Welcome to this week’s edition of Did You See This? — The SUNN Post’s biweekly column spotlighting the recent news stories students like you (and like me!) need to know about. Stay tuned for future rundowns, and, without further ado, buckle in for today’s headlines.
The Headline
Democratic and Republican representatives partner to push for a bill designed to cut down on antisemitism, including on college campuses.
The Rundown
This Wednesday, Representatives Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Mike Lawler (R-NY) introduced the Jewish American Security Act to the House floor, accompanying the version of the Bill introduced in the Senate last month. The bipartisan legislation targets curbing antisemitism of various kinds: According to his website, Lawler sees the bill as an opportunity to “act decisively so Jewish Americans can feel safe in their schools, synagogues, and online.” It includes bolstered security initiatives at synagogues and proposes that the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and National Counterterrorism Center produce an annual “domestic threat assessment that reports on antisemitic violent extremism.”
It also calls for an “Antisemitism Coordinator” in the Department of Education, whose primary goal would be to reduce cases of on-campus antisemitism. University community members and external advocacy groups have voiced concern about campus discrimination in recent years following a series of confrontations — some of them violent — between pro-Palestinian protestors and Jewish students and faculty after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
While the bill has received bipartisan support, it has also drawn scrutiny over free speech concerns. Carl Messineo, a civil rights lawyer who co-founded the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, told Politico that the bill would stifle students’ freedom of speech — he also noted that the bill refers to an executive order from President Trump which advocates for the adoption of a definition of antisemitism that includes speech condemning Israel as an example of past action against antisemitism.
The Student Angle
The bill, and the free speech concerns that critics say it raises, relates to a bigger conversation about what antisemitism really means — that definition is important for students to understand in a time of so much discord in politics and on school campuses. Skyler, a Jewish student at George Washington University, told PBS in 2024 that while criticizing Israel’s government is fine, speech “becomes antisemitic when you start criticizing the state of Israel’s existence,” as has been a tenet of some pro-Palestinian arguments. Some students who oppose Israel’s actions in Gaza, though, emphasize the need to distinguish between antisemitism and anti-zionism. Miriam, another Jewish student at GWU, told PBS, “I think decolonizing sort of the Jewish identity means separating Zionism from Judaism and therefore separating anti-Zionism from antisemitism.”
The Headline
After five years of test-blind admissions, University of California professors call to reinstate standardized testing requirements.
The Rundown
In 2021, the University of California — one of the nation’s largest public university systems, with over 300,000 students spread across 10 campuses — committed to a “test-blind” admissions policy. This meant that high school students would not submit SAT or ACT scores when applying for a spot at a UC school. This went further than what was then a sweeping national turn toward “test-optional” policies, in which students could, but did not need to, submit scores for consideration.
Now, five years later, the vast majority of students on UC campuses have been admitted under the test-blind policy. Professors say the change has had a palpable effect on classroom culture and student performance — they’ve identified major deficiencies in students’ foundational skills, particularly in math classes, and are pushing for a reconsideration of admissions criteria. The original argument against testing was that it favored privileged students; now some believe the tests can help underprivileged students demonstrate their readiness for college-level coursework.
The Student Angle
Students expressed mixed opinions on the ideal role for standardized testing in the admissions process: Sophie, a student from New York, commented on a New York Times article on the topic last year that “tests like SAT and ACT…shouldn’t be able to define how [sic] an student does, since not everyone is good at testing.” Rene, a student from Yonkers, wrote that tests ought to be part of the picture, especially since they can give underprivileged kids an edge. “Overall, tests should inform/influence decisions, not decide everything,” she wrote.
Conversations around standardized testing keep turning back to a question on the minds of people in and around universities: How do you evaluate intelligence in a way that doesn’t have racial and socioeconomic bias? After all, the current system’s evaluation criteria seem to favor wealthier, whiter students again and again.
The Headline
As the Knicks continue their bid for the national championship, New York City’s students find creative ways to celebrate.
The Rundown
On June 1 — the start of the NBA finals — New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order to repeal the bedtimes of young New Yorkers so they could tune in to late-night games. Cheers ensued. The Knicks are now one game away from winning the national title — if they win, it will be their first since 1973. Excitement among New York’s youngest basketball fans is at a fever pitch.
While activity outside Madison Square Garden — where the Knicks and the Spurs are facing off in the seven-game series — has been less than family friendly, kids have found spaces around the city to celebrate the team’s first playoff appearance in their lifetime. The New York Times spoke to a number of young fans watching the game from a barbecue restaurant in Queens. CBS featured a pair of brothers rooting for the team over social media.
The Student Angle
One Long Island native went viral earlier this month for having predicted “Knicks in 6 2026” in his 2020 high school yearbook. We’ll know Saturday if he was indeed an oracle. Moments like these offer a look at the unifying power of fandom — the ability of a sports team to pull people together and pool their joy into massive displays. Still, athletic arenas often become a battleground for the game of politics: many New Yorkers in the stands booed — and a smaller number cheered — when the camera panned to President Trump at the third game of the series. Whether celebrating in the streets of Manhattan or watching videos of the gatherings on TikTok, students can take this as a chance to consider the sorts of differences shared fandom can overcome, and which it can’t.
