President Donald Trump’s administration launched investigations into antisemitism at five universities on Tuesday, following through on commitments he made during the campaign to tackle the rise of anti-Jewish hatred on campus.
The investigations will be handled by the Department of Education.
The Washington Times reported:
The five universities are Columbia, Northwestern, Portland State, the University of California Berkeley, and the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
“Too many universities have tolerated widespread antisemitic harassment and the illegal encampments that paralyzed campus life last year, driving Jewish life and religious expression underground,” said Craig Trainor, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
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He said the investigation would build on the work of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, which concluded in an Oct. 31 report that university administrators “overwhelmingly failed” to protect Jewish students as pro-Palestinian protests engulfed U.S. campuses.
House Republicans pursued the issue of antisemitism aggressively; Senate Democrats tried to cover up the problem.
Separately, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency noted that Trump has tapped civil rights legend Leo Terrell to lead a multi-agency investigation into antisemitism in America more generally:
Leo Terrell, an attorney, former O.J. Simpson supporter and ex-Fox News contributor, was appointed by the president to serve as a senior counsel in his Justice Department’s civil rights division. In that role, Terrell will also oversee the task forces, which are overseen by Justice but will include representatives from Department of Education as well as Health and Human Services.
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“Anti-Semitism in any environment is repugnant to this Nation’s ideals,” said Terrell, whose official title is Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, in the statement announcing his appointment. “The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found. The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump’s renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools.”
Under President Joe Biden, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division was conspicuously silent about the issue of antisemitism on campus.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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