Chronicle poll results: Cutting federal funding to universities
We asked our readers if federal funding should be cut to universities that fail to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. Here's what they said.
Last week, the Chronicle asked its readers in an online poll the following question: “Do you believe the U.S. government should cut federal funding to universities that fail to protect Jewish students from antisemitism on campus?” Of the 347 people who responded, 73% said yes; 20% said no; and 7% said they weren’t sure. Comments were submitted by 112 people. A few follow.
Universities that condone violence and intimidation against any identifiable group should lose funding and face civil penalties. This doesn’t mean anybody should be policing all language or looking for so-called “micro-aggressions.” Real threats should be punished; uncomfortable conversations shouldn’t be.
I believe that the U.S. government should be protecting free speech on university campuses. Not all criticism of the state of Israel is antisemitism. The right to free speech and the right to freedom of assembly is a right afforded to all people in America, citizens and non-citizens alike.
The federal government has never had a practice of cutting funding to universities who don’t protect other minorities, which goes to show that Jews are being used as an excuse to silence and repress universities. Whether or not I agree with what’s being said on campuses, creating fear among university administrators only serves to quash free speech, which is dangerous and should be concerning to all who cherish democracy.
College students are there to learn, not to protest. Everyone seems to have forgotten it was not Israel that started everything. Israel haters will continue to blame Israel for defending herself. I am opposed to all war, and I do not believe a college campus is an appropriate place for protests. Some protestors aren’t even students.
Sadly, the Biden administration did not do this because they were afraid to alienate part of their radical-left voter base. This political pandering led to the most antisemitic rioting in America in my lifetime. Kudos to President Trump for taking action to curb antisemitism in America.
If the funding cuts can be directed at aspects of the universities’ research and curriculum that directly teach antisemitism or otherwise accommodate antisemitic content and speakers, yes. Otherwise, no, inasmuch as such cuts ultimately undermine good work and promising futures. As with so many other matters, a scalpel is called for here, not a scythe.
Laws should be enforced separate from federal funding.
I wish it had not come to this, but if this is the only way for universities to understand that terroristic incitement is not protected free speech, then so be it.
I believe that federal funding should also be at risk if universities fail to protect any minority.
Absolutely, yes, cut the funding. Where were the campus protests when the two red- headed Israeli brothers were found to have been strangled to death and their mother beaten to death? One-sided empathy in a situation like this is another way of showing antisemitism.
These cuts hurt many researchers and trainees who had nothing to do with these protests. They are the ones who will suffer, as will medical research and advances in life-saving treatments, not the universities’ financial portfolios. PJC
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