To stop campus radicalism, teach students what it means to be American

OPINION:

If you’ve watched the news lately, you’ve seen the chaos erupting at some of America’s most prestigious universities — Harvard, Columbia and others — where student encampments and ongoing radical protests have taken center stage.

The same is true for certain lawmakers and parts of the mainstream media, which have sided with adversaries such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Iranian regime, which ironically target journalists.

The easy explanation is to point to the millions of dollars funneled into these institutions from Qatar and other authoritarian regimes that shape the narrative and fund the loudest voices. Yet if we stop there, we are missing the real crisis: the collapse of American civic education and the abandonment of our founding values.

Let’s be clear: Foreign funding is a problem. When Qatar or any other country sends billions of dollars to Harvard and Columbia, it isn’t just charity; it’s influence. This money comes with strings, pushing anti-American rhetoric and shutting down debate.

Here is the uncomfortable truth: This foreign influence works only because we have left a vacuum. Our students aren’t grounded in American history, our founding ideals or the hard lessons of foreign policy. They are not just being bought; they are also being misled because they have never been taught what America stands for in the first place.

Walk onto any elite campus today and ask students about the Founding Fathers, the Bill of Rights or the principle of deterrence. Too often, you will get blank stares or, worse, outright hostility. Our universities have replaced rigorous education with radical activism, turning young people into “useful idiots” for any cause that sounds righteous, no matter how divorced from reality or American interests.

This radicalization has spilled into real-world consequences. The dramatic rise in antisemitism across college campuses is one of the most disturbing symptoms. In the past year alone, Jewish students have endured harassment, violence and threats at institutions such as Columbia, the University of Michigan and Harvard. At Cornell, students were forced to shelter in place because of violent threats online. At Tulane, pro-Israel students were physically attacked during a protest. Swastikas have been found on dorm doors and classroom walls while administrators remain silent in the name of “inclusive dialogue.”

These aren’t isolated incidents. They are a direct result of institutions that no longer teach moral clarity, democratic values or historical truth.

This is why the Trump administration has begun holding universities accountable by launching investigations, threatening to pull federal funding and enforcing Title VI protections to ensure Jewish students are not targeted for their identity. These are necessary and long-overdue actions, but we shouldn’t assume every future administration will be as responsive. Political dynamics shift, and the commitment to combating campus extremism may fade. If we wait for Washington to solve the problem, we will always be one election away from abandoning it.

This isn’t what the Founders had in mind. They believed education was the bedrock of democracy and a way to cultivate informed citizens capable of self-government. They knew that liberty isn’t inherited; it’s taught, defended and renewed with each generation.

President Reagan understood this too. He spoke often about the importance of teaching our children what it means to be American, warning that freedom is “never more than one generation away from extinction.”

Reagan’s “Peace Through Strength” foreign policy wasn’t just a slogan. It was a philosophy rooted in moral clarity and an unapologetic defense of American values. Reagan understood that deterrence works because it is backed by principle and resolve.

By contrast, today’s campus radicals are quick to denounce America while embracing regimes that crush dissent and trample human rights. Why? Because they have never learned the difference.

What’s the solution? It starts with restoring honest, rigorous education about our history, our Constitution and our place in the world.

Universities must recommit to intellectual diversity, free speech and the pursuit of truth, not ideological conformity. Yet we can’t wait until students reach college age. These tenets should be introduced and reinforced from kindergarten through the university years. We need transparency in foreign funding, real consequences for faculty at any level prioritizing activism over scholarship, and a renewed focus on U.S. history and civics at every age.

America’s future doesn’t depend on resisting foreign influence alone. It depends on whether we can reclaim our institutions and teach the next generation why this country is worth defending. If we want to stop the spread of radicalism on campus, we need to start by teaching our students what it truly means to be American.

Let’s not leave the next generation defenseless — intellectually or morally.

• Lisa Daftari is an Iranian American journalist and political commentator with expertise in the Middle East and counterterrorism. She is the founding editor of The Foreign Desk.