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President Trump is right: “NO MASKS!”
That was his final jab in a Truth Social post this month in which he threatened to end federal funding for any college or university that allows “illegal protests” — particularly the ugly antisemitic demonstrations that have dogged many campuses for nearly 18 months.
Columbia University alumni last week pressed the school to enact an official mask ban after the latest round of chaotic pro-Hamas protests.
But Trump himself has the power to end masked riots on campus via executive order, just as many states cracked down on the masked marches of the Ku Klux Klan in the past.
The president’s ability to force change is clear. Existing federal authorities and grant programs give his administration broad discretion to require colleges and universities to take actions that are in students’ interests, especially when their physical safety and civil rights are involved.
The case against masks is also clear — and constitutional.
Although the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, it doesn’t give anyone the right to join violent or intimidating mobs and otherwise engender public disorder.
That’s exactly what protesters have done on college campuses across the country, driven by their hatred of Israel and Jews — donning masks precisely because they don’t want to be identified by police and campus administrators.
Consider just a few of the injustices that masked protesters have perpetrated on campuses since Oct. 7, 2023.
Mask-wearing students (and outside agitators) vandalized buildings at Barnard College in February and caused $3 million of damage at City College last May.
They occupied buildings and held university personnel hostage at Columbia University last year.
They blocked Jewish students from getting to class at UCLA, and have attacked Jewish students outright at DePaul University and elsewhere.
Nationwide, the rise in masking is associated with a nearly fourfold increase in US antisemitism last year alone.
These are criminal acts, but they’re not unprecedented. That’s where the solution becomes clear.
Like the antisemitic protesters of today, the KKK hooded its members in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to foment violence against blacks, Catholics and other minorities, while avoiding accountability.
They, too, wanted to terrorize with impunity.
States wisely responded by banning their masks, so the KKK couldn’t operate anonymously — and its members could be prosecuted and sued.
By the mid-1950s, the Klan had all but vanished, no longer able to hide behind its hoods.
It should thus be no surprise that states as culturally and politically varied as Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Louisiana, North Carolina and Virginia have had anti-masking legislation on their books for decades.
New York state, back in 1845, was the first to pass such a law, but the Legislature repealed it during the COVID pandemic. A bill to reinstate it is pending.
I’ve worked with a number of states in the past year to enact or strengthen such bans — and have proposed model legislation along those lines — to restore public safety and protect students.
Now, it’s time to make this a federal issue. The president should issue an executive order directing his administration to do three things.
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First, Education Secretary Linda McMahon should direct all recipients of federal education funding to implement anti-masking policies to protect all students from harassment and intimidation.
The guidance could outline what a serious policy entails, perhaps citing existing state laws, so that woke universities don’t build in loopholes.
The department can also require universities to implement policies to resolve civil rights complaints regarding the hostile environments created by masked protests that disrupt educational programs.
Second, McMahon should issue an anti-masking regulation under the Clery Act, which applies to institutions that participate in federal student-loan programs. Such schools are required to publicly disclose information about crime on or near their campuses.
Currently, universities must annually submit copies of policies “which encourage accurate and prompt reporting of all crimes.” It’s impossible to ensure accurate crime reporting while masked mobs are destroying property and intimidating students, so the Clery Act can be used to ban masks.
Finally, Attorney General Pam Bondi should condition all grants under the STOP School Violence Act on the adoption of anti-masking measures by universities.
Why should the Justice Department fund campus police if administrators don’t have the guts to tell students that Klan tactics won’t be tolerated?
These common-sense moves are well within established statutory authority.
They’re also morally necessary, given the continued presence of masked agitators stoking antisemitic violence on campuses nationwide.
The sooner President Trump gives teeth to his call for “NO MASKS,” the better.
Ilya Shapiro is director of constitutional studies at the Manhattan Institute and author of “Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites.”