Trump Education Department announces 60 more universities under scrutiny over antisemitism
By Samuel Chamberlain and Ryan King
Published March 10, 2025
The Department of Education’s civil rights arm warned 60 colleges and universities Monday that they could be next to have federal funding taken away over antisemitic discrimination and harassment on campus.
The five dozen named and shamed included six of the eight Ivy League institutions — Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton and Yale — and local schools Rutgers, Rutgers-Newark, Sarah Lawrence, three branches of the State University of New York, The New School and Wellesley.
“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,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
Other prominent Northeastern colleges targeted in the letter were Emerson College in Boston; Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Muhlenberg College and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania; and Middlebury College in Vermont.
“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,” 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.”
Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, institutions of higher education are restricted from receiving federal funds if they participate in or allow discrimination based on race, national origin or other characteristics.
Monday’s announcement comes three days after the Trump administration’s federal antisemitism task force pulled back $400 million in grants and contracts from Columbia following monthslong Jew-hating demonstrations following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel by Hamas.
Shortly after taking office, President Trump signed an executive order instructing the department and key federal agencies to crack down on antisemitism on campuses across the country.
Following that directive, the Education Department began investigating five universities: Columbia, Northwestern, the University of Portland, Cal-Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota.
On Monday, the department publicly confirmed that 55 additional institutions of higher education are now subject to a probe or monitoring over complaints that had been issued to the department’s Office for Civil Rights (ORC).
ORC has been working to clear up a backlog of complaints that students have filed detailing antisemitic incidents on campus.
The Department of Education warned 60 colleges and universities Monday that they could be next to have federal funding taken away over antisemitic discrimination and harassment.
Meanwhile, the State Department is looking to possibly yank visas to foreign students who have espoused support for Hamas or broken the law during the spate of anti-Israel protests that swept campuses.
Over the weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia grad student and head of Columbia United Apartheid Divest (CUAD), with the intent of deporting him.
Higher ed is also feeling pressure from the Trump administration on funding. Harvard announced Monday that it is freezing hiring due to concerns about federal funding for research as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) pushes belt-tightening measures across the government.
On Tuesday, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it was slashing some $250 million in funding spanning more than 400 grants to Columbia University in response to concerns about campus policies.
“The cancellations are due to Columbia University’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students,” NIH said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Columbia University told The Post that the school is still reviewing the announcement and will “work with the federal government to restore Columbia’s federal funding.”
“We take Columbia’s legal obligations seriously and understand how serious this announcement is and are committed to combatting antisemitism and ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff,” the spokesperson added.
The full list of schools contacted by the Department of Education include: American University, Arizona State, Boston University, Brown, Cal State-Sacramento, Chapman University, Columbia, Cornell, Drexel, Eastern Washington, Emerson College, George Mason, Harvard, Illinois Wesleyan, Indiana, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Lehigh, Middlebury, Muhlenberg, Northwestern, Ohio State, Pacific Lutheran, Pomona College, Portland State University, Princeton, Rutgers, Rutgers-Newark, Santa Monica College, Sarah Lawrence, Stanford, SUNY-Binghamton, SUNY-Rockland, SUNY-Purchase, Swarthmore, Temple University, The New School, Tufts, Tulane, Union College, UC-Davis, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, Cal-Berkeley, Cincinnati, University of Hawaii, UMass-Amherst, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Florida, USC, University of Tampa, Tennessee, Virginia, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin, Wellesley, Whitman College, and Yale.
Comments