Protest supporting Palestinians at Arizona State University's Tempe campus on Friday, April 26, 2024
Arizona State University is one of dozens of universities being investigated by the Trump Administration for alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters to the institutions, warning them of potential enforcement if they do not protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.
The investigation is a response to protests that occurred on college campuses last year in support of Palestine, after the October 7th Hamas-led attacks on Israel and pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order, Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism.
The universities that received letters are under investigation for antisemitic harassment and discrimination according to the Department.
If found culpable, the institutions risk losing federal funding as a consequence like what happened to Columbia University last week.
A multi-agency task force made up of the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education, and the U.S. General Services Administration pulled about $400 million in federal grants and contracts due to, “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students” according to a press release which goes on to state, “These cancellations represent the first round of action and additional cancellations are expected to follow.”
The Trump Administration reinstated EO 13899 that was initially issued in December 2019, as a result of the 2023 attack– pursuant to this policy, the Department of Education launched “directed investigations” into five universities where alleged “widespread antisemitic harassment” had been reported including Columbia University, Northwestern University, Portland State University, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
ASU and the other 54 universities, “are under investigation or monitoring in response to complaints filed with OCR.”
Other universities that had similar protests, like the University of Arizona, were not on the list.
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