A Statement From US Jews Opposing Trump’s Attacks on Colleges and Students

abdulmanannet77@gmail.comSeptember 18, 2025

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A Statement From US Jews Opposing Trump’s Attacks on Colleges and Students

https://www.profitableratecpm.com/f4ffsdxe?key=39b1ebce72f3758345b2155c98e6709c

We, the undersigned, stand in opposition to the Trump administration’s targeting of college students and professors whose only “crimes” are exercising their First Amendment rights.

We write, specifically, as Jewish Americans who condemn the charge of antisemitism being leveled against student activists—many of whom are Jewish—for their legitimate criticisms of Israel’s violence in Gaza and their universities’ connections to the Israeli occupation. That this accusation is being used as a pretext to abrogate students’ rights to free speech, and to deport non-citizen students, should raise the highest level of alarm.

We also oppose how the Trump administration disingenuously uses accusations of antisemitism to wage an assault on American higher education and on the ability of scholars to pursue research and knowledge independent of government interference.

We also write to remind our fellow Jewish Americans that the weapons the Trump administration now wields against political dissidents — public humiliation, state persecution, expulsion and deportation — are the very same that Jews have suffered from at various points in history. It is imperative that we stand on the frontlines in opposing this wanton assault on civil liberties and the right to dissent. We should know history well enough to understand that such curtailment of individual freedoms will not stop here.

We are aware of the danger inherent in an administration full of people comfortable using antisemitic tropes while using purported anti-antisemitism as a cudgel to attack free speech, the most sacrosanct of American values.

We, as Jewish Americans, reaffirm our support for free speech and independent scholarship. We wholeheartedly condemn these heinous and anti-democratic policies of the Trump administration.

Initial list of signers: (Organizational affiliations for identification purposes only)

Abba A. Solomon, American Zionism researcher and author

Ash Bohrer, Assistant professor of gender and peace studies, University of Notre Dame

Barry Trachtenberg, Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History, Wake Forest University

Corinne Hirsch, JD

Cynthia Kaufman, Director, Vasconcellos Institite for Democracy in Action, De Anza College

Dan Segal, Professor emeritus, anthropology and history, Pitzer College

Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic culture, UC Berkeley (emeritus)

Dave Zirin, Sports editor at The Nation, author

Rabbi David Cooper, Emeritus, Kehilla Community Synagogue

David S. Goldstein, University of Washington

David N. Myers, Professor of Jewish history, UCLA

Rabbi David Mivasair, Member, Jewish Voice for Peace

David Rovics, Singer/songwriter

Dennis Bernstein, Journalist, KPFA/Pacifica Radio

Dev Noily, Senior Rabbi, Kehilla Community Synagogue

Rabbi Diane Elliot, Director, Wholly Present; Founding Faculty, Taproot Community

Donald Greenspon, Attorney and activist

Dove Kent, US senior director, Diaspora Alliance

Eliot Katz, Poet

Emma Saltzberg, US deputy director, Diaspora Alliance

Eric Drooker, Painter and graphic novelist

Eric Mann, codirector, Labor/Community Strategy Center–Los Angeles

Eric Ross, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Berkeley Law

Estee Chandler, Founder, Jewish Voice for Peace, Los Angeles

Eva Borgwardt, National spokesperson, IfNotNow

Gene Bruskin, Veteran labor organizer and playwright

Hollie Ainbinder, Program director, Institute for Public Accuracy

Ira Shor, Professor and author

James Schamus, Filmmaker, professor, Columbia University

Jane Gordon, Professor, University of Connecticut

Jay Levin, Founder of LA Weekly

Jeff Cohen, Media critic, retired Ithaca College journalism professor

Jeff Gottlieb, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist

Jennifer Loewenstein, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Jerry D. Rosen, California State University, Northridge

Jessica Backman-Levy, Professor of practice, Washington University in St. Louis SPH

Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg, Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council

Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History, emeritus, Stanford University

Jonathan Feingold, Professor, Boston University School of Law

Joshua Lewis Goldstein, Professor of history, University of Southern California

Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley

Karen Ackerman

Karen Brodkin, Professor emerita, UCLA

Lara Langer Cohen, Associate professor, Swarthmore College

Leora Auslander, Professor, University of Chicago

Don’t let JD Vance silence our independent journalism

On September 15, Vice President JD Vance attacked The Nation while hosting The Charlie Kirk Show.

In a clip seen millions of times, Vance singled out The Nation in a dog whistle to his far-right followers. Predictably, a torrent of abuse followed.

Throughout our 160 years of publishing fierce, independent journalism, we’ve operated with the belief that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. We’ve been criticized by both Democratic and Republican officeholders—and we’re pleased that the White House is reading The Nation. As long as Vance is free to criticize us and we are free to criticize him, the American experiment will continue as it should.

To correct the record on Vance’s false claims about the source of our funding: The Nation is proudly reader-supported by progressives like you who support independent journalism and won’t be intimidated by those in power.

Vance and Trump administration officials also laid out their plans for widespread repression against progressive groups. Instead of calling for national healing, the administration is using Kirk’s death as pretext for a concerted attack on Trump’s enemies on the left.

Now we know The Nation is front and center on their minds.

Your support today will make our critical work possible in the months and years ahead. If you believe in the First Amendment right to maintain a free and independent press, please donate today.

With gratitude,

Bhaskar Sunkara
President, The Nation

American Jews Opposing Deportations

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