Department of Education Warns 60 Universities Over Antisemitic Discrimination and Harassment

Showing that they mean business the the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters to 60 colleges and universities warning them of potential enforcement action if they don’t do more to protect Jewish students from discrimination and harassment.

The letters are addressed to all universities that are presently under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination by the OCR.

“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. University leaders must do better,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon in a press release.

McMahon also said that college and universities benefit from taxpayer-funded support and that support is a”privilege.”

The schools that received letters from the Office for Civil Rights include:

1. American University
2. Arizona State University
3. Boston University
4. Brown University
5. California State University, Sacramento
6. Chapman University
7. Columbia University
8. Cornell University
9. Drexel University
10. Eastern Washington University
11. Emerson College
12. George Mason University
13. Harvard University
14. Illinois Wesleyan University
15. Indiana University, Bloomington
16. Johns Hopkins University
17. Lafayette College
18. Lehigh University
19. Middlebury College
20. Muhlenberg College
21. Northwestern University
22. Ohio State University
23. Pacific Lutheran University
24. Pomona College
25. Portland State University
26. Princeton University
27. Rutgers University
28. Rutgers University-Newark
29. Santa Monica College
30. Sarah Lawrence College
31. Stanford University
32. State University of New York Binghamton
33. State University of New York Rockland
34. State University of New York, Purchase
35. Swarthmore College
36. Temple University
37. The New School
38. Tufts University
39. Tulane University
40. Union College
41. University of California Davis
42. University of California San Diego
43. University of California Santa Barbara
44. University of California, Berkeley
45. University of Cincinnati
46. University of Hawaii at Manoa
47. University of Massachusetts Amherst
48. University of Michigan
49. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
50. University of North Carolina
51. University of South Florida
52. University of Southern California
53. University of Tampa
54. University of Tennessee
55. University of Virginia
56. University of Washington-Seattle
57. University of Wisconsin, Madison
58. Wellesley College
59. Whitman College
60. Yale University

Colleges and universities have become a flashpoint in the debate about the Israel-Hamas war which began on October 7, 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel killing 1,200 Israeli citizens and taking 240 hostages. Many of the protests involved pro-Hamas supporters-not all students gathering at colleges and universities across the country where they harassed Jewish students often preventing them from attending their classes and in some cases threatened violence. The schools are being investigated because they chose to let the protesters do whatever they pleased including occupying buildings rather than take action to remove them or maintain law and order. This inaction cost several college presidents their jobs and the Trump administration now wants to further investigate the aforementioned schools to see if they still qualify for federal aid.