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DEI, Title VI, Post-Colonialism: How to Fight Back Against Hate on College Campuses
One of the campus buildings at the University of California, Berkeley. Photo: Max Pixel/Creative Commons.
“Jews are the new Nazis,” someone yelled at a student government meeting. A swastika was found on a Jewish student’s dorm room door. A sign in a plaza claimed that Jews are the masterminds behind an international illegal organ trafficking ring. Posters of Jewish events were ripped down and thrown in the garbage.
You might think these events took place recently, but they are actually my recollections from UC Berkeley when I was an undergraduate student from 2009 to 2013.
At the time, I took solace in the belief that UC Berkeley was on the anti-Jewish fringes, relative to other universities around the country. “The rest of America isn’t like this,” I told myself.
But incidents on American campuses since October 7 make it clear that this hatred has spread well beyond places like UC Berkeley. Fortunately, there are several concrete actions leaders can advocate for to combat antisemitism on campus.
First, the Federal government should aggressively investigate exclusionary practices that limit the ability of Jewish students to participate in campus life. These practices have resulted in student government leaders being pushed out of their positions for identifying as Jewish, or Jewish student clubs receiving unequal treatment relative to other groups.
Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the Federal government is already granted authority to investigate these exclusionary practices, and to withhold Federal funds if institutions are found at fault. However, enforcement generally occurs on a case-by-case basis, such as through individual complaints. To tackle the problem quickly and comprehensively, the Federal government should launch a large-scale investigation of several universities who reportedly engage in this exclusionary behavior in place of the current piecemeal approach.
Second, ethnic studies courses should be reworked by school districts, university boards, and state legislatures to teach history, culture, and religion instead of the heavy emphasis on Marxist and Postcolonial ideology.
When I enrolled in Native American Studies at Berkeley, I was excited to learn about the history, culture, and religion of Native American tribes. However, the class itself was mostly dedicated to reading theorists, like Frantz Fanon, who simplifies the world into “colonizer” and “colonized,” while also literally calling for violent revolution against the so-called colonizers.
When conflict between Israel and its neighbors arises, many ethnic studies students see Jews as the white colonizers (even though Jews are not colonizers, and more than 50% of Israeli Jews would be considered BIPOC in America) versus the “colonized” people of color. This stunningly superficial interpretation is then used as rationale to engage in violent actions against Jews.
Going forward, if Post-colonialism and Marxism must be included in courses, these theorists must be balanced with their ideological rivals.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi, who advocated for social cohesion, peaceful coexistence, and nonviolent resistance, would be a good start.
Third, state legislatures and/or governing boards that oversee universities should mandate regular performance audits of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) teams on campus.
The rise in DEI presence on campus has coincided with an increase in antisemitism. One analysis found that DEI staffing at the University of Michigan more than quadrupled from about 40 in 2002 to 167 in 2021. At worst, these DEI efforts are contributing to antisemitism. At best, they are ineffective at curbing it.
Here is a video of a former DEI official being told that protecting Jewish students did not fall under her mandate because they were “white oppressors,” and her job was to “de-center whiteness.”
Requiring DEI offices to use data, such as campus climate surveys and discrimination complaint trends, to publicly report on the degree to which DEI efforts are reducing antisemitism — and all forms of bigotry for that matter — will hold DEI officials accountable to the values they profess to uphold.
Fourth, university administrators must better coordinate with local law enforcement partners to ensure the enforcement of laws to protect students from physical harm at protests. While the First Amendment includes the right of free speech and the right to peaceably assemble, some universities forget to prioritize other applicable regulations on gatherings, such as laws against physical harassment and blocking buildings/sidewalk access.
While I was a student at Berkeley, protesters from Students for Justice in Palestine blocked an entrance to campus during a protest. When one student in a wheelchair attempted to pass, protestors began to kick him until he retreated. Police officers observed in the distance and did nothing.
Ignoring illegal actions of some students during protests unnecessarily endangers other students and has the effect of chilling speech among those who are understandably afraid of physical altercation.
In addition to the ideas set forth here, combating antisemitism on campus requires leaders who are willing to first call out the problem. While it can be intimidating to call out evil due to fear of appearing biased or becoming a target of vitriol, it is in times of great turmoil where taking a stand is needed most.
To those leaders reluctant to speak out and act, consider Hillel’s famous question: “If not you, then who? If not now, when?”
Ben Goldblatt is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a government oversight expert.
The post DEI, Title VI, Post-Colonialism: How to Fight Back Against Hate on College Campuses first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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New York City Jews Targeted for Most Hate Crimes in March, NYPD Stats Show
Orthodox Jewish man waiting for the train in the New York City subway. Photo: Hans Lucas via Reuters Connect.
Jews in New York City were victims of more hate crimes in March than any other group even as crime across the Five Boroughs fell to “historic” lows, according to statistics issued by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on Thursday.
39 hate crimes targeted Jews last month, the Algemeiner reviewed data shows, outstripping the combined total of all other groups combined — 28 — and constituting 58 percent of all hate crimes reported to authorities. So far, there have born 85 antisemitic hate crimes in New York City through the first three months of 2025, with the month of February seeing a 100 percent increase in them over the previous year and March seeing no improvement at all.
The data continues a trend that has persisted for several years and concurred with a rise in antisemitic incidents across the US.
Jews represented a disproportionate share of hate crimes perpetrated in New York City in 2024 as well. Of the 641 total hate crimes tallied by the NYPD that year, Jews were victims of 345, which, in addition to being a 7 percent increase over the previous year, amounted to 54 percent of all hate crimes in the city.
As The Algemeiner has previously reported, antisemitic hate crimes have posed a major threat to the quality of life of New York City’s Orthodox Jewish community, which was the target in many of the incidents. In just eight days between the end of October and the beginning of November, three Hasidim, including children, were brutally assaulted in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. In one instance, an Orthodox man was accosted by two assailants, one masked, who “chased and beat him” after he refused to surrender his cellphone in compliance with what appeared to have been an attempted robbery.
In another incident, an African American male smacked a 13-year-old Jewish boy who was commuting to school on his bike in the heavily Jewish neighborhood. Less than a week earlier, an assailant slashed a visibly Jewish man in the face as he was walking in Brooklyn. Days after the week-long antisemitic hate crime spree, three men attempted to rob a Hasidic man after stalking him through the Crown Heights neighborhood.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post New York City Jews Targeted for Most Hate Crimes in March, NYPD Stats Show first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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NYC ‘Dyke March’ Bans Zionists From Participating in Annual Demonstration
(Source: Reuters)
NYC Dyke March, a public demonstration held by members of the lesbian community in New York City, has banned self-proclaimed “Zionists” from its annual event, citing a desire to stand against the so-called “genocide” occuring in Gaza.
The group revealed in a statement that their decision to ban Israel supporters from their ranks came after multiple members dropped out of the organization due to differences in “political beliefs and values.” After engaging in discussions with frustrated members, the NYC Dyke March committee agreed to adopt “an explicitly anti-Zionist position.” The organization claims that it will “strengthen our commitment” to fighting against Israel and advocating on behalf of Palestinians.
Last year, the NYC Dyke March previously came under scrutiny after organizers settled on “genocide” as the theme of its 2024 event. In a statement, decrying “ethnic cleansing, violence, and dehumanization,” the organization compared the ongoing war in Gaza, to the mass slaughters occurring in Ethiopia, Myanmar, and Sudan.
The organization plans on recycling the same theme for this year’s march, titling it “Dykes Against Genocide.” The group released a statement clarifying that Jews are allowed to attend and condemned the Oct. 7 slaughters as a “senseless loss of life.” After an apparent uproar from its members, the organization deleted the post and wrote that the group “unapologetically stands in support of Palestinian liberation.” In addition, the group affirmed that “anti-Zionism is not antisemitism and any language we put out which is not clearly opposed to a Zionist, imperialist agenda is harmful to us all.”
In the 17 months following the Hamas-led massacre of roughly 1200 people throughout Israel, the NYC Dyke March has produced numerous statements lambasting Israel and declaring “solidarity” with Palestinians amid their so-called “ongoing genocide.” The organization also accused Israel of engaging in supposed “pinkwashing” and “manipulative use of Jewish and queer identities,” with the aim of justifying its war efforts in Gaza.
Israel offers an expansive set of rights for members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transngender (LGBT) community, including recognition of same-sex marriages. Every year in June, Tel Aviv holds one of the largest LGBT Pride celebrations in the world. Meanwhile, members of the LGBT community are routinely imprisoned or murdered in other parts of the Middle East, including the Palestinian territories.
The NYC Dyke March’s announcement was met with widespread condemnation.
“You cannot exclude the majority of Jews and call yourself inclusive,” said the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in a post on X/Twitter, adding that the group “essentially equates Zionism with racism” in their announcement.
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Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with journalists onboard Air Force One en route to Miami, Florida, U.S., April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
The Trump administration reportedly plans to terminate $510 million worth of federal contracts and grants awarded to Brown University, according to media reports.
Brown University’s failure to mount a satisfactory response to the campus antisemitism crisis, as well as its embrace of the diversity, equity, and, inclusion (DEI) movement — perceived by many across the political spectrum as an assault on merit-based upward mobility and causing incidents of anti-White and anti-Asian discrimination — prompted the alleged pending action by the federal government, according to the right-leaning outlet The Daily Caller.
The announcement comes as Brown scrambles to cover a $46 million budget shortfall and other universities across the country have faced similar funding cuts.
Brown University officials, however, denied that the university had received any directives from the Trump Administration.
“We have no information to substantiate these rumors,” Brown University provost Francis Doyle issued a statement. “We are closely monitoring notifications related to grants, but have nothing more we can share as of now.”
Meanwhile, Brown’s Jewish community rushed to the university’s defense, issuing a joint statement with the Brown Corporation which said that the campus is “peaceful and supportive campus for its Jewish community.”
The letter, signed by members of the local Hillel International chapter and Chabad on College Hill, continued: “Brown University is a place where Jewish life not only exists but thrives. While there is more work to be done, Brown, through the dedicated efforts of its administration, leadership, and resilient spirit of its Jewish community, continues to uphold the principles of inclusion, tolerance, and intellectual freedom that have been central to its identity since 1764.”
Brown Divest Coalition — an anti-Zionist group which recently saw its campaign for the university to adopt the boycott, divest, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel defeated by the Brown Corporation — weighed in too, denouncing the reported cut as “a means of suppressing all forms of popular dissent to the renewed violence of the US war machine abroad.” US Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) also criticized the move, accusing the administration “of a broader pattern of behavior…that will negatively impact communities across the country and lead to layoffs, restrict research, and more.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, the Trump administration is following through on its threats to inflict potentially catastrophic financial injuries on colleges and universities deemed as soft on antisemitism or excessively “woke.” The past six weeks has seen the policy imposed on elite universities including Harvard and Columbia, rattling a higher education establishment that has for better and worse operated for decades with little interference from the federal government even as it polarized the public and contributed to a growing sense that elites are contemptuous of Americans who live outside of their cultural enclaves.
In March, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the cancellation of $400 million in federal contracts and grants for Columbia University, a measure that secured the school’s acceding to a slew of demands the administration put forth as preconditions for restoring the money. Later, the Trump administration disclosed its reviewing $9 billion worth of federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard University, jeopardizing a substantial source of the school’s income over its alleged failure to quell antisemitic and pro-Hamas activity on campus following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. Princeton University saw $210 million of its federal grants and funding suspended too, prompting its president, Christopher Eisgruber to say the institution is “committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of discrimination.”
Additionally, 60 universities are being investigated by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights over their handling of campus antisemitism, a project that will serve as an early test of the administration’s ability to perform the essential functions of the agency after downsizing its workforce to increase its efficiency.
One of those universities, Northwestern University, on Monday touted its progress in addressing campus antisemitism, noting that it has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, a reference tool which aids officials in determining what constitutes antisemitism, and begun holding “mandatory antisemitism training” sessions which “all students, faculty, and staff” must attend.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Trump Administration Planning $510 Million Cut to Brown University Budget, Report Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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