Cotton introduces two bills targeting ‘rotten culture on university campuses’

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) took aim on Tuesday at colleges that have housed anti-Israel and antisemitic protests—and some of the students that participated in them.

Cotton reintroduced legislation, the Woke Endowment Security Tax (WEST) Act, to impose a one-time, 6% tax on the endowments of 11 leading U.S. universities, including Columbia University, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.

A separate bill, the No Student Loans for Campus Criminals Act, would prevent students convicted of crimes in connection with protests from receiving federal student loans or loan forgiveness.

In introducing both measures, Cotton referred to the protests, some of which backed an independent Palestinian state but others that called for the destruction of Israel, glorified the terrorist group Hamas or attacked Jewish students on campuses.

“Many of America’s so-called ‘top’ universities continue to grow massive endowments almost entirely tax-free while failing to condemn antisemitism and violence against Jewish students on their campuses,” Cotton said.

The senator said that the excise tax—which also would apply to endowments at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Washington University and Yale University—would help boost security along the U.S. southern border and reduce the federal debt.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget stated in June 2024 that U.S. President Donald Trump grew the national 10-year debt by about $8.4 trillion during his first term, compared to $4.3 trillion under former President Joe Biden. The House Budget Committee stated at the time that “in reality, the Biden administration has increased the federal deficit by $11.6 trillion throughout the last three years and six months.”

Cotton said of the proposed ban on student loans for protesters convicted of crimes that “American taxpayers shouldn’t underwrite the tuition of criminal, pro-Hamas protesters who deface their college campuses, disrupt classes and endanger their fellow students.”

“My bill will bring learning back to the heart of our American universities and institutions,” he stated.