Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Education has warned 60 colleges via letters that it could take enforcement action against them if it determines they aren’t doing enough to protect Jewish students from discrimination or harassment, the agency announced Monday.
- All 60 colleges — which include high-profile institutions like Columbia University, Yale University and University of Southern California – are under investigation by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
- The news comes only days after several federal agencies pulled $400 million of Columbia’s grants and contracts over concerns that university administrators hadn’t quelled antisemitism on campus. When announcing the move, the Trump administration threatened to take similar actions against other colleges.
Dive Insight:
The Education Department’s letters escalate the Trump administration’s scrutiny over the way high-profile colleges are responding to student protests in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. The list of colleges include well-heeled private institutions, small liberal arts colleges and large public universities.
Education Department warns 60 colleges about antisemitism concerns
“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,” U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a Monday statement.
McMahon described the taxpayer funding that colleges receive as a “privilege” requiring “scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”
Five of the listed universities — Columbia; Northwestern University; Portland State University; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities — have been under investigation by the Education Department since early February.
At the time, the Education Department cited reports of “widespread antisemitic harassment” and said the investigations built on a Republican-led House report in October accusing high-profile universities of making “shocking concessions” to pro-Palestinian protesters who set up encampments last spring.
The other 55 colleges are either under investigation or being monitored due to complaints filed with the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, according to the agency's Monday announcement.
The recent revocation of $400 million of Columbia’s grants and contracts underscore that the Trump administration isn’t making empty threats.
In a Truth Social post, President Donald Trump likewise warned colleges that the administration would pull federal funding from colleges that allow “illegal protests” and threatened to arrest, deport and expel student demonstrators. The post sparked concerns from free speech and civil liberties advocates that it would chill constitutionally protected speech and strip students of due process.
The Trump administration has already taken action against at least one student protester. On Saturday, federal immigration agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate of Columbia and a prominent Palestinian activist.
Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident who holds a green card, represented student activists in negotiations with Columbia’s administration last spring to end the protest encampment on the institution’s lawn.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alleged that Khalil “led activities aligned to Hamas,” The Associated Press reported. Shortly after Khalil's arrest, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared the story on social media and said the Trump administration would revoke student visas and green cards of “Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday slammed Khalil’s arrest.
“This arrest is unprecedented, illegal, and un-American. The federal government is claiming the authority to deport people with deep ties to the U.S. and revoke their green cards for advocating positions that the government opposes,” Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU’s speech, privacy and technology project, said in a statement.
PEN America, a free expression group, echoed those concerns.
“The rounding up and detention of a Columbia University student protest leader by federal agents raises serious free expression concerns,” the group said in a statement. “This escalation is the latest move in a string of actions meant to quash activism around the war in Gaza, but it also represents a slippery slope that could lead to the targeting of more activists on a range of issues.”
