


The test questions from a class at Florida International University enraged Randy Fine, a state lawmaker endorsed by President Trump.
One of the questions, uploaded onto social media by a student, said that Palestine was a country before Israel was created. Another seemed to suggest that Zionists invented terrorism. To Mr. Fine, they were proof that college textbooks and the test materials that accompany them were awash in antisemitism.
Mr. Fine said it made him wonder, “How many other Muslim terror textbooks are being used in our university system?”
The sprawling State University System of Florida, which educates more than 430,000 students, has been trying to find out.
Ray Rodrigues, the system’s chancellor, removed the textbook, “Terrorism and Homeland Security,” from use in the system, pending a review. Then in August, he announced a remarkable effort that has worried some professors and advocates of academic freedom: All 12 universities he oversees were to set up faculty panels to vet course materials, including textbooks, for antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.
To Mr. Rodrigues, the test questions Mr. Fine objected to were not only biased or antisemitic, they were also illegal under a 2024 Florida statute that defines some criticism of Israel as antisemitic.