Will the GOP Fight Anti-White Hate on Campus?

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Bill Ackman is a billionaire hedge fund manger who runs Pershing Square Capital Management. He’s also a Harvard grad. He’s been one of the leading opponents of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, a black woman. Dr. Gay was a professor of African and African-American Studies and has constantly pushed diversity. She criticized a faculty member for joining Harvey Weinstein’s defense team because Harvard must have “a special responsibility to the well-being of the students who are part of the community.” Mr. Ackman says she was appointed president to meet DEI targets.

Earlier this week, Congressional Republicans grilled Dr. Gay and other university presidents about anti-Israel protests; she was the main target. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) told her to resign. The presidents refused to say they would crack down on students who support the intifada. “We embrace a commitment to free expression, even of views that are objectionable, offensive, hateful,” said Dr. Gay. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has ranked Harvard last among 248 colleges on free speech. Harvard rescinded an admissions offer to Kyle Kashuv for using the word “n*gger” in private conversations when he was 16, and disinvited a philosopher because of her views on transgenders. Students and faculty report constant self-censorship.

The solution is not to crack down on anti-Israel speech, which seems to be what Republicans want. Speaker Mike Johnson said schools are not doing enough to “enforce their own rules” against antisemitism. The GOP also hosted Jewish students at a press conference to describe the antisemitic abuse they say they’ve had on campus. Conservative pundit Kayleigh McEnany, said idiotically on Fox News that “of course we shouldn’t allow white nationalists to go to Harvard.” “White nationalists” aren’t leading the demonstrations.

Nor is the GOP hosting press conferences about anti-white speech on campus, even though students can major in attacking “whiteness” and Western Civilization. Senator Ted Cruz said the slogan “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea” is an endorsement of the “mass murder of Jews.” If so, what does it mean to say that America is built on “stolen land” and genocide? Republicans seem to be indifferent not just to anti-white hate, but even anti-American hate. They seem to forget that whites are the one group that still mostly votes Republican.

Bill Ackman wrote an open letter on X after Dr. Gay’s testimony. He wasn’t appeased. He says Harvard faculty have told him that:

Whiteness at Harvard is deemed fundamentally oppressive. Indigenous peoples are presented as in need of justice and reparations. Jews are presented as white people. It is therefore ok to hate Israel and Jews as they are deemed to be oppressors.

Mr. Ackman continued:

The problems at Harvard are clearly not just about Jews and Israel. It is abundantly clear that straight white males are discriminated against in recruitment and advancement at Harvard. That is also apparently true to a somewhat lesser extent for men who are Asians or of Indian origin. The ODEIB [Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging] is an important culprit in this discrimination on campus as it sees the world in a framework of oppressors and the oppressed, where the oppressor class includes white males, Asians, Jews and other people perceived to be successful and powerful.

Mr. Ackman said that antisemitism is the “canary in the coal mine for other discriminatory practices at Harvard.” It’s more accurate to say it’s the first form discrimination that angered alumni and media figures. Ackman said he was “saddened” to hear how his beloved university had “lost its way,” and was “embarrassed” that he hadn’t known how bad things were for whites and Asians. Better late than never, but it’s doubtful that white identity can sneak into acceptability under cover of “fighting anti-Semitism.” Mr. Ackman has traditionally supported Democrat candidates.

In a discussion with Candace Owens a few weeks ago, Tucker Carlson criticized donors who are only now discovering anti-white discrimination. “If you don’t like it, don’t pay for it, good for you,” he said. “Where were you the last 10 years when they were calling for white genocide?” he asked, saying that donors were “paying for that.”

Will Jews and Israel get special exemptions under DEI rules, while white gentiles are still “the cancer of human history,” to quote Susan Sontag? Or will the GOP see the big picture?

There is a sign of hope. Senator J. D. Vance (R-OH) introduced a bill to punish schools that violate the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI prohibitions on race preferences. This is the first major effort to take advantage of the Supreme Court’s limited ruling ending affirmative action. It would withhold funding from schools that break the law. A Special Inspector General for Unlawful Discrimination in Higher Education would hear complaints. Senators Marco Rubio and Josh Hawley are backing the bill, and Congressman Jim Banks, also from Ohio, introduced it in the House with Erin Houchin, Michael Waltz, and Jeff Duncan as cosponsors.

Senator J.D. Vance (Credit Image: © Rod Lamkey/CNP via ZUMA Press Wire)

The bill also bans discrimination in scholarships and faculty hiring, and would set up hurdles pro-diversity colleges probably couldn’t clear. A Democrat administration could staff the Special Inspector office with Claudine Gay protégés, but Republicans could give it teeth. At the least, it might tie universities down in litigation, and maybe even lead to cuts in funding. University employees probably won’t contain their excesses unless they are punished.

We haven’t yet seen a push against anti-white college courses at the federal level. The GOP talks only about Israel. DEI shouldn’t be “reformed” just because it doesn’t include Jews; it needs to be abolished.