Project Esther: Crushing Dissent & Campus Protest

What’s Happened Already

Suppressing protest and free speech:

• The U.S. government has relied on slanderous dossiers from far-right organizations to revoke the visas of hundreds of international students who were involved in anti-war protests, putting them at risk of deportation and de-certifying colleges from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program to prevent foreign student enrollment in the future.
• The Departments of Justice, Education, and Health & Human Services have launched investigations of more than 60 Universities for alleged discrimination against Jewish students. These allegations of antisemitism include things like Palestinian students wearing keffiyehs at graduation and recognizing a Students for Justice In Palestine Chapter with an award.
• University administrators have allowed ICE to harass students and turned a blind eye to repeated incidents of police violence and arrests on campus. They have been quick to implement harsh disciplinary codes and protest restrictions, banning students and professors from their own classrooms, even for engaging in silent study-in and pray-in protests. On many campuses, administrators have fulfilled a key goal of Project Esther by issuing bans Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace chapters. And they have fired or expelled students and professors in retaliation for their protected speech on Palestine.
• The Trump administration has pulled hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from universities unless they put academic departments under administrators' control (instead of professors) and some, like Columbia University and Harvard University, have complied. Trump is also threatening universities - including those that have previously complied with his demands - with massive funding cuts if they do not radically revamp admissions and hiring policy.
• President Trump signed an Executive Order directing the closure of the Department of Education and shifting control to states, as part of a broader effort to suppress university protests, including those over Gaza.
• Right-wing groups and lawfare organizations have filed civil lawsuits against student protesters and campus groups that support Palestinian rights, aiming to intimidate activists with legal attacks and drain their finances.
• As part of legal and political pressure campaigns, some universities have agreed to adopt new campus policies that limit protest and free speech. They have also adopted a discredited definition of antisemitism that suppresses human rights protest.
• The Trump administration has used Palestine protest as an excuse to harass and expel all international students. They have implemented new social media screenings that bar international students and professors who express support for human rights. And they have tried to cut off the ability of universities to enroll international students if they do not cave to the administration's demands.
• There have also been reviews or sunsets of entire areas of study, particularly those critical of Israeli policy, and some universities have also been forced to partner with Israeli institutions as part of settlements or agreements.

Targeting faculty and staff:

• University administrators across the country have suspended, fired, or investigated hundreds of students and faculty for their pro-Palestinian activity on campus.
• Universities are terminating or refusing to renew contracts for academics and staff who speak out for Palestinian rights, reflecting a growing effort to silence dissenting voices within academia.
• Government officials are also investigating professors for private social media posts that criticize Israeli actions as "genocide."
• Government officials and university administrators have cancelled academic conferences and lectures by Palestinians, scholars of Palestine, and Palestine solidarity activists.
• Congress has held public hearings targeting universities where professors and students criticize Israeli policies, using its platform to question their credibility, intimidate academic institutions, and legitimize broader crackdowns on campus dissent.

Destroying student groups and militarizing campuses:

• Government officials have issued orders to shut down campus chapters of student groups supporting Palestinian rights and universities like Yale, the University of Michigan, and George Washington University have done just that — banning student clubs, including Yalies4Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Students for Justice in Palestine, preventing them from hosting events or inviting speakers to campus.
• Instead of allowing free expression, multiple universities have used pro-Palestinian protests as an excuse to ramp up security, surveillance, and law enforcement presence on campuses — including bringing in law enforcement to clear encampments and arrest student anti-war protestors. Some, like the University of Michigan, have hired private security contractors to spy on students. Others, like University of Rochester and the University of Pittsburgh have worked closely with state prosecutors to bring felony charges against students and faculty in retaliation for protest activities.
• Congress has launched formal investigations into law school clinics that have defended student protestors who have exercised their right to free speech.
• Nearly all of this is made possible by university, state and Federal policies that define antisemitism using Project Esther's key weapon: the discredited "IHRA definition" which equates anti-Zionism and criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.

What does this mean for other social issues?

Project Esther's playbook can and will be used on other social justice movements. If speaking out against the Israeli government's policies can be spun as bigotry or terrorism — and if those who speak are intimidated, harassed, and silenced — the same can happen for issues like racial justice, queer rights, immigrant protections, climate action, and more. We are already seeing protest restrictions developed to suppress Palestine solidarity activism being used against other social justice movements.

By eroding the independence of universities and punishing writers, professors, students, and public figures, this crackdown sets a clear precedent. Other protesters on campus, especially those opposing this administration's policies, are now at increased risk of surveillance, academic discipline, or legal consequences. Off-campus protest and dissent are also being quashed, as universities collaborate with law enforcement and political actors to suppress mobilization outside their gates.

Immigration status is being used as a cudgel. Visa-holding academics across all fields, including immigrant rights, public health, climate change, racial and economic justice, psychology, medicine, and scientific research, are increasingly at risk of detainment or deportation if the Trump administration doesn't like what they have to say. This crackdown disrupts key sectors of society and the economy, limiting access to global talent and innovation.

Propaganda is being baked into curricula, with politically motivated donors and administrators steering research priorities to reflect partisan ideologies. Employment decisions for non-tenured faculty and staff are being scrutinized for protest activity and political speech. Even tenured professors are not safe, as their syllabi, classroom discussions, and even social media posts are increasingly subjected to partisan litmus tests. Federal funding for both individual academics and institutions of higher education is increasingly contingent upon fealty to the state of Israel. We are already seeing this tactic expanded to punish colleges and universities that value diversity in the workplace or that protect trans rights.

Academic freedom and the right to protest are no longer guaranteed. What starts as repression on campus is quickly becoming the infrastructure for silencing dissent across every struggle for justice.