Education Dept warns 60 universities under probes for alleged Jew-hatred

The 60 schools that received letters are under active investigation for alleged antisemitic harassment under the act, which prohibits institutions that receive federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color, and national origin.

By Vita Fellig, JNS

The U.S. Department of Education sent notices to 60 universities on Monday warning that they could face consequences if they fail to meet their obligations, under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, to protect Jewish college students from harassment.

Linda McMahon, the U.S. education secretary, stated that university leaders must do more to combat Jew-hatred on campus.

“The department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year,” she said. “U.S. colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers.

“That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal anti-discrimination laws,” she added.

The 60 schools that received letters are under active investigation for alleged antisemitic harassment under the act, which prohibits institutions that receive federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color, and national origin. The latter has been interpreted to include Jewish ancestry.

The Education Department announced last week that it is committed to addressing a backlog of complaints about alleged Jew-hatred that went unaddressed during the Biden administration.

Six of the eight Ivy League universities—Brown, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and Columbia—were among those notified. (The Trump administration recently announced that it was cutting about $400 million in federal funding to Columbia for its lack of response to Jew-hatred.)

Some 15 of the 60 schools were private schools in the Northeast. “New England well represented,” wrote the conservative radio host Howie Carr.

Among the other 54 schools are Boston University, Johns Hopkins University, Rutgers University, the State University of New York, The Ohio State University, the University of California (including Berkeley) and Arizona State University.