President Donald Trump’s Department of Education fired off letters to 60 universities on Monday warning the higher education institutions they are subject to federal investigations concerning allegations of antisemitism on campus.
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights notified five dozen universities — including Arizona State, Brown, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale — that they could be in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on race, color, or national origin.
“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,” newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
“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 antidiscrimination laws.”
The announcement comes three days after the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force pulled $400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia University due to its failure to condemn or punish antisemitic discrimination and harassment since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
The New York university holds more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments, according to the task force. More funding cancellations are expected to follow.
Columbia was one of 60 schools that received a letter from the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights this week. Other recipients included George Mason, Ohio State, Rutgers, and four campuses in the University of California system.
After taking office, Trump signed an executive order authorizing measures to tackle the recent uptick in antisemitism that has proliferated on American campuses for over a year. The multi-agency antisemitism task force — comprised of the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, Education, and the General Services Administration — is one such step toward combating antisemitism.
Last month, the Education Department first opened probes involving cases of antisemitism at Columbia; Northwestern; Portland State; the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The 55 additional universities were added to the list after the department received civil rights complaints regarding discrimination against Jewish students.
The Trump administration is also moving to arrest anti-Israel protesters and deport foreign students who have engaged in such demonstrations or sympathized with Hamas following the terror group’s attack on Israel.
Over the weekend, a pro-Palestinian activist who led Columbia’s anti-Israel encampment last spring was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former graduate student at Columbia, at his university-owned apartment Saturday night to deport him.
Khalil is said to be a legal permanent U.S. resident in possession of a green card, which an agent allegedly told Khalil’s attorney would be revoked. The man claims Palestinian heritage.
Last week, the State Department revoked the first visa of a foreign student tied to anti-Israel protests after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. will have “zero tolerance” for terror supporters. It’s unclear whether that student visa belonged to Khalil before his arrest. The department is using artificial intelligence to parse through student visa holders’ social media accounts to determine whether they have expressed sympathy toward Hamas, according to reports.
Trump touted ICE’s apprehension of Khalil on Monday, promising it is the “first arrest of many to come.”
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again,” the president posted on Truth Social.
“If you support terrorism, including the slaughtering of innocent men, women, and children, your presence is contrary to our national and foreign policy interests, and you are not welcome here. We expect every one of America’s Colleges and Universities to comply.”