Five US universities hit with new federal anti-Semitism probe
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A photo from Aug 25, 2024, showing protesters gathering at a main entrance of Columbia University, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Five universities in the United States, including Columbia and Northwestern, are facing new federal probes over anti-Semitism on their campuses, as the Trump administration looks to pressure higher education institutions into changing their policies.
The Department of Education is opening the investigations in response to complaints since militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023, sparking war in the Middle East that led to campus protests and a spike in anti-Semitic incidents.
The other schools include the University of California, Berkeley; Portland State University and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Colleges across the US were roiled in 2024 by anti-Israel protests,
Republican lawmakers hammered the colleges at the time over their responses, bringing university presidents before Congress for hearings and issuing a scathing report that highlighted failures to respond to anti-Semitic incidents.
“Too many universities have tolerated widespread anti-Semitic harassment and the illegal encampments that paralysed campus life last year, driving Jewish life and religious expression underground,” Mr Craig Trainor, Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, said in a statement. BLOOMBERG
