Florida’s Republican Governor, Ron DeSantis, is offering Jewish students incentives to study in the state. DeSantis, who is vocally pro-Israel, shared this plan during his US presidential campaign while addressing state legislators.
According to him, a lot of students in other states who are worried about antisemitism can seek refuge in Florida’s universities with a juicy incentive to go with them. The state’s public colleges will waive minimum credit requirements and offer in-state tuition for financially strapped Jewish students who want to transfer from schools in other states.
He said, “Over the coming months, they will have a tough decision to make – pack up and leave or stay and endure continued hatred. If they do decide to come to Florida, we will welcome them with open arms.”
This was not the first time the Governor was commenting on the recent surge in antisemitism in universities. Since the October 7th Hamas attack, DeSantis has tried to emphasize how he is the most pro-Israel candidate in the race for the GOP presidential nomination.
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However, he remains behind Donald Trump in most of their polls. Campaigning to mitigate antisemitism, particularly on college campuses, is a clear political move by DeSantis. Therefore, he hopes to gather the support and votes of the Jewish voters.
Since the Hamas attack, universities across the country have been struggling with many cases of antisemitism. As Israel continues to invade and attack Gaza, Islamophobia is also on the rise.
Furthermore, there are over two dozen investigations into antisemitism and Islamophobia complaints by the Department of Education. Some universities affected are Harvard University, Columbia University, Brown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of California.
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The uproar over these incidents got so bad that there was a congressional hearing, including the presidents of these universities. Sadly, the hearing did more harm than good. It turned into a public relations disaster with political involvement.
The presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania refused to say that calling for genocide against Jews is a violation of university policy. Therefore, politicians, scholars, and citizens were not pleased with this.
All the presidents received backlash and started to resign one by one. The University of Pennsylvania’s president, Liz Magill, stepped down just days after the hearing.
ALSO READ: Students File Lawsuits in Fight Against Antisemitism at US Colleges
Harvard’s President Claudine Gay faced many plagiarism allegations and resigned weeks after the hearing. However, one elite university stands out for stabilizing tensions surrounding the conflict. That is Dartmouth College.
The Ivy League school reportedly has many measures to prevent an uproar. For example, US Education Secretary Miguel Cardona participated in a discussion at the school with President Sian Leah Beilock and students.
They also started a new initiative called Dartmouth Dialogues, where they discuss experiences on college campuses around events in the Middle East. Therefore, this can help facilitate conversations bridging political and personal divides. This will also reduce the occurrence of antisemitism on campus.
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