Department of Education: 60 Universities Under Investigation for Antisemitic Discrimination, Harassment

President Donald Trump’s Department of Education warned 60 universities in a letter on Monday of potential enforcement actions if they continue to allow discrimination and harassment against Jewish students on campuses.

The letter from the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is the agency’s latest action cracking down on the often violent pro-Palestinian protests and riots on university campuses amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza following the horrific October 7 terror attack in Israel. 

“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,” Secretary of Education 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.”

RELATED: DOJ, HHS, GSA, DOE Cancel $400 Million in Grants, Contracts to Columbia University

The department’s OCR sent the letter under its authority to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964), which prohibits any institution that receives federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race, color, and national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry. The letter was sent to all U.S. universities that are under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination. The letter warns the institutions of enforcement actions if they do not protect Jewish students on campus, “including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and education opportunities,” the department said. 

The department pointed to its previous actions taken in accordance with President Trump’s executive order “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism,” including launching directed investigations into five universities where antisemitic harassment has been reported. The department said the 55 other universities that received letters are under investigation or monitoring in response to complaints filed to the Office of Civil Rights. 

The schools that received letters are:

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 

Last week, the Department of Education, along with several other government agencies, announced the immediate cancelation of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, citing how the institution “has abandoned” the obligation to “comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws” in order to receive federal funding.

Last week, the department also began working on the backlog of complaints alleging antisemitic violence and harassment — “many which were allowed to languish unresolved” under the Biden administration, according to the agency.

On Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s Kudlow, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon discussed antisemitism on college campuses and stated that there are “systemic issues” because “we keep seeing this over and over again,” and that “radical professors” and a failure of schools to engage in thorough vetting of students are part of the issue, but she also thinks that the influence of foreign money is a factor.

McMahon also noted that tackling the issue is “not about free speech.”

“This is about violence to students, attacking faculty. They need to call in the police. They need to get rid of this,” she said.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.