Education Department says universities must take action to stop antisemitism

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is warning U.S. schools and colleges that they must take immediate action to stop antisemitism and other religious discrimination on their campuses, citing an “alarming rise” in threats and harassment.

In a Tuesday letter, the Education Department said there is “renewed urgency” to fight discrimination against students during the Israel-Hamas war. The letter reminds schools of their legal duty to protect students and intervene to stop harassment that disrupts their education.

“The rise of reports of hate incidents on our college campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict is deeply traumatic for students and should be alarming to all Americans,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. “Antisemitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of hatred go against everything we stand for as a nation.”

Universities have faced criticism over their response to the war and its reverberations at U.S. schools. Jewish and Muslim students on many campuses say too little is being done to keep them safe. Protests have sometimes turned violent, including at a recent demonstration at Tulane University, while threats of violence have upended campuses including Cornell University.

The Education Department letter offered few specifics on how colleges should respond, and it did little to answer questions about where to draw the line between political speech and harassment. Instead, it outlined schools’ broad duties under the Civil Rights Act.

It said schools must intervene to stop conduct that is “objectively offensive and is so severe or pervasive that it limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the recipient’s education program or activity.” It urged schools to “be vigilant in protecting your students’ rights.”

The Education Department investigates reports of civil rights violations at schools and universities. Institutions can face penalties up to a loss of federal money.

Meeting with a group of Jewish students from Baltimore colleges last week, Cardona said he was “appalled and horrified” by incidents of antisemitism on U.S. campuses. A White House official at the meeting noted that attacks on Arabs and Muslims have been on the rise too.

At the meeting, students called on Cardona to help colleges combat the type of casual antisemitism that they fear will escalate into violence.

Students at Towson University described a recent prayer gathering that was disrupted when other students wrote “(expletive) the Jews” on a nearby chalkboard. Online chat boards have been littered with antisemitic insults, they said, some singling out Jews on campus.

Makayla Bernstein, president of Towson Hillel, said the Education Department’s letter is a strong start but needs to go farther. She was hoping for clearer guidance to help colleges identify rhetoric or behavior that should be considered antisemitic.

“Leaders on our campus have been having a hard time knowing where the line is,” Bernstein said. Anything short of violence has been tolerated, she added, with other forms of antisemitism “falling through the cracks.”

“Hopefully our president will be reading this letter and realize that there are many students who are afraid to walk around campus right now,” she said.