WASHINGTON - Today, in line with President Trump’s commitment to protecting Jewish students, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) directed its enforcement staff to make resolving the backlog of complaints alleging antisemitic harassment and violence an immediate priority.
“After the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, American institutions of higher education erupted with antisemitic harassment and violence that denied Jewish students their right to equal access to learning, school activities, and campus facilities. Many college and university presidents took little or no credible action, and the Biden Education Department’s OCR political leadership inexplicably accumulated a backlog of complaints,” said Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor. “For the relatively few complaints actually resolved, the prior Administration’s Assistant Secretary signed off on toothless resolution agreements that provided little to no remedy for Jewish students to this day. The Trump Administration will not permit antisemitic protesters and antagonists to take over campus facilities and terrorize Jewish students and staff with impunity.”
The directive clarified that allegations of antisemitic discrimination must be addressed promptly along with other reported civil rights violations under OCR’s jurisdiction.
Background:
This OCR enforcement guidance comes today as the Department, alongside fellow members of the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism including the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), announced the immediate cancelation of approximately $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University because of the school’s inaction in the face of continuing harassment of Jewish students.