Jessica Blake
Inside Higher Education, Feb. 4, 2025
“This bipartisan bill holds universities accountable to address discrimination and maintain a safe learning environment for all students.”
Nearly a week after President Trump signed an executive order aimed at combating campus antisemitism, the Education Department opened civil rights investigations into five colleges “where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported.”
The investigations, announced Monday, include Columbia University; Northwestern University; Portland State University; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and will likely offer some key insights into how the department is planning to address campus antisemitism. The Trump administration has signaled it would take a harder line on colleges that don’t, in its view, sufficiently protect Jewish students’ civil rights.
“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 Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, in a statement.
Republicans and current Trump administration officials have critically described the Biden administration’s handling of the issue as “toothless.” And as part of his broader campaign to crack down on campus antisemitism, Trump promised to take accreditation away from any institution that violated a student’s civil rights.
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