Compliance

To the editor:

During the past two months the Trump administration, aided in Congress by a submissive Republican Party and ineffectual Democratic Party, has driven the country down a road to an authoritarian state. Fear and anticipatory obedience are two ways that this unthinkable goal can be achieved.

Among the many examples that point in this direction is a concerted attack on colleges and universities. An op-ed on the front page of the Sunday New York Times’ opinion section was headlined “The Targeted Destruction of Free Thought.” The Trump administration wants to bring these institutions, sites of possible resistance, to their knees. This is not only because of their DEI programs, but also because of pro-Palestinian protests against Israel. 

The latter has resulted in a crackdown that undermines student and faculty rights to peacefully assemble and to exercise free speech. The justification is noble: to counter the increase of antisemitism on campuses.  

Yet at the same time, it ignores the increase in Islamophobia against those who protest. This includes doxxing, personal attacks on social media, future blacklisting and threats by the government to deport foreign students, even those with green cards such as Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia student activist arrested and detained by federal authorities earlier this month.

It's unfortunate that college administrators, trustees, wealthy donors and politicians from both parties label pro-Palestinian demonstrations as supporting Hamas and its genocidal attack on October 7, 2023. The Hamas-baiting recalls the red-baiting on campuses during the Cold War and McCarthyism. These unjust attacks support the Trump administration’s narrative and divert attention from Israel’s devastating military response, including countless violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all with Washington’s complicity. 

Howard Elterman