Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order Wednesday designed to protect Jewish students who attend the state’s hundreds of colleges and universities. As with most diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives promoted by far-left activists, the policy sounds necessary and well-meaning until one realizes they establish a privileged class based on the hierarchy of identity politics.
“Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas,” Abbott said Wednesday after he signed the executive order demanding institutions of higher education reexamine free speech policies to implement specific safeguards for Jewish students.
“Across the country, acts of antisemitism have grown in number, size, and danger to the Jewish community since Hamas’ deadly attack on October 7th,” the governor added. “Many Texas colleges and universities also acted quickly to condemn antisemitism, but some radical organizations on our campuses engaged in acts that have no place in Texas.”
Abbott’s statement continued with the codeword language of far-left identity politics (emphasis added), “Now, we must work to ensure that our college campuses are safe spaces for members of the Jewish community.” Swap “Jewish” with “Black,” “Hispanic,” or “gay,” and no one would be able to tell whether the executive action handed down was by the Republican governor of Texas or the leftist governor of California.
Leftists are the ones obsessed with “safe spaces” for politically favored groups and have been for decades.
“How is such a policy different from DEI programs promising to prohibit ‘anti-black speech’?” asked Christopher Rufo on X. The “better solution,” Rufo suggested, offers “simple, clear, general rules that apply equally to all groups — a universal standard.”
Following the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel, a startling wave of antisemitism unfurled across the country. In its midst, elites began escalating calls to include Jewish students among the roster of protected classes embedded in the existing social justice framework. Many university donors began to pull contributions over failures among academic leadership to forcefully condemn anti-Jewish, pro-Hamas demonstrations despite tolerating blatant antisemitism from Black Lives Matter activists for years. Ivy League schools lost so much money that the New York Post reported in December, “Elite colleges are quietly slashing the level of donations which can secure admission.”
“Now, according to one college counselor, a $2 million check might be the new $20 million,” the Post reported.
[READ: University Donors Pull Funds Over Anti-Israel Protests. Where Was The Outrage Over BLM?]
After the presidents of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology refused to condemn calls for Jewish genocide as violations of their university conduct codes, billionaire philanthropist Bill Ackman demanded resignations.
“If a CEO of one of our companies gave a similar answer, he or she would be toast within the hour. Why has antisemitism exploded on campus and around the world? Because of leaders like Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth who believe genocide depends on the context,” Ackman wrote.
Podcast host Saagar Enjeti wrote back to explain Ackman was wrong. “The correct objection is that the DEI regime itself is illegitimate and unamerican,” Enjeti wrote.
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