JTA — Five Jewish United States senators, including Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, have signed a letter accusing the Trump administration of using antisemitism as a “guise” to attack universities.
The letter from the five Democrats comes as the Trump administration has threatened universities with billions of dollars in funding cuts, ostensibly over their handling of campus antisemitism, and has arrested a series of pro-Palestinian student activists and revoked student visas.
The letter was addressed to Trump and signed by Schumer, of New York, as well as Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, California Senator Adam Schiff and Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz.
“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.
The senators join a growing movement of opposition from Jewish groups decrying the administration’s campus crackdown and saying it will not make Jews safer. Over half of American Jews disapprove of how Trump is handling antisemitism, according to a recent survey.
Much of the letter focused on the administration’s campaign against Harvard, which has seen a $2.2 billion federal funding freeze and threats to its tax-exempt status. Harvard’s president, Alan Garber, announced earlier this month the school would not bend to the policy changes the administration is demanding in order to reinstate funding.
“These attacks go far beyond constructive and necessary efforts to support Jewish students on campus during an unprecedented period of domestic antisemitism,” wrote the senators. “They instead seem to be aimed at broadly changing the way the university functions, exacting huge penalties in ways wholly unrelated to combating antisemitism, and, we fear, are instead aimed at undermining or even destroying these vital institutions, while hiding behind claims of tackling antisemitism as a guise.”
US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks during a news conference at the US Capitol on April 9, 2025 in Washington. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images/AFP)
The letter posed a list of questions to the Trump administration seeking clarity on the administration’s attacks on Harvard. The letter also questioned the visa revocations and detainments of pro-Palestinian student protesters. More than 1,200 international students have seen their visas revoked since late March, according to the Associated Press.
The senators also sought answers regarding the administration’s cuts to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which handles investigations into antisemitism in schools. They requested answers by April 30.
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