President Donald Trump threatened to freeze federal funding for colleges and universities that allow “illegal protests” in a Truth Social post March 4, leaving members of the campus community concerned that the 5Cs might be a target.
Penalties for student “agitators” include imprisonment, expulsion and deportation.
Three days after Trump’s post, the federal administration canceled $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University, citing a failure to combat antisemitism on Columbia’s campus.
The following week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent letters to 60 colleges and universities, including Pomona College, warning of repercussions for alleged Title VI violations in failing to protect students from antisemitism.
Then, on March 8, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia graduate student and key negotiator with the university’s administration during the pro-Palestine encampment last spring.
In light of these events, Ezra Levinson PZ ’27, an organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace at the Claremont Colleges, said that the 5Cs must prepare to be in the crosshairs of the federal government in a Mar. 11 statement to TSL.
“Everything good about these colleges, the learning, organizing, dissent, research, activism, and community we engage in here, will make us a target,” she said. “What’s happening to Columbia University shows us that complying isn’t an option — they did everything they could to repress student protest, and they’re still having their funding revoked.”
As Khalil’s arrest at Columbia suggests, Trump’s threats loom particularly large over international students who have engaged in protest. Professor Sean Diament, a politics professor at Pomona, recalled advising international students to exercise caution when protesting for this exact reason.
“That acute threat for international students that protest is very real … even people who are legally allowed to be here,” Diament said.
Diament noted that these threats may not withstand court pushback — Khalil’s deportation was recently blocked by a judge — but their impact could still be far-reaching. On the higher education side, these threats to funding may cause universities to act more staunchly in combating protests that the Trump administration might label antisemitic.
“Higher education is highly dependent on a lot of federal funding to pay the bills every month,” Diament said.
Some students at the 5Cs have cited concerns of antisemitism on the campuses, criticizing administrative responses. These concerns have also been noted in legal complaints filed by the Anti-Defamation League and Brandies Center against Scripps and Pomona.
Emilio Bankier PO ’27, vice president of Haverim Claremont, a Jewish affinity group, felt that there were moments when the Pomona administration fell short in protecting Jewish students.
“In the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023, [administration] really failed to protect Jewish students and their right to be Jewish students on this campus … so I absolutely feel they failed to uphold their Title VI obligations,” Bankier said.
However, Bankier said that he also recognized how the Trump administration might use antisemitism as a guise to target free speech on campus.
“A majority of the [activism] that happens on campus is not antisemitic,” he said. “There is the risk that this is not about antisemitism, but about what Donald Trump would call woke ideology or whatever.”
Levinson said that the threats to protests were never about antisemitism and that the Trump administration’s using Jewish people in their attacks against universities puts Jewish people in danger.
“When the White House tweets ‘SHALOM, MAHMOUD’ in celebration of their detention of an activist, they’re scapegoating Jewish people for the extralegal repression that the federal government is carrying out,” Levinson said. “That makes Jews less safe, not more.”
Similarly, Diament said that this approach by the Trump administration should be viewed cautiously; he noted that there were Jewish students who have not felt safe on campuses nationwide but that the Trump administration’s approach simultaneously ignores Title VI discrimination claims from pro-Palestine students, including those levied against Pomona.
Levinson said that despite facing an uncertain future, students must continue protesting, organizing and building networks of resistance.
“Instead of playing into the hands of the Trump administration by caving to weaponized claims of antisemitism and other excuses for repression, our colleges can and should be outspokenly resisting fascism and uplifting and protecting the marginalized members of our community,” she said.
Elise McDonald SC ’28 said that she was horrified at the idea of facing repercussions for students sharing their opinions and protesting.
“Protesting should be something good — good things can happen at a protest,” she said. “It’s just really scary, and I’m worried for what the future has in store for us.”
The Office of the President at Pomona College did not provide comment when asked for a response about Trump’s comments and recent developments.
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