The Department of Education on Monday opened investigations into "widespread antisemitic harassment" at Columbia University and four other schools in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians.
The probe stems from an executive order President Donald Trump signed last week announcing that the federal government will "combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence."
Along with Columbia, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights is investigating the University of California, Berkeley, and Northwestern University under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The law protects students from discrimination and harassment based on national origin, including shared ancestry.
"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. The Biden Administration’s toothless resolution agreements did shamefully little to hold those institutions accountable," acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor said in a statement. "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."
Also under investigation are Portland State University and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
"These investigations build upon the foundational work of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce under then-Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, which found that university administrations 'overwhelmingly failed' to protect or support their Jewish students, even making 'astounding concessions' to illegal, anti-American encampments," the press release announcing the probes states.
The announcement comes as the Biden administration’s Department of Education reached last-minute toothless settlements with several universities over anti-Semitism allegations just weeks before Trump’s inauguration. Biden settled with five University of California campuses, including the University of California, Los Angeles, along with Rutgers and Johns Hopkins universities. Biden's settlements allowed the universities to escape punishment for civil rights violations and to forgo any admission of wrongdoing.
Columbia continues to deal with rampant campus anti-Semitism. Just last month, for example, anti-Israel student activists unleashed mayhem at the Ivy League school to kick off the spring semester. In one instance, four keffiyeh-clad student activists stormed an Israeli history class and targeted Jewish students with anti-Semitic flyers that glorified Hamas, showed a trampled Star of David, and advocated violence. In another instance, Columbia’s leading anti-Israel student group, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, dumped cement into a building sewage system and vandalized another building with red paint.
"We are reviewing the communication from the Department of Education," a statement from the university read. "Columbia strongly condemns antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, and we are resolute that calling for, promoting, or glorifying violence or terror has no place at our University."
"Since assuming her role in August, Interim President Armstrong and her leadership team have taken decisive actions to address issues of antisemitism, including by strengthening and clarifying our disciplinary processes," the statement continued. "We look forward to ongoing work with the new federal administration to combat antisemitism and ensure the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff."
Berkeley and Northwestern saw similar rises in anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.
Last year at Berkeley, a violent protest erupted on campus over a scheduled speech by an Israeli lawyer, Ran Bar-Yoshafat. During the event, which was canceled due to the violence, mobs of anti-Israel students "choked a female student attendee, spit in another’s face, and shouted, ‘Jew, Jew, Jew.’" Meanwhile, during the anti-Israel protests at Northwestern last year, demonstrators defaced the Star of David and chanted that Jews should "go back to Germany," among other anti-Semitic incidents.
The investigations are Trump's latest move to combat campus anti-Semitism. Earlier on Monday, the Department of Justice announced a multi-agency task force intended to "root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses." Last week, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to look into deporting anti-Semitic resident aliens, including student visa holders, who broke U.S. law.
Update, 8:57 p.m.: This piece has been updated to include a statement from Columbia.