Author: Kat Ramkumar

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent a letter to sixty higher education institutions on Monday warning them of “potential enforcement actions” if they don’t comply with actions under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1963 prohibits any institution receiving federal funds from discriminating based on race, color and national origin, which includes Jewish students. 

“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 release. 

The release also states that the letter was shared to U.S. universities already under investigation for Title VI violations relating to “antisemitic harassment and discrimination.” 

In January, President DonalTrump signed an executive order coined “Additional Measure to Combat Anti-Semitism,” which led to the creation of a multi-agency task force to “root out anti-Semetic harassment in schools and on college campuses.” The department launched an investigation into five universities and expanded to 55 more after complaints were filed. 

This release also follows the wake of the Trump Administration cancelling around $400 million in federal grants and funding to Columbia University, citing inaction of protecting Jewish students from discrimination. Last week, U.S Immigrations and Customs Enforcement arrested a Columbia University graduate student with a green card for leading pro-Palestine protests; a move the Department of Homeland Security deems “anti-semitic.”

“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,” Trump said in a Truth Social Post. 

However, the constitutionality behind Trump’s “anti-semitism” orders remain unanswered. 

Universities that receive a letter 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