[ ]J Street[ ]
Friends,

A tale of two Americas. A fork in the road. Pick your metaphor.

On the one side, we see some university administrators accepting Trump
Administration demands wholesale. Social media executives bending the knee
to avoid antitrust investigations. Law firms offering restructures and pro
bono legal work so they can keep on with business as usual.

On the other: Those summoning the courage to fight back, and rallying
others to their side to do so – and one of those is Wesleyan University
President Michael Roth.

This Friday, I’ll sit down with Roth, who has led the charge of
universities fighting back against the Trump Administration’s assault on
higher education in the name of “protecting” Jewish students. We’ll
discuss his decision to fight back, the cost and consequences of failing
to do so, the pressures universities face, and the rumblings in the
academic world as they face off against the President.

[ [link removed] ]Register to join me live on Friday at 4pm Eastern / 1pm Pacific >>

[ [link removed] ]meet the university president challenging trump: wesleyan university
president Michael Roth in conversation with J Street President Jeremy
Ben-Ami. Register for the discussion Friday April 25 at 4pm Eastern/1pm
Pacific.

President Roth, Wesleyan’s first Jewish president, took to The New York
Times to blast the Trump Administration’s meddling on campuses like his
own. “Jew hatred is real, but today’s anti-antisemitism isn’t a legitimate
effort to fight it,” Roth [ [link removed] ]wrote. “It’s a cover for a wide range of
agendas that have nothing to do with the welfare of Jewish people.”

He also called out Jewish organizations that’ve stayed silent or even
welcomed aspects of Trump’s assaults, like arresting Mahmoud Khalil, a
legal permanent resident.

“Jews who applaud the administration’s crackdown will soon find that they
do so at their peril,” Roth wrote. We agree. The surge in antisemitism
we’ve seen since October 7 is real, but bending to the Trump
Administration’s will is not the way to fight it. We’re grateful for
leaders like President Roth for standing up for our students and
protecting the very institutions that have made this country thrive,
especially for our community.

If you can’t make it to our Friday afternoon chat, recordings will be
available on [ [link removed] ]YouTube, [ [link removed] ]Spotify and [ [link removed] ]Apple Podcasts. And if you can
make it, please come with questions. [ [link removed] ]Here’s that link to register once
more >>

All the best,

Jeremy Ben-Ami,
J Street President


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J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy
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Jewish people. Working in American politics and the Jewish community, we
advocate policies that advance shared US and Israeli interests as well as Jewish
and democratic values, leading to a two-state solution to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.



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