Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), a 2024 candidate for president, said on Friday that Pell Grant funding should be pulled from universities that do not crack down on anti-Semitism.
Displays of anti-Semitism are being reported on campuses around the United States as students hold demonstrations in response to the war in the Gaza Strip after Hamas launched deadly terrorist attacks on Israel this month, leading Scott to take aim at federal financial aid for low-income students.
“We cannot be surprised when we allow for this behavior to continue to spread like a cancer,” Scott said during an interview on Fox News. “Now we see ourselves with foreign students on college campuses and our own students joining together, calling for Jewish genocide. They’re actually advocating for mass murder and they’re encouraging terrorism.”
He added, “Those universities and colleges that will not hold them accountable should lose their Pell Grant funding.”
Scott has already begun to take action in the Senate, leading a group of GOP colleagues in announcing legislation designed to rescind federal money from colleges or universities that “authorize, fund or facilitate events that promote violent antisemitism.” Educational institutions such as Harvard University, the University Of Pennsylvania, and Georgetown University have “hotbeds of antisemitism, especially in light of Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians, said Scott’s press release on the “Stop Antisemitism on College Campuses Act” on October 19.
“Any university or college that peddles blatant antisemitism, especially after Hamas’ brutal attack on Israeli civilians, women and children, has no place molding the minds of future generations, never mind receiving millions of taxpayer funds to do so,” Scott said in a statement. “We must not only call out this hate, but crush it wherever it rears its ugly head. If these schools don’t change their ways, my legislation hits them where it hurts – they’re pocketbooks. No college or university should receive a single cent from the federal government to fund violent antisemitism.”
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Scott, who has been serving in the U.S. Senate for more than a decade, announced his 2024 presidential campaign in May. At the time he said the United States was in “retreat” under President Joe Biden, who is seeking a second term in the White House.
Roughly two and a half months until the Iowa caucuses, Scott is hovering around 2% in national polls. Another candidate, Nikki Haley, has called for revoking tax-exempt status for schools that do not fight anti-Semitism.
