This is Jacobin Radio. I'm Susie Wiseman. Today, Alan Wald joins us to unpack the Trump offensive against higher education, a campaign that escalated after last

spring's clamped down on student encampments protesting Israel's war on Gaza, waged with

U.S. support.

Since October 7, universities have cracked down on protests under the guise of protecting Jewish

student safety.

What does that mean when many of those protesting

are themselves Jewish? Is it about safety or about silencing dissent? And despite the repression,

these crackdowns haven't earned university's favor with the government. Congressional hearings

forced the resignation of university presidents, and now the Trump administration is threatening to withdraw federal research funds.

Columbia University buckled, while Harvard, Princeton, and others are holding the line and fighting back.

At the center of it all is the redefinition and weaponization of anti-Semitism as a political

tool used to quash criticism of Israeli policy and chill speech.

This isn't just censorship.

It's an authoritarian bid to impose ideological control over the academy.

Alan Wald, Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan, and a member of the Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace, has tracked this turn, its roots, its enablers, and its echoes of McCarthyism.

He helps us understand where we are and what it all means.

When our program returns in just a moment.

This is Jacobin Radio. I'm Susie Wiseman. Today we're going to look at this new repression in higher education, American higher education.

Universities are under assault by the Trump administration.

Some, like Colombia, have capitulated while a growing number led by Princeton and Harvard and others are resisting.

Where did it begin?

Since October 7th, pro-Palestinian protests have

...