Silencing Dissent: Presidential Threats and Legislative Actions Endanger Free Expression on Campuses

The president’s statement on Truth Social marks the beginning of our rights being stripped away. Let’s break it down.

How can we accept this blatant assault on our freedoms? Not only is this an attack on free speech, but conditioning federal funding on compliance with political narratives is outright corruption. Either cut all aid or keep it going—don’t dangle taxpayer money like a bribe. “Those who don’t protest Israel will get the MONEY!!” That’s the message they’re sending. This is coercion, plain and simple.

Many dismissed H.R. 6090 when it was passed last year, but now we’re witnessing its slow implementation. Let’s take a look at the official summary of the bill:

"This bill provides statutory authority for the requirement that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights take into consideration the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA's) working definition of antisemitism when reviewing or investigating complaints of discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. According to the IHRA's working definition, antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. "

Notice the wording—"working definition." That means the very meaning of the law is fluid, constantly changing at the whim of an unelected group. So, what does this group actually define as antisemitism? Let’s take a look: https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism

Here are just some examples that they list on the site.

1. Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
2. Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
3. Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
4. Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
5. Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
6. Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
7. Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
8. Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
9. Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
10. Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
11. Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.

Now, ask yourself: Should people be punished for what they say? Should immigrants on education visas be deported simply for criticizing a foreign government? We don’t impose those penalties for insulting our own country, yet we will for a nation currently committing genocide? The First Amendment is clear—speech must remain free. The government has no business criminalizing political dissent. This is a moment of reckoning. What are your thoughts? Will you stand for your rights, or will you let them take them away one bill at a time?