Thursday, August 21, 2025

Palestinians and campus protests

CAMPUS PROTESTS AND THE RULE OF 
LAW 
SHIRIN SINNAR* 
LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS [Vol. 87: 117 
INTRODUCTION
In its opening months, the Trump administration launched an all-out assault 
on American higher education, slashing federal funding for academic research, 
ordering the elimination of diversity initiatives, punishing institutions for campus 
pro-Palestine protests, and detaining for deportation international students who 
had participated in protests.1
 On the campaign trail, President Trump had 
promised to purge colleges of “anti-American insanity” and save “our once-great 
educational institutions from the radical left.”2
 In one of its opening salvos, the 
administration cut $400 million in funding from Columbia University because it 
said the university had not protected students from antisemitic harassment; in 
response, Columbia agreed to install new security forces on campus and place its 
Middle Eastern studies department under oversight—moves that many in higher 
education saw as unprecedented capitulations on matters of academic freedom.3
INTRODUCTION
In its opening months, the Trump administration launched an all-out assault 
on American higher education, slashing federal funding for academic research, 
ordering the elimination of diversity initiatives, punishing institutions for campus 
pro-Palestine protests, and detaining for deportation international students who 
had participated in protests.1
 On the campaign trail, President Trump had 
promised to purge colleges of “anti-American insanity” and save “our once-great 
educational institutions from the radical left.”2
 In one of its opening salvos, the 
administration cut $400 million in funding from Columbia University because it 
said the university had not protected students from antisemitic harassment; in 
response, Columbia agreed to install new security forces on campus and place its 
Middle Eastern studies department under oversight—moves that many in higher 
education saw as unprecedented capitulations on matters of academic freedom.3

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