WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) joined Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Adam Schiff (D-CA) in a letter calling on President Trump to stop weaponizing antisemitism — a real and widespread problem in America, including on college campuses — to attack educational institutions. Since taking office, Trump has repeatedly weaponized antisemitism as a political tool to further a broader conservative agenda against higher education, which includes cutting funding and attempting to coerce universities, all of which undermines legitimate, nonpartisan efforts to combat rising antisemitism in educational settings.
“We are extremely troubled and disturbed by your broad and extra-legal attacks against universities and higher education institutions as well as members of their communities, which seem to go far beyond combating antisemitism, using what is a real crisis as a pretext to attack people and institutions who do not agree with you,” wrote the Senators. “These attacks go far beyond constructive and necessary efforts to support Jewish students on campus during an unprecedented period of domestic antisemitism.”
“We urge you to reverse course immediately,” they continued. “We strongly support efforts to ensure universities uphold their duty to protect students from unlawful discrimination and harassment, but we reject your administration’s policies of defunding and punishing universities out of spite, as they actually undermine the work of combating antisemitism – ultimately only making Jews less safe by pitting Jewish safety against other communities and undermining the freedoms and democratic norms that have allowed Jewish communities, and so many others, to thrive in the United States.”
The full letter can be found HERE.
For years, Senator Rosen has worked across party lines to combat antisemitism and prevent efforts to do so from becoming politicized. In February, Rosen introduced the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act, which directs the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when investigating antisemitic acts on college campuses. Earlier this year, Rosen introduced bipartisan legislation to strengthen Holocaust education. Last year, Rosen’s bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Never Again Education Act became law. Rosen helped launch the first-ever Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism with Senator James Lankford (R-OK) and led the push to create the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism. Senator Rosen also helped introduce a bipartisan resolution denouncing antisemitism at institutions of higher education, which passed the Senate unanimously.
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