Federal health department to investigate medical schools over pro-Palestinian graduation protests

Authorities are signaling that federal funding for medical research at these universities could be on the line if they fail to comply.

By Andrew Lapin, JTA

A tool for policing campus antisemitism, which since Oct. 7 had been largely limited to the U.S. Department of Education, is now expanding into other federal departments under President Donald Trump’s directive.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced this week that it, too, will be conducting Title VI investigations into allegations of antisemitism.

The first investigations are into four elite medical schools — at Harvard, Columbia, Brown and Johns Hopkins universities — that the department said received “reports of antisemitic incidents during their 2024 commencement ceremonies.”

In a statement, HHS said it will seek to determine whether those medical programs “acted with deliberate indifference regarding events that may have impacted Jewish students’ rights to access educational opportunities and benefits.”

Authorities are signaling that federal funding for medical research at these universities could be on the line if they fail to comply. The release spotlights hundreds of millions of federal dollars that have reached the schools under investigation.

“The reviews come in response to reported incidents of antisemitism and displays of offensive symbols and messaging during the ceremonies, including alleged expressions of support for terrorist organizations,” a press release from the department announced Monday.

The expansion of Title VI investigations comes as Trump is reportedly taking steps to dismantle the education department, which also opened five new Title VI probes this week.

The two departments and the Justice Department are represented in Trump’s new federal task force that pledges to tackle campus antisemitism more aggressively.

At least one of the new HHS investigations appears to be inspired by a study published in an Israeli medical journal by two American Jewish doctors.

The study’s authors, Steven Roth and Hedy S. Wald, reviewed footage of recent commencement ceremonies at a range of medical schools, including Harvard, for signs of clothing or behavior they considered “either openly antisemitic or potentially offensive or insensitive.”

(The study was summarized in a New York Post article cited by HHS investigators in a letter to Harvard, according to the Harvard Crimson.)

Roth and Wald — the latter is a Brown professor and commissioner of The Lancet medical journal’s Commission on Medicine, Nazism and the Holocaust — found that 2.5% of the graduating cohort they studied wore “symbols representing antisemitic themes” and 1.7% wore buttons, banners or signs or engaged in verbal protests.

The doctors say in the study that they classified the wearing of a keffiyeh, or traditional Palestinian head scarf, as “antisemitic regalia.”

Among other examples the study classified as antisemitic: signs reading “Stop Bombing Hospitals,” “Honor Our Oath — Free Palestine” and “Harvard Med Funds Genocide.”

In response to the investigation, Harvard Medical School issued a statement saying that it “condemns antisemitism and remains committed to combating all forms of discrimination and harassment.”

Representatives at the other three universities under investigation did not immediately respond to Jewish Telegraphic Agency requests for comment.

Trump’s controversial nominee for health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has yet to be confirmed but recently won over key Senate votes that make his confirmation more likely.

Even without his confirmation, federal funding for medical research under Trump is facing significant cuts.