During the 2025 commencement ceremony for New York University’s Gallatin School, student speaker Logan Rozos used his platform to condemn the genocide in Palestine. Attendees of the graduation ceremony erupted in supportive applause for Rozos. Nevertheless, NYU swiftly withheld Rozos’ diploma and removed his student biography from the Gallatin School website. The university’s retaliation against a queer Black student denouncing the ongoing atrocities in Palestine is one of the most recent examples of institutional censorship emboldened by the Trump administration. The crackdown on the pro-Palestine movement is now infiltrating the realm of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), as DEI spaces have become focal points for activism linking racial justice to Palestinian rights. In a few short months, DEI has transformed into a liability rather than a moral imperative. Rather than resisting censorship, institutions from NYU to Stanford are silencing DEI offices and the voices of its students, especially when their perspectives challenge financial interests and the status quo.

Students understand well by now that the right to freedom of speech is selective, as evidenced by the arrest and silencing of students such as Mahmoud Khalil. Disciplinary action against those who speak out against the genocide in Palestine are not isolated incidents. They are part of a broader, intentional and systemic effort to suppress dissent across university borders. Professors, too, are being investigated and disciplined for speaking in support of Palestine. The New York Times recently revealed the Heritage Foundation’s broader political strategy of censorship called Project Esther to aggressively counter pro-Palestinian activism in the United States by deporting, suing and removing individuals and groups, focusing on those within academic spaces. Project Esther successfully leveraged antisemitism to suppress speech and activity that is critical of Israel or supports Palestinian rights on campuses, and the same strategy is now weaponizing DEI to further silence academics. The battle of free speech today is not simply about whether students and scholars can speak out, but whether institutions will ensure their safety and constitutional rights when they do. 

While Stanford claims to champion free speech and academic freedom, the university defers to censorship and extreme action if students dare challenge its vested interests. In the past year alone, the university referred a protest photo to the FBI and called the Santa Clara Sheriff’s office to detain and cite misdemeanors to students for nonviolent demonstrations during the 2024 Family Weekend. When students set up an encampment in White Plaza, Stanford responded again with disciplinary action. Rather than engage with protesters’ political and ethical concerns, the university rolled out stricter protest regulations, limiting noise, overnight presence and requiring pre-registration for large gatherings. Perhaps most damning of all, Stanford pressed criminal charges against the student journalist reporting on the occupation of the President’s office during protests last year, which the Santa Clara County District Attorney dismissed. Students are right to protest the unacceptable suffering in Palestine. The United Nations humanitarian agency still does not have any information on aid distribution in Gaza after last week’s dire warning that 14,000 babies will die within days if they do not immediately receive life-saving support. Despite this, Stanford continues to dismiss the students and faculty who are entering their third week of a solidarity hunger strike. In every case, Stanford’s priority has been to protect its endowment over its community.

By following paper trails, it’s clear the Trump administration is now exploiting campus censorship that was set in motion years prior. Stanford’s $37 billion endowment explains the extreme disciplinary action towards pro-Palestinian student activists and its current retreat from DEI initiatives. As one of the wealthiest institutions in the world, Stanford’s endowment is tied to weapons manufacturing. The past five-year return of the aerospace and defense manufacturers, mainly under the Biden administration, illustrates the immense financial opportunity of war. Supplying countries like Israel with weapons provided a 20.5% total return compared to the typically average 8-10% return of the S&P 500. In just one year following the October 7 attacks, the world’s largest weapons firm Lockheed Martin produced a 56.86% total return, outperforming the S&P 500 by 18%. Calls to end the genocide are a direct threat to the pockets of those who invest, including Stanford.  

Today, the Trump administration’s threats to revoke federal research grants and the tax-exempt status of institutions accused of promoting radical left indoctrination are a thinly veiled attack on universities for supporting racial justice, freedom of speech or solidarity with Palestine. Watering down DEI strategies and censoring internal offices will not appease the Trump administration forever. It creates more risk for researchers refusing to alter inclusive language and affirms that DEI should be hidden. Once DEI is shuttered, next in line may be any department or research that mentions climate change or women’s health. Stanford’s refusal to hear pro-Palestinian voices and its increasingly cautious approach to DEI is not a neutral stance. As Rozos bravely shared in his speech, “I do not wish only to speak to my own politics today but to speak for all people of conscience who feel the moral injury of this atrocity, and I want to say that I condemn this genocide and complicity in this genocide.” If universities, including Stanford, are truly committed to fostering a space for critical inquiry and diverse perspectives, they cannot claim to value academic freedom while censoring us. 

Stanford is in one of the strongest positions to fight against the Trump administration, but chooses not to. The American Association of Colleges and Universities published a letter condemning the Trump administration’s overreach, which Ivy League institutions, including Harvard, MIT and Princeton signed. Stanford’s signature was absent among its peer institutions because, as President Levin explained in his recent interview with the Stanford Daily, he is “not a fan of group letters.” Does President Levin not understand the power of collective action against an administration that wants to break us apart? This is not hyperbole. In a 2021 speech aptly titled Universities are the Enemy, Vice President JD Vance said “we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country.” The ongoing attacks from the Trump administration on Harvard’s international students, DEI initiatives and research grants are a testament to this agenda. While President Levin and Provost Martinez individually expressed their support for Harvard amid its federal funding freeze, Stanford has still not acknowledged the distress felt by its marginalized community members. DEI initiatives brought students and scholars from diverse backgrounds to Stanford. Now, those very community members are urging the university to uphold the values it promised to champion. 

In this moment, solidarity with Logan Rozos is more than symbolic. Rozos spoke with moral clarity and was met with institutional retaliation. The lesson is clear. Universities are not neutral spaces but are embedded in a system where profit is sacred. If institutions preserve their financial and political standing at the expense of their communities, then what is a university for? As visa revocations and unchecked ICE enforcement reemerge as tools of repression, Stanford cannot remain silent. Standing in solidarity with Rozos is a stand for the protection of free speech and for the values of DEI. All universities must take a stand to ensure the safety of their students targeted for their political expression and must not censor diversity, equity and inclusion. If Stanford claims neutrality, it must divest from weapon manufacturers and stop profiting from the war economy. As Stanford students, we must extend our solidarity beyond institutional borders to our fellow peers being surveilled, threatened and deported for exercising the right to free speech, starting with Palestine. 

Rachel Herring is a PhD Student at Stanford University and an alumna of NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, class of 2016.