Poison Ivy: On the Complicity of Harvard and Columbia with Fascism
A close reading of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by a teacher of literacy
Welcome to another episode of my flagship scroll, The Book of Sean M. P.
On Easter Sunday I went outside to smoke some 420 on 4/20. Not more than several tokes in did a family come for an egg hunt on the front lawn of the elementary school—Columbus—on whose front bench I was sitting. So I moved around the corner to a low stone border separating a curved row of plants from another grassy area and sat there in the sun. It was a beautiful day and even though I was irritated to have to relocate, I was better off for it in the end. That’s a lesson of which I always try to remind myself: that change is good, no matter how bothersome it may seem initially. Indeed, it’s the fundamental law of existence.
I note that No Other Land, the Oscar-winning documentary whose name and message inspired one half of my new video series, The Armenian Quarter or No Other Land, recently streamed in the U.S., ending a de facto viewership ban. It’s a brilliant work of guerrilla filmmaking that shows exactly the degree to which the Israeli state—backed by the U.S.—goes to maintain dominance in the occupied territory of the West Bank, relentlessly killing and injuring residents and destroying homes, schools, businesses, and more foundations of life and society. That level of violence has only been exceeded in Gaza, where the U.S.-Israeli war wages on as the two countries continue to defy the U.N. and international law.
Meanwhile, for anyone who can spare a Lincoln, I’ve launched a “Buy Me a Coffee” as a modest but very meaningful way to show your appreciation for the labor I donate to create all the “free” (that is, non-paywalled) content on this site. And it’s all free—as of this post I’ve removed all paywalls.
On the flip side of the coin, I’m eagerly awaiting an angel investor to join my Pantheon, for which you’ll receive both my boundless gratitude as well as a one-of-a-kind personalized artifact from my archives.
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Now on with the show. <3
Who’s on First? No One. That’s the Joke.
I love to pick on my friends at Axios who should know better and do but whose audience of Beltway group-thinkers needs to be pleased.
Today the Trump administration announced it’s going after Columbia’s accreditation in the latest step of its propaganda campaign on behalf of Christian Zionism. But while Axios’s dutiful report twice refers to “allegations” of anti-Semitism, why didn’t the editors see fit to similarly condition an earlier report that Columbia had “violated federal civil rights law”—especially when the institution most certainly hasn’t?
Are we really supposed to take Team Trump at their word?
Now?
At this crucial inflection point?
When their interpretation of federal civil-rights law—in this case, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—has no basis in fact?
Meanwhile, shouldn’t Columbia—and Harvard, embroiled in their own spectacle with the gang in charge of the federal government—be able to parse this nonsense for what it is?
To back up a bit, two weeks ago the Department of Education issued its “finding” that Columbia “act[ed] with deliberate indifference toward student-on-student harassment of Jewish students” since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on 10/7.
Putting aside the grammatical confusion of the statement—what does “student-on-student harassment of Jewish students” mean exactly?—and the clear takeaway that the White House doesn’t care about the experiences of Jewish students at Columbia (or Harvard) prior to 10/7—the main problem is the Trump administration’s appropriation of civil-rights law to achieve their violent, anti-civil political aims.
To wit, the administration is relying on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prosecute their campaign against academic institutions, even though Title VI makes no provision whatsoever for religion.
Instead, it explicitly bars “discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin”—three categories of social identity that have nothing to do with the faith one associates with or practices.
And while the Trump administration issued an executive order in its first term proclaiming that “[d]iscrimination against Jews may give rise to a Title VI violation when the discrimination is based on an individual’s race, color, or national origin,” that assertion is plainly indefensible from a legal perspective—which is why the opinion was issued as a presidential fiat and not by a court of law.
But though that executive order is not just illegitimate on the merits but also expired, Harvard nevertheless adopted its spirit when it enshrined the political belief of “Zionism” as a protected category in its “Non-Discrimination and Anti-Bullying Policies” (NDAB) to settle federal litigation this past January.
Read that pseudo-legalese closely, my friends: In addition to “clarifying that both Jewish and Israeli identity” are now “covered” by Harvard’s non-discrimination policy, so too are “political beliefs”—the same type of beliefs that are already (supposed to be) protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Yet we’ve all seen that Harvard’s done nothing to protect the First Amendment rights of Palestinian supporters on campus. To the contrary: the institution has routinely disciplined and punished them for expressing their political beliefs.
Turns out the “marketplace of ideas” that conservatives always say they want is actually a rigged game in which some people’s ideas have the full force of the state behind them while other people are simply disappeared by that force.
Which is why Harvard’s ballyhooed lawsuit against the government is a joke. It’s already been doing the government’s job—and the Israeli government’s too.
In sum:
A person’s religious identification isn’t covered by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
There are no legal grounds for the U.S. government’s actions against Columbia and Harvard on the basis of “anti-Semitism”;
Zionism is a political belief and not a religious identity or practice;
A person’s political beliefs are already protected by the First Amendment, the spirit of which Harvard and Columbia have manifestly violated in their persecution of supporters of Palestine; and
Anything the White House says (hello again, Axios 👋 ) should be disbelieved.
Meanwhile, the Trump recession is starting to show up and he’s getting scared. That’s why he just barred people from 12 countries from entering Fortress America.
(And, yes, those last two links are to Axios stories. As always, it’s the best of times and the worst!)
Putting aside the grammatical confusion of the statement—what does “student-on-student harassment of Jewish students” mean exactly?—and the clear takeaway that the White House doesn’t care about the experiences of Jewish students at Columbia (or Harvard) prior to 10/7—the main problem is the Trump administration’s appropriation of civil-rights law to achieve their violent, anti-civil political aims. To wit, the administration is relying on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prosecute their campaign against academic institutions, even though Title VI makes no provision whatsoever for religion.
Odds and Ends: Biden Opportunists Edition
First it was Biden’s State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller who jumped ship, saying a few days ago that “without a doubt [it’s] true that Israel has committed war crimes” against Palestinians in Gaza. (He added that Robinette was a poor candidate to run for re-election.)
Now it’s the former Zionist-in-Chief’s own mouthpiece—Karine Jean-Pierre—who’s flown the coop, trading in her party affiliation with the last of her principles, all so she can cash in on her tenure while simultaneously distancing herself from the crimes she laundered for media consumption.
What an opportunist she is—not to mention yet another cautionary tale about identity politics, pinkwashing, and ethnic cleansing.
Ciao for now,
Sean M. P.
ICYMI⥥⥥
Golden, Living My Life Like: Says He's a 'Singer, Alvy' but Won't Commit to It (Take 4)
A Neo daily show on life after Hollywood, Washington, and New York (aka the U.S. of Israel, the world’s leading criminal racket).