President Donald Trump, for all his isolationist tendencies, has repeatedly proclaimed himself to be a staunch and unwavering supporter of Israel. And Trump’s secretary of education Betsy DeVos, according to the New York Times, has been forcefully cracking down on what she views as a bias against Israel in higher education.
The Times’ Erica L. Green reported on Thursday that the Department of Education, under DeVos’ direction, has ordered two major universities — Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — to revise their Middle Eastern studies programs in a way that shows more “positive” images of Judaism and Christianity in the Middle East. The Department of Education is saying that the Middle Eastern studies programs at those universities didn’t meet the standards of a federal program that gives funding to international studies and foreign language programs.
Miriam Elman, who is an associate professor at Syracuse University and an opponent of anti-Israel boycotts, told the Times, “What they’re saying is, ‘If you want to be biased and show an unbalanced view of the Middle East, you can do that. But you’re not going to get federal and taxpayer money.’”