Perhaps new information will emerge to explain what turned a seemingly random Cornell student into a raving anti-Semite. At the moment, though, it seems that a slightly different question may be appropriate: what is it about Cornell, or higher education in general, that might cause a troubled young man to fix on anti-Semitism as the outlet for his mental health struggles?

I think that question likely answers itself. While all institutions of higher education claim to value diversity and campaign ceaselessly against “hate,” the one glaring exception, in many cases, is hate that is directed supposedly against Israel, but in reality against Jews. On campus, “anti-Zionism” has become a safe harbor in which the most vicious anti-Semitism is allowed to flourish.

[If this were just one random case, I’d dismiss any systemic explanation. With the eruption of open and virulent anti-Semitism across the nation’s campuses, however, only a systemic explanation will suffice. Either Academia attracts anti-Semites, or they teach anti-Semitism, or both. It’s clear that we need to make dramatic changes in public policy to deal with this hate mongering, and the first should be to cut off all federal funding for anything related to higher education. Our decades-long investment in subsidies for that industry has resulted in a toxic product. — Ed]