Ever since the invasion and massacre by Hamas into Israel on October 7th, the response from academia at large has been, on the whole, revolting. Those same institutions of “higher learning” are unwilling to confront the ugly racist bigotry that has been allowed to grow on their campuses.

As a result, students from a lot of these “prestigious” colleges and universities have been shocked, SHOCKED, to learn that there could be actual consequences for their vile speech. And of course they were shocked – this is the generation that has toed the leftist line, so in their minds, misgendering someone is violence, but calling for the death of Jews is not violence, it’s just protesting in support of “decolonization.” Academia has continued to be largely silent as these students – all legal adults, mind you – continue to embarrass these institutions. Which makes one wonder just how embarrassed the colleges and universities actually ARE by these calls for Jewish genocide.

BREAKING: Students at a Palestine rally at Princeton University are chanting "Intifada intifada, long live the Intifada"

The Intifadas were periods of terrorist attacks committed against Jews in Israel. pic.twitter.com/KmqwGQMxsD

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 25, 2023

And it’s not just the students. Where do you think they learn that this kind of racism is acceptable? From their teachers.

CNN's Kate Bolduan puts on an Israel-hating Northwestern professor to cry "This is not Israel at war, this is Israel performing genocide on the Palestinian people," and she doesn't bat an eye. She just said, "Thank you so much for coming on to tell your mother's story." pic.twitter.com/x2ZiKM5PhM

— Tim Graham (@TimJGraham) October 25, 2023

The only letter from a university that offered up unstinting support for Israel, and for Jewish students, was from Ben Sasse, former United States Senator and current president of the University of Florida.

“I will not tiptoe around this simple fact: What Hamas did is evil and there is no defense for terrorism. This shouldn’t be hard. Sadly, too many people in elite academia have been so weakened by their moral confusion that, when they see videos of raped women, hear of a beheaded baby, or learn of a grandmother murdered in her home, the first reaction of some is to ‘provide context’ and try to blame the raped women, beheaded baby, or the murdered grandmother. In other grotesque cases, they express simple support for the terrorists.

“This thinking isn’t just wrong, it’s sickening. It’s dehumanizing. It is beneath people called to educate our next generation of Americans. I am thankful to say I haven’t seen examples of that here at UF, either from our faculty or our student body. . . .

“In the coming days, it is possible that anti-Israel protests will come to UF’s campus. I have told our police chief and administration that this university always has two foundational commitments: We will protect our students and we will protect speech. This is always true: Our Constitution protects the rights of people to make abject idiots of themselves. . . .

“When evil raises its head, as it has in recent days, it is up to men and women of conscience and courage to draw strength from truth and commit ourselves to the work of building something better—to the work of pursuing justice and pursuing peace. That is what we aim to do through education, compassion, and truth here at the University of Florida.”

Sadly, Sasse’s moral clarity is lacking in other academic institutions. Harvard, for example, is currently being taken to task by prominent alumni for its failures to protect Jewish students, as well as engaging in a “both sides” argument.

In an open letter to Harvard leadership published Monday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah), billionaire investor Seth Klarman, and other prominent graduates called on the college to “muster the courage to lead by re-establishing moral and respectful conduct on your campuses.” The letter cites recent “expressions of hate and vitriol against Jews” seen on Harvard’s campus, including an incident in which a first-year Israeli student was shoved and accosted during an anti-Israel “die-in” protest. That ordeal, which was first reported by the Free Beacon, has left Harvard’s Jewish students “afraid for their own safety.”

“Despite these serious concerns, university leadership shockingly has been paralyzed,” the letter says. “We fear that history is on the verge of repeating itself. We know from studying the worst episodes of human history that violence must be nipped in the bud, bullies must be confronted, and inaction and handwringing incentivizes more acts of hate.”

The letter comes as Harvard navigates the fallout over the university’s response to Hamas’s savage Oct. 8 terrorist assault on Israel, which left at least 1,300 Israelis—including women and children—dead.

Hours after the attack, Harvard Graduate School of Education dean Bridget Terry Long sent a message to students blaming “both Hamas and the Israeli government” for the killings. That message came shortly after a coalition of more than 30 Harvard student groups blamed Israel for provoking Hamas’s mass terror attack, saying the Jewish state and its “apartheid regime” is “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.”

Harvard president Claudine Gay responded with a belated statement that condemned “the terrorist atrocities perpetrated by Hamas.” But Gay’s statement did not stop anti-Israel and anti-Semitic demonstrations from festering on campus. Activists at one of those demonstrations turned aggressive last week, when two Harvard graduate students—Ibrahim Bharmal and Elom Tettey Tamaklo—laid hands on a first-year Israeli student at Harvard Business School. That student was shoved as keffiyeh-clad demonstrators surrounded him, shouting “SHAME!”

As one Columbia professor put it: do not send your children to academia, because they will not be safe from this insanity.

The end result is that academia needs to be starved of all financial support if they are going to allow this rampant bigotry and vile behavior to exist on their campuses. We have already seen the announcement from large donors that their checkbooks are closed. Former governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, who was going to be participating in fellowships at Harvard, has withdrawn over the university’s weak-kneed cowardice. And because he is a man who gets things done when they are within his power to do so, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has told the public universities to “deactivate” their “Students for Justice in Palestine” groups over their support for Hamas.

NEW: Governor DeSantis just ordered the University of Florida and the University of South Florida to deactivate their "Students for Justice in Palestine" groups for violating Florida's laws against antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/Y3B6hLnRJZ

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 24, 2023

The governor directed Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, to send notices to the University of Florida and the University of South Florida notifying them that they must deactivate their chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) because they allegedly broke Florida laws about terrorism.

“During a holy Jewish holiday, the recognized terrorist organization, Hamas, launched an unprovoked attack on Israel – among those killed were babies, women, and elderly,” Rodrigues said in a letter to the presidents of Florida’s public universities. “To date, approximately 1,400 Israelis have been killed, including 31 American citizens. Governor DeSantis, our State University System and the Florida College System have condemned these attacks.”

In response to the Palestinian Islamic terrorist attacks, “National Students for Justice in Palestine (National SJP) released a ‘toolkit’ which refers to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood as ‘the resistance’ and unequivocally states: ‘Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement, not in solidarity with this movement,’” the letter said.

The letter noted that under Florida law, it is a felony to “knowingly provide material support . . . to a designated foreign terrorist organization. . .” Hamas is designated by the Untied States as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

“Here, National SJP has affirmatively identified it is part of the Operation Al-Aqsa Flood—a terrorist led attack,” the letter continued, later adding: “Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated.”

College campuses should not be a safe haven for anti-Semitism, but that’s what they have become. Sadly, there are too many professors, too many activist groups, too many indoctrinated students, not enough college presidents like Ben Sasse, and not enough state governors like Ron DeSantis to fix this problem quickly. The only answer is going to be financial punishment. Alumni will have to stop donating – and tell the colleges why. Foundations will have to stop donating or sponsoring – and tell the colleges why. Parents and students will need to leave, and enroll somewhere that doesn’t support this ugliness – and tell the colleges why. And yes, it means not going to football games – and telling the colleges why. Only when there is a financial cost for letting students run around crying out for “intifada,” will there be any change at all.

It’s time to put our money where our mouths are, and cut academia off financially. For too long, there has been prestige attached to these colleges and their degrees. Now, there should be disgust. If academia learns a lesson about what their anti-Semitism will cost them, and loses some of their self-inflated image at the same time, then that would be a winning combination. Let’s do this, parents.

Featured image: Harvard Hall at Harvard University, via Daderot on Wikimedia Commons, cropped, public domain