The move comes as federal agencies are considering withdrawing Columbia University funds.
President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that his administration would suspend federal funding to universities that allow “illegal protests” and would deport participating foreign students.
“All federal funds will be suspended for universities, schools or universities that allow illegal protests,” Trump wrote in a post about True Society. “Agitators will be imprisoned or sent back to the country they came to forever. American students will be expelled forever or arrested for crimes. There are no masks! Thank you for being aware of this issue.”
Apart from saying protesters should not wear masks, Trump did not elaborate on what would make the protest illegal.
The message comes a day after the Trump administration ordered federal agencies to consider financial ties with Columbia University in New York City, and considered cutting tens of millions of dollars in contracts and contracts officials say schools cannot deal with anti-Semitism following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel.
“Anti-Semitism… is a mental and moral illness that kills deadly people that make society sick and rivals the deadliest plague of history,” said US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the administrators tasked with reviewing the Columbia University grants, “meaning building healthy communication in America.”
In response to the order, Columbia University has reviewed its statement from the Trump administration in a statement that it is “fully committed to the fight against anti-Semitism” on campus.
“We look forward to continuing work with the new federal government to combat anti-Semitism and will continue to make every effort to ensure the safety and welfare of our students, faculty and staff,” the school said.
Columbia University has been the site of numerous demonstrations against Israel since Hamas attacked. Last spring, many students camped on the school grounds and at one point took over the school building.
A school group involved in organizing the Columbia University apartheid dibust protest said the third student involved in the protest had been expelled earlier this week. The organization suggested that the ouster was linked to the Department of Justice (DOJ) announcement last week that it would create a federal task force to investigate 10 universities, including Colombia, which have “anti-Semitic cases.”
His latest post came to the hospital when Bernard University, an affiliate of Columbia University, tried to enter the building a few days after Palestinian parent protesters hurt an employee.
Meanwhile, the White House said in January that the administration could deport “resident aliens who participated in jihadist protests” at universities that began after the terrorist attacks in Israel in October 2023. “I will also quickly cancel all Hamas sympathizer student visas on university campus.
Towards the end of the first Trump administration, in 2020, American cities and universities faced months of protests and riots in Black life, in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
