That’s quite a broad claim by POLITICO, that Republicans have “hated” universities for years. We’re actually very proud of Vice President J.D. Vance for earning his bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University as well as a law degree from Yale Law School. Republicans might say you’re better off learning a trade than going into debt for an education that doesn’t guarantee you a lucrative career, but they don’t hate universities.
POLITICO claims that “anti-war protests” have given Republicans a chance to pounce and punish them. Columbia University was a hotbed of pro-Hamas protests and encampments. Student activists seized buildings and vandalized them. It finally took President Donald Trump to take action — he stripped Columbia of $400 million in federal grants and contracts because it allowed these encampments to take over the campus.
“Anti-war protests,” huh?
Republicans have hated universities for years. Anti-war protests gave them a reason to punish them. https://t.co/ZaiQZtR5Gp
— POLITICO (@politico) March 11, 2025
Irie Sentner reports:
In 2021, JD Vance proclaimed “the universities are the enemy.” This week, the White House declared war against them.
President Donald Trump and his administration are escalating their attacks on higher education, intensifying a yearslong effort to hobble the campuses they say breed progressive ideology by casting them not as spaces of innovation, but as hotbeds of hate.
Republicans have long blamed college campuses for being ground-zero for a number of “woke” culture war issues to which they’re now taking an ax, including diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and academic frameworks like critical race theory. The protests that roiled college campuses last spring in the midst of the Israel-Hamas war gave Republicans fuel to go after the schools over concerns about antisemitism, and since taking office, Trump has swiftly taken actions designed to punish higher education.
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“Concerns about antisemitism”? Mobs of pro-Hamas students blocked Jewish students from setting foot on campus. There were “no-go” zones for Jews. Classes were canceled and classrooms were overtaken by pro-Hamas students and outside agitators. There was nothing “anti-war” about these protests — the students were rooting for Hamas to eliminate Israel.
Look at how this story references the blatant antisemitism we all witnessed at these “anti-war” protests:
“..over concerns about antisemitism…”
“..under investigation for antisemitism…”
“…allegations of antisemitism…” https://t.co/0jKCLiF6ep— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) March 12, 2025
POLITICO’s post has earned a Community Note:
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
The groups at issue are not “anti-war,” as this post claims.
They call for violence explicitly — “violence is the only path forward.”
Their most common phrase is: “We support liberation by any means necessary, including armed resistance.”
The crackdown on universities has been a long time in the making. The only surprise is that it took this long to happen and is taking place now instead of twenty years ago. But universities have only themselves to blame for steadfastly refusing to police themselves. https://t.co/XRb0FcqZg5
— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) March 12, 2025
You misspelled “anti-Jew” you pieces of excrement.
— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) March 12, 2025
They’re not anti-war.
— Max 📟 (@MaxNordau) March 12, 2025
One for the ages @iriesentner.
Universities have been hotbeds of leftwing radicalism for years. Meaning, rules and laws of basic decorum (don’t commit violence, damage property, or hold others against their will) can be excused if they are for the “right” purpose.
— TheVesuvian (@TheVesuvian) March 12, 2025
I didn’t realise that protests calling for a never-ending war against the State of Israel and its people, until the state is eradicated and the people are expelled (or worse), are considered “anti-war protests.”
— Moshe Emilio Lavi (@MosheELavi) March 12, 2025
The headline is wrong. It should be:
“Universities have hated Republicans for years. Universities condoning heckling, disruption, and violence gave Republicans a reason to punish them.”
— Ranjit Singh (@AuthorSingh) March 12, 2025
The headline is wrong. It should be:
“Universities have hated Republicans for years. Universities condoning heckling, disruption, and violence gave Republicans a reason to punish them.”
— Ranjit Singh (@AuthorSingh) March 12, 2025
“Anti-war”? They are quite pro-war vs Israel.
— John Tammes (@john_tammes) March 12, 2025
We don’t hate universities. We just hate communism and the incubators where it is kept alive, which happens to be universities.
— Dr. Malcolm Cornelius (@DctrCornelius) March 12, 2025
“Republicans hate universities“ is the most infantilized thing I’ve seen today.
Did you hire a teenager to write this piece?
— N2 Rotation (@BlisteredSkies) March 11, 2025
“There’s Only One Solution, Intifada Revolution” is not an anti-war chant. These students are pro-war against Israel and pro-Hamas. “Anti-war” protests didn’t give Republicans a reason to crack down. It was anti-Semitism, pure and simple.
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