Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday left no doubt about what would happen to federal aid that goes to colleges that fail to stop anti-Semitism.
The Republican presidential candidate told conservative podcaster Hugh Hewitt that he was “100%” behind gutting funding for universities like Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and MIT for allowing assaults against Jews on their campuses.
“It’s totally appropriate to do that. And if you’re not doing that, then you’re essentially subsidizing this kind of behavior,” DeSantis told Hewitt.
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“I’ve got a lot of friends down in Florida who have kids that are in college in different parts of the country. And these students are scared to even walk on campus now. Some of them are being chased around. This is totally unacceptable in the United States of America,” he added.
The issue Hewitt raised with DeSantis surfaced on Tuesday, when the leaders of those colleges — Harvard President Claudine Gay, MIT President Sally Kornbluth and Penn President Elizabeth Magill — testified about anti-Semitic conduct on their campuses before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
All three declined to outright condemn those incidents after New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik asked each of them whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violated their respective school’s code of conduct. Related: Harvard President Clarifies That Calling For Genocide Against Jews ‘Has No Place’ On Campus
In response, prominent, well-heeled supporters of the schools have called for the presidents to be fired or threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in donations.
But DeSantis is not talking about chump change when advocating for slashing federal funding to those schools.
According to financial reports, Harvard receives about $625 million a year in federal funding, Penn about $800 million, and MIT roughly $500 million.
Meanwhile, the blowback against elite colleges that have tolerated pro-Hamas rallies and rhetoric continued in other ways.
Read: Florida Gov. DeSantis Receives 10 New Endorsements After 4th GOP Debate
For example, a small plane flew above Harvard’s campus on Thursday, pulling a banner that read “Harvard hates Jews” and featured a Palestinian flag.
In response to another Hewitt question, DeSantis, who graduated from Harvard Law School, said Gay must be fired.
“I think what this has revealed is the rot and the sickness that’s been festering inside higher education for a long time,” said DeSantis.
“I think now the broader public is seeing this, and I think that they’re appalled by what was going on. … And we need universities that are going to serve a function of pursuing truth and preparing students to be citizens of the republic. They should not be these hotbeds of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism. But that’s what they’ve become.”
“Back in my day, you would not have had, I think, this level of vitriol like you have now. It has gotten much worse.”
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