Why Muslim voices face an ‘untenable environment’ in higher ed right now

The Trump administration’s campaign against antisemitism has created a “chilling effect” on Muslims and those protesting the Israel-Hamas war across college campuses, experts on Islamophobia argue.

“Antisemitism is a problem. Hate is a problem,” says Corey Saylor, research and advocacy director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. “Addressing all forms of racism is what the government’s job is, but for it to single out one particular form of vileness concerns me because our numbers show that the wave of Islamophobia since October 2023 is staggering.”

Government agencies have punished institutions that permitted pro-Palestine protests on their campuses, canceling billions of dollars in funding across Harvard, Columbia, Cornell and Northwestern universities. Dozens of others face potential violations.

Meanwhile, CAIR recorded a 172% increase in complaints of anti-Muslim or anti-Arab bias or requests for help in the two months following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. In 2024, its database tracked 8,658 incidents, a record high since it began collecting data in 1996.

These numbers only paint a rough estimate of what Muslims may be experiencing since it ultimately depends on the victim to speak up about such incidents, says Caleb Elfenbein, associate dean for faculty development and diversity, equity, and inclusion at Grinnell College. “The cumulative effect of this broad range of anti-Muslim activity over time is that there’s a kind of chilling effect in people’s ability to participate in public life on their own terms.”

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‘Impossible to speak publicly’

Hundreds of international students have had their visas revoked due to their participation in some form of protest, including one woman from Tufts University who is accused of engaging in antisemitic activities for writing an op-ed.

“Criticism of state policies of the state of Israel has been conflated into an object of hate, and that’s criticism of foreign government, which in the United States is entirely permissible,” Saylor says.

CAIR has identified 18 higher education institutions that have implemented “policies or discriminatory practices” against campus community members. The organization highlighted Emory University after video evidence captured law enforcement arresting a professor at a pro-Palestine protest encampment for asking why students were being detained.

Emory hasn’t immediately responded to our requests for comment.

Such actions further degrade college campuses’ long-held reputation as a haven for civil dialogue, says Elfenbein, who authored a book on Islamophobia in America. “It makes it virtually impossible to speak publicly in really authentic ways without fear of being persecuted. It creates an untenable education environment.”

Unprecedented pressure coming from the Trump administration has sent colleges and universities “scrambling” to create coherent campus policies to address harassment, said Sarah Spreitzer, vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education.

“I don’t know of other times when an investigation has been carried out in a matter of days,” she said in a webinar. “Title IX [negotiations] are meant to encourage resolutions, and I’m not sure if this process is seeking to address antisemitism or whether it’s a play to punish these institutions.”