyrs Day’ instead
In an Instagram post on Saturday, Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) announced: “Veterans Day (November 11) is an American holiday to honor the patriotism, love of country, and sacrifice of veterans. THIS WON’T STAND!”

University of Michigan student government impeaches its president, vice president for 'inciting violence' and 'cybertheft': VIDEO
University of Michigan student government President Alifa Chowdhury and Vice President Elias Atkinson are members of the Shut It Down Party, which campaigned to push the university to divest from Israel. In September, Chowdhury vetoed the entire student budget twice, pointing to the university’s inaction on divestment as the justification.

University of Michigan regent tells pro-Hamas activists the school will 'never' divest from Israel
Democrat Regent Jordan Acker of the University of Michigan has told pro-Hamas student activists that they can 'never' expect the school to divest from Israel. In June, a hate crime investigation was launched after Acker's law firm was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti.

Columbia SJP loses court challenge against suspension for policy violations
Columbia University’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter lost its lawsuit challenging a suspension imposed during the 2023–2024 school year for repeated violations of campus event policies.
In October, a new pro-Palestine student group formed at Columbia, claiming to refocus the movement’s priorities after perceived shifts in the original organization’s direction.

Michigan Faculty Senate overwhelmingly votes to censure regents for 'authoritarian' response to anti-Israel protests
The University of Michigan Faculty Senate has voted 1,487 to 559 to censure the university board of regents in light of the board’s 'authoritarian' response to anti-Israel protests in the spring.
'[T]he Regents have fostered a climate of repression at the university, by authorizing police violence against students,' the motion suggests.

SUNY Downstate Students for Justice in Palestine criticized for hosting event that spread 'medical propaganda' and 'blood libel'
SUNY Downstate Medical Center’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted an event accusing Israel of “genocide” against Palestinians, with speakers critiquing Israeli actions and emphasizing settler-colonialism.
SUNY Downstate condemned the event, clarifying it was not school-sponsored and pledging to monitor campus safety closely.

Emails show how Harvard administrators avoided condemning anti-Semitic Oct. 7 statement by student groups
Harvard administrators considered condemning a controversial student statement that blamed Israel for violence following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack but chose not to include such a condemnation in their official response.

Over 70 Harvard Students Stage Anti-Israel 'Study-In' at Widener Library
Over 70 anti-Israel student activists at Harvard University conducted a “study-in” at Widener Library, Harvard’s flagship library, for nearly three-and-a-half hours on October 29th.

Anti-semitic graffiti artist at Hamilton College pleads ‘not guilty’ after admitting guilt to NY State Police
The student’s alleged vandalism included phrases such as ‘kill the Jews wherever you find them.’
According to his Facebook page, Adyn Brenden is a ‘Furry Catholic & Cartoonist.’

University of Pennsylvania business school fraternity banned for putting up joke posters mocking Israeli hostages
Members of the fraternity were accused of putting up posters that seemingly mocked Israeli hostages captured by Hamas.
Those responsible apologized and said the prank was only ‘a joke to promote veganism.’

Iowa senators call upon FBI, DOJ to consider designating SJP groups as foreign agents
Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley of Iowa have called upon the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate campus organizations with links to Hamas.
On Oct. 8, the senators wrote to Attorney General Merck Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray about 'foreign-aligned influence' on college campuses from groups like the National Students for Justice in Palestine.

Link

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