U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Sends Letters to 60 Universities Under Investigation for Antisemitic Discrimination and Harassment
Letters warn of potential enforcement actions if institutions do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus.
News Release from US Department of Education, March 10, 2025
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters to 60 institutions of higher education warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities. The letters are addressed to all U.S. universities that are presently under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.
“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,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “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 schools that received letters from the Office for Civil Rights include:
American University
Arizona State University
Boston University
Brown University
California State University, Sacramento
Chapman University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Drexel University
Eastern Washington University
Emerson College
George Mason University
Harvard University
Illinois Wesleyan University
Indiana University, Bloomington
Johns Hopkins University
Lafayette College
Lehigh University
Middlebury College
Muhlenberg College
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
Pacific Lutheran University
Pomona College
Portland State University
Princeton University
Rutgers University
Rutgers University-Newark
Santa Monica College
Sarah Lawrence College
Stanford University
State University of New York Binghamton
State University of New York Rockland
State University of New York, Purchase
Swarthmore College
Temple University
The New School
Tufts University
Tulane University
Union College
University of California Davis
University of California San Diego
University of California Santa Barbara
University of California, Berkeley
University of Cincinnati
University of Hawaii at Manoa
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
University of North Carolina
University of South Florida
University of Southern California
University of Tampa
University of Tennessee
University of Virginia
University of Washington-Seattle
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Wellesley College
Whitman College
Yale University
Background:
The Department’s OCR sent these letters 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. National origin includes shared (Jewish) ancestry.
Pursuant to Title VI and in furtherance of President Trump’s Executive Order “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism,” the Department launched directed investigations into five universities where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported. The 55 additional universities are under investigation or monitoring in response to complaints filed with OCR. Last week, the Department, alongside fellow members of the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism including the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. General Services Administration, announced the immediate cancelation of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University due to the school’s continued inaction to protect Jewish students from discrimination. Last Friday, OCR directed its enforcement staff to make resolving the backlog of complaints alleging antisemitic violence and harassment, many which were allowed to languish unresolved under the previous administration, an immediate priority.
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BACKGROUND: