End of the Left’s Power over Higher Education

The beginning of the end is here for unaccountable, radical campus indoctrination. Universities across the country are desperately trying to save face after their failure to respond adequately to antisemitic rhetoric and harassment on their campuses following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel. And now, even the federal government is taking action.

Earlier this month, the Department of Education informed me that in response to a Title VI complaint I filed, it will investigate Brown University’s handling of anti-Jewish harassment on campus.

The Title VI complaint stemmed from an incident on Dec. 11, when 41 Brown students were arrested in an unlawful, anti-Israel sit-in at University Hall. The sit-in was no different than others we’ve seen in recent months on campuses and was far less severe than the numerous documented incidents of physical attacks against Jews at Harvard University, Cooper Union, and Tulane University. But it contributed to a culture of fear and hostility on campus, especially for Brown’s Jewish students and faculty members.

As the editor-in-chief of Campus Reform and a Jewish journalist myself, I spoke with multiple Jewish students at campuses across the country who were too frightened to speak out. And between November 2023 and January 2024, I submitted 20 Title VI complaints documenting universities’ negligent responses to antisemitism on their campuses. 

During this time, America woke up to the true extent and depth of higher education’s moral rot. The wave of post-Oct. 7 antisemitism revealed to America what I have been arguing for years: Radical ideas such as anti-racism and critical race theory are innately antisemitic, and diversity, equity, and inclusion offices have been the leading force in implementing them across higher education. Like the Committee on Public Safety, which sent people to the guillotine during the French Revolution, DEI offices use their nice-sounding name to hide their atrocities.

That strategy worked for years — but not anymore. Public universities in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas have now curbed or banned DEI practices and programming. Just this month, the University of Texas at San Antonio canceled its plans to create an Office of Campus and Community Belonging in reaction to State Bill 17, which banned any DEI offices at public universities.

DEI’s agenda to advance indoctrination, activism, and ignorance among college students fuels the antisemitic agenda that thrives on campus in the shadows of “anti-Israel” or “anti-Western” critiques. It is how antisemitic movements, such as the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, are able to take hold. Divest Brown Coalition, the student organization that organized the sit-in at Brown University, for example, is connected to this larger, international network of BDS activism.

The BDS movement uses anti-Israel action within academia to target Jewish scholars and students. It is a cancer in academia because it effectively silences pro-Israel voices by intimidating Jewish students and faculty to keep quiet. This is why pro-Hamas activism has been able to thrive on college campuses — for the last 20 years, BDS activism has effectively quelled Jewish voices and perspectives. 

Fortunately, the public now understands what the Left’s agenda really is, and people want accountability. 

I am optimistic that the Department of Education will move forward with robust Title VI investigations. It has already announced at least 19 regarding antisemitism since Oct. 7. Additionally, in Congress, there are now proposals to defund or refuse accreditation to colleges that have DEI mandates. 

After seeing my subsequent complaints against Temple University, Arizona State University, Northwestern University, and the University of Wisconsin also result in Title VI investigations, I am hopeful that America’s newfound awareness of antisemitism will lead to greater accountability in higher education. Indeed, lasting reform can’t just be a government fix. Parents, alumni, and donors need to speak out too. I encourage everyone who is deeply concerned about ideologically driven hate and intolerance on campus to also stand up and file Title VI complaints. 

The country is finally paying full attention to the problem left-wing university radicals have created, and the mood in America is shifting back to sanity, decency, tolerance, and truth. These are the virtues higher education ought to be pursuing — and they deserve preservation. 

Zachary Marschall is the editor-in-chief of the Leadership Institute’s Campus Reform and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Kentucky.