The University of Pennsylvania’s (UPenn) student newspaper recently published an op-ed describing the adverse effects of what a second Donald Trump presidency would mean for the institution and its students.
Published in The Daily Pennsylvanian on Nov. 7 and written by students Ethan Young and Jasmine Ni, the article examines various promises that President-elect Trump made on the campaign trail and the federal investigations of elite institutions regarding their handling of campus anti-Semitism.
“It remains unclear what action Trump or a Republican-controlled Congress would take to restrict federal funding from universities like Penn, or through what channels,” the piece notes.
The op-ed especially focuses on Project 2025, a policy proposal written and published by the Heritage Foundation, but was repeatedly rejected by Trump on the campaign trail.
“Project 2025 accuses President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama’s administrations of transforming the Department of Education into a ‘politically motivated’ agency whose processes ‘have done nothing to dampen the illiberal chill that has swept across American campuses over the past decade,’” the article states. “The plan, in response, proposes eliminating the DOE altogether.”
The piece additionally discusses the possibility that UPenn students could be deported by the incoming Trump administration.
“The Republican National Committee Platform Committee adopted a resolution in the GOP’s platform in July addressing recent campus protests,” the article explains. “One of 20 ‘promises’ contained in the platform advocated for the deportation of ‘pro-Hamas radicals’ to ‘make our college campuses safe and patriotic again.’”
The op-ed additionally describes the ongoing investigations into anti-Semitism at elite institutions of higher education, including the investigation at UPenn.
“On Oct. 31, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce — one of the committees which originally investigated Penn — released a report characterizing the findings of its investigations, including Penn’s disciplinary data and internal correspondence between administrators,” the article concludes.
In October, anti-Semitic vandalism was discovered at UPenn, including several signs being covered with the words “SINWAR LIVES,” referring to Yahya Sinwar, a previous head of Hamas.
“The vile language in the graffiti is inconsistent with Penn’s values,” a UPenn spokesperson told Campus Reform at the time. “This incident is being investigated. If campus policies were violated by a member of our community, consequences for the perpetrator(s) will be pursued.”
President-elect Trump graduated from UPenn’s Wharton School in 1968.
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Pennsylvania for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
This article was originally published at campusreform.org
