US Dept of Ed investigates antisemitism at 5 major universities

Five prominent universities from California to New York will be investigated for civil rights violations related to antisemitism on campus, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced.

The investigation is a follow-up to congressional investigations that began in December 2023.

In a statement, the DOE said it is opening investigations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into Columbia University, Northwestern University, Portland State University, the University of California, Berkeley (UC-Berkeley) and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

The Civil Rights Act prevents discrimination and harassment of students on the basis of national origin, including shared ancestry.

The DOE blamed the administration under former President Joe Biden for the “institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses” that broke out as a result of the Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas against Israeli citizens.

“Too many universities have tolerated widespread antisemitic harassment and the illegal encampments that paralyzed campus life last year, driving Jewish life and religious expression underground,” said Craig Trainor, DOE’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights. “The Biden administration’s toothless resolution agreements did shamefully little to hold those institutions accountable.”

In disastrous congressional hearings in December 2023, the heads of Harvard, UPenn and MIT offered weak, blame-shifting excuses for cases of antisemitism that rocked college campuses after the terror attacks.

The attacks led Israel to defend itself by occupying areas used by Hamas in Gaza and Lebanon to root out the terror group.

In the wake of Israel’s actions, defenders of Hamas on campus protested and demonstrated against Jews, often with violent rhetoric and intimidation. 

The Anti-Defamation League estimated that in the two months between the start of the fall semester and early November 2023, 73% of Jewish students had witnessed or experienced antisemitism. 

Despite widespread condemnation against the anti-Jewish protests, colleges and universities took ambiguous stances and failed to protect Jewish students, according to critics. 

Northwestern was harshly tagged by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) of Chicago for negotiating with protesters who intimidated Jewish students at the university’s sprawling lakefront campus north of the city. 

“Northwestern succumbed to the demands of a mob, which has intimidated Jewish students, espoused antisemitic, hate-filled speech, and whose members have celebrated Hamas terrorists,” said Sarah van Loon, regional director of AJC Chicago in a statement.  

Critics have charged that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at colleges have given certain ethnic and national groups the ability to threaten and intimidate others while generally not allowing free speech for Jews on campus. 

“[T]he DEI hierarchy places the Jewish people at the very bottom of its ‘oppression’ spectrum,” said Rep. Burgess Owens, R-Utah. 

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s report on free speech at Northwestern noted that the university has “the worst policy on campus in terms of the sheer amount of protected speech it prohibits by its plain language,” particularly if such speech offends favored minorities.     

Yet a 325-page report from the U.S. House found that when speech was antisemitic, the university looked the other way.  

“Northwestern’s … [decision] to relentlessly pursue conciliating the students who turned their campuses into hotbeds of antisemitic harassment, intimidation, threats, disruption, and glorification of terrorism demonstrated a gross neglect for their obligations to protect Jewish students and to ensure a safe and uninterrupted learning environment,” the report found. 

The report also found that Columbia University, another institution under investigation by the DOE, “worked to prevent disciplinary action from being taken against students who violated official policies and even the law” in their anti-Jewish protests. 

UC-Berkeley failed to discipline even one student after 200 protesters ignited a riot on campus, shouting “Intifada” and “You can’t run! You can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” as they stormed a campus theater and assaulted Jewish students and law enforcement. 

The campus group that allegedly organized the assault simply received a warning letter, said the House report.  

At Portland State, similar antisemitic rioters occupied a school library from April to May 2024, causing $1.23 million in damage before police forcibly removed them.  

Police arrested 30 people, and found “improvised weapons, ball bearings, paint balloons, spray bottles of ink, and DIY armor.”  

The university had previously announced it wouldn’t punish any students involved in the occupation of the library. 

In response to the occupation, the university caved, essentially supporting the rioters. The university called for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group, reported Campus Reform. 

At the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, similar occupations occurred by Students for a Democratic Society, a left-wing group that has historical ties to Obama mentor Bill Ayers.   

The DOE investigations into antisemitism at the universities will build on the work completed in the House report, said the federal education agency.  

“Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses, nor will it stand by idly if universities fail to combat Jew hatred and the unlawful harassment and violence it animates,” said Trainor.