How Trump can put a stop to masked terror on campus

President Trump is right: “NO MASKS!”That was his final jab in a Truth Social post this month in which he threatened to end federal funding for any college or university that allows “illegal protests” — particularly the ugly antisemitic demonstrations that have dogged many campuses for nearly 18 months. Columbia University alumni last week pressed the school to enact an official mask ban after the latest round of chaotic pro-Hamas protests.But Trump himself has the power to end masked riots on campus via executive order, just as many states cracked down on the masked marches of the Ku Klux Klan in the past.The president’s ability to force change is clear.Existing federal authorities and grant programs give his administration broad discretion to require colleges and universities to take actions that are in students’ interests, especially when their physical safety and civil rights are involved. The case against masks is also clear — and constitutional. Although the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, it doesn’t give anyone the right to join violent or intimidating mobs and otherwise engender public disorder. That’s exactly what protesters have done on college campuses across the country, driven by their hatred of Israel and Jews — donning masks precisely because they don’t want to be identified by police and campus administrators. Consider just a few of the injustices that masked protesters have perpetrated on campuses since Oct.

7, 2023. Mask-wearing students (and outside agitators) vandalized buildings at Barnard College in February and caused $3 million of damage at City College last May.They occupied buildings and held university personnel hostage at Columbia University last year.They blocked Jewish students from getting to class at UCLA, and have attacked Jewish students outright at DePaul University and elsewhere. Nationwide, the rise in masking is associated with a nearly fourfold increase in US antisemitism last year ...