President Donald Trump signed multiple executive orders on Wednesday targeting antisemitism on college campuses. The order clearly states: “It shall be the policy of the United States to combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence.”
The orders direct federal agencies to take immediate action against pro-Hamas activists on student visas and hold universities accountable for failing to combat anti-Jewish bias.
Trump’s directive orders all federal agencies to identify within 60 days the legal tools available to prosecute or deport foreign nationals engaged in antisemitic harassment or violence. The White House fact sheet states that the Department of Justice will take immediate action to investigate anti-Jewish discrimination in universities, particularly leftist institutions accused of allowing antisemitic rhetoric to thrive.
In response to recent pro-Hamas demonstrations on campuses, the White House accused the previous administration of neglecting the rise in antisemitism, pledging to reverse what it called a “coordinated assault on public order.” House Republicans had previously urged the federal government to cut funding to universities failing to curb antisemitism. The issue gained national attention after Ivy League college administrators struggled to answer whether calls for the genocide of Jews violated their schools’ codes of conduct. The controversy led to the resignations of Harvard President Claudine Gay and Penn President Liz Magill in late 2023.
Trump also reinstated a 2020 executive order protecting American monuments from vandalism. The order specifically cites pro-Hamas demonstrations in 2024 that resulted in damage to the Department of the Treasury, statues in Lafayette Square, and the Christopher Columbus Memorial Fountain. The new directive seeks to hold offenders accountable for defacing historical sites.
Trump’s selection of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations further underscores the administration’s pro-Israel stance. Stefanik gained national recognition in 2023 for aggressively questioning college leaders on their handling of antisemitism after Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel.
