


Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said Wednesday that he is “really glad” the Trump administration has turned up the heat on Harvard University and other schools, but urged the White House to be “strategic” in its pursuit to combat antisemitism.
The Trump administration’s feud with Harvard has grown over the weeks, with the school suing the administration after it pulled $2.2 billion in multiyear grants. Greenblatt said there are “rampant” problems with antisemitism at universities such as Harvard, prompting questions of whether he supports the recent actions taken by the Trump administration to combat these problems.
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“I am really glad that the Trump administration is leaning in and holding the perpetrators accountable,” Greenblatt said on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “Now the question becomes, ‘how do you do it in a way that is strategic and addresses the systemic issues and not sort of detrimental to the whole enterprise of higher education?’ That’s what we’ve got to figure out.”
Greenblatt cited the many universities that did not take proper action “for 18 months” to combat antisemitism but proceeded to do so once President Donald Trump “threatened to pull the funds.” However, he expressed concern over important research ending following the pause in funding.
Viewpoint diversity, Greenblatt argued, also needs to be looked into at universities, along with the tenure systems in school jobs. He said it’s “a problem” when a student can hide their identity behind a kaffiyeh and walk across campus, but another student cannot do the same while wearing “a red kind of MAGA hat.”
HARVARD’S BILLIONS ARE A PRIVILEGE, NOT AN ENTITLEMENT
Amid Harvard’s feud with the Trump administration, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned the school’s officials that it would lose its Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification if it did not provide information about its “foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities.” The university will lose its ability to enroll foreign students if it fails to comply with Noem’s request by April 30.
Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said she was “very proud” of Harvard for resisting the Trump administration. She said people are questioning why the administration is seeking to cut the school’s “research grants.”