Sounding an alarm about the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts to elite colleges over inaction against antisemitism, the American Jewish Committee warned in a statement on Tuesday that the cuts “pose a profound threat to the survival of America’s leading universities.”

“AJC has repeatedly insisted that universities must take action to counter and prevent antisemitism on their campuses. However, the broad, sweeping, and devastating cuts in federal funding that a growing number of American research universities have been subjected to in recent weeks, under the auspices of combating antisemitism, will damage America’s standing as a center of innovation and research excellence,” the group wrote. 

The statement acknowledged that funding cuts or freezes “are essential tools of last resort when addressing discrimination in federally funded programs.” It called for such action to be taken only when it is “plainly understood, publicly transparent, and specifically targeted to address the problem, and must not curtail the autonomy and academic freedom of higher education institutions that allow them to pursue their essential work.”

“Overly broad, arbitrary cuts pose a profound threat to the survival of America’s leading universities,” the AJC said. 

The group went on to suggest steps that could be taken before funds are pulled. These include: “establishing clearer guardrails for faculty to bring teaching and supervision into line with standards of academic freedom and away from partisan activism, and creating frameworks for constructive dialogue that enable faculty, administrators, and students to sustain healthy conversations on a range of challenging topics across their campuses.” 

Columbia University was the first Ivy League to have its funding slashed by the Trump administration, which halted $400 million in federal funding over campus antisemitism on March 7. Columbia has since entered into a series of negotiations with the White House in an effort to restore the funds. Several elite universities have since faced a similar fate. Last week, a White House official told Brown University’s student newspaper that $510 million of federal funding to the university would be halted over alleged antisemitism on campus and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.  

Earlier this month, another major Jewish organization, the Anti-Defamation League, distanced itself from a different aspect of the Trump administration’s crackdown on campus antisemitism — arrests and deportations of foreign students who have led anti-Israel demonstrations or appear to support foreign terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a March 27 press conference that 300 student visas had been revoked.

“While we do not know all the facts in these cases, we do know that, in every one of these cases, due process is essential,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in eJewishPhilanthropy. “But it hasn’t been even remotely clear that this has been the standard … everyone is entitled to due process. Our democracy rests on [the] rule of law.”

“And so, as even more detentions are taking place, critical questions must be answered,” Greenblatt said. “For instance, are these actions targeting constitutionally-protected speech or addressing genuine violations of law, like supporting a foreign terrorist organization? We don’t know the answer because we have not seen detailed explanations of the charges.”