antisemitism

Harvard to Pay $500 Million to Trade Schools in Rumored Deal with Feds

Harvard may soon pay $500 million to Massachusetts “workforce and vocational programs” to redress its violation of Jewish students’ civil rights, multiple news outlets report.

In exchange, sources “close to the negotiations” told The New York Times, the Trump administration will unfreeze billions of dollars in federal funding to the university.

Harvard has gone without $2.8 billion in federal grants and contracts since April, when the government determined the university’s prolonged ill-treatment of Jewish students disqualified it from receiving federal funding.

Shortly before the funding freeze, the federal Joint Task Force Combatting Antisemitism warned Harvard:

[Taxpayers’ funding to U.S. colleges and universities] are an investment and, like any investment, are based on the recipient’s performance, not owed as a matter of custom or right.

Harvard sued to get the money back, arguing the Trump administration hadn’t followed proper procedure. But months later, a judge has yet to rule on the case and the crucial funds remain frozen.

The rumored deal requires significant sacrifices on Harvard’s part — but it’s not nearly as stringent as some of the government’s previous proposals.

The university would have to follow federal civil rights and merit-based hiring laws, for instance, but the government reportedly won’t appoint an independent compliance monitor, as previous communications had promised.

News of the negotiations prompted a group of more 14,000 Harvard alumni, students, faculty and members of the public to sign a letter urging the school’s leadership not to “give in.”

But the school may no longer have a choice. It lost substantial bargaining power in late June, when a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) investigation concluded Harvard was in “violent violation” of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

HHS’ findings mirrored Harvard’s own, much-delayed report on campus antisemitism.

The report, which surveyed 477 Jewish and Israeli students and collected thousands of faculty, student and staff experiences via 50 “listening sessions,” found:

  • One in four (26%) felt “physically unsafe” at Harvard.
  • Half (49%) felt Harvard did not “[support] their wellbeing.”
  • More than two-thirds (67%) felt uncomfortable expressing their opinions, and most (73%) felt uncomfortable “expressing their political opinions specifically.”
  • Nearly 60% claimed they had “experienced some form of discrimination, stereotyping or negative bias on campus due to [their] views on current events.”
  • Three in four (75%) believed there were “academic and professional penalties” for expressing their opinions.

There’s no question in anyone’s mind that Harvard violated the law. Now, school leadership must determine which settlement will be least costly.

Antisemitism exacts a high price from society and from the human soul. The cost of enabling such virulent evil should be similarly exorbitant.

Additional Articles and Resources

Harvard Violated Civil Rights Act, Federal Investigation Concludes

White House Considers Taking Billions from Harvard; Giving to Trade Schools Instead

McMahon to Harvard: No More Federal Grants

Harvard Antisemitism Investigation Reveals Pervasive Mistreatment of Jewish Students

Harvard Sues Feds Over Multi-Billion Dollar Funding Freeze

Harvard Antisemitism Could Cost It $8.9 Billion, Feds Say

Harvard Violated Civil Rights Act, Federal Investigation Concludes

Harvard University violated the Civil Rights Act by ignoring and perpetuating antisemitism on campus, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has concluded.

“After a thorough investigation, HHS’ Office of Civil Rights finds that Harvard University is in violent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin,” the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, of which HHS is a member, notified Harvard President Alan Garber of the investigation’s conclusion, declaring:

Harvard has been in some cases indifferent, and in other has been a willful participant in antisemitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty and staff.

HHS’ findings echo those in Harvard’s own, much-delayed report on campus antisemitism, which concluded:

  • One in four Jewish and Israeli students (26%) felt “physically unsafe” at Harvard.
  • Half (49%) felt Harvard did not “[support] their wellbeing.”
  • More than two-thirds (67%) felt uncomfortable expressing their opinions, and most (73%) felt uncomfortable “expressing their political opinions specifically.”
  • Nearly 60% claimed they had “experienced some form of discrimination, stereotyping or negative bias on campus due to [their] views on current events.”
  • Three in four (75%) believed there were “academic and professional penalties” for expressing their opinions.

Harvard’s report cited Jewish and Israeli students, faculty and staff who reported hiding their Jewish identity to avoid harassment. Others described being barred from campus clubs and facilities.

Despite clear evidence of rampant antisemitism, victims testified, Harvard failed to communicate and enforce campus rules or create a system to investigate harassment.

In its letter to Garber, the task force pointedly noted:

Harvard did not dispute our findings of fact, nor could it.

Though unsurprising, HHS’ finished investigation marks another important step toward stripping the school of federal funding.

Harvard is on track to receive nearly $9 billion federal tax dollars in the next several years. The Trump administration froze $2.8 billion-worth of these contracts and grants in April, alleging the university forfeited the funds by breaking federal civil rights law.

Harvard and its allies quickly sued over the funding freeze, claiming the government could not withhold federal money for civil rights violations without conducting an official investigation and giving the school time to fix ongoing abuses.

HHS’ official investigation and notice to President Garber could help fulfill these requirements and give the government a leg up when the case goes to court in July.

Publicly, Harvard remains at odds with the Trump administration, not just over antisemitism, but over refusing to cooperate with immigration law enforcement, accepting donations from foreign countries and failing to jettison “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” policies.

Still, the president claims successful negotiations are occurring behind closed doors.

“We have been working closely with Harvard, and it is very possible that a deal will be announced over the next week or so,” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on June 20.

“They have acted extremely appropriately during these negotiations and appear to be committed to doing what is right,” he continued.

Such a deal may have to wait until the geopolitical landscape settles down, but the Daily Citizen sincerely hopes the elite institution has changed its tune. History teaches us antisemitism is wrong and cannot be allowed to fester.

The joint task force makes a similar note in its letter to Garber.

“As history has proven, the failure to face the reality of antisemitism can have catastrophic effects,” it warns, further referencing Yiddish literary scholar Ruth Wisse:

The Holocaust engulfed Europe due to the “disbelief, incredulity and denial on the part of both victims and onlookers” which “worked to the advantage of those who wanted to eradicate the Jews.”

Harvard needs a strong dose of moral clarity and a renewed will to fight antisemitism. Until then, it shouldn’t receive a single dime of taxpayers’ money.

Additional Articles and Resources

White House Considers Taking Billions from Harvard; Giving to Trade Schools Instead

McMahon to Harvard: No More Federal Grants

Harvard Antisemitism Investigation Reveals Pervasive Mistreatment of Jewish Students

Harvard Sues Feds Over Multi-Billion Dollar Funding Freeze

Columbia on Notice: Federal Investigation Concludes University Violated Jewish Students’ Civil Rights

Columbia University has violated the civil rights of Jewish students for going on two years, a federal investigation concludes.

“Columbia University violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by acting with deliberate indifference towards student-on-student harassment of Jewish students,” the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education (DOE) revealed in investigatory findings released last week.

The lengthy report concludes a three-month investigation into Columbia by the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a group of four federal agencies, including DOE and HHS, tasked with finding and prosecuting “perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”

Now, the school is on official notice. It must comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act or face the Department of Justice in court — and risk losing $5 billion in federal funding.

Title VI

Title VI forbids federally-funded institutions from discriminating against people on the grounds of race, color or national origin, including denying them benefits conferred to others or excluding them from activities.

The federal government can revoke funding to institutions that violate Title VI, but only after proving it in court. To show Columbia violated Jewish students’ civil rights, the Department of Justice must prove:

  • Jewish students at Columbia experienced “severe or pervasive” harassment due to their race, skin color or nationality.
  • Columbia knew about the harassment.
  • Columbia could have done something about the harassment.
  • Columbia was “deliberately indifferent” to the harassment, which could include failing to respond to complaints, only responding after a “lengthy and unjustified delay,” or responding in a way that is “clearly unreasonable in light of the known circumstances.”

DOE and HHS cite evidence proving each of these points. If Columbia fails to address the violations voluntarily, the Department of Justice will take the school to court.

Findings

The report paints a picture of an institution unwilling or unable to protect Jewish students — despite lip service to the contrary.

It describes frequent, unsanctioned protests preventing Jewish students from accessing library and research facilities or making them afraid to walk to class; references passages from Columbia’s own internal antisemitism reports, which describe pro-Hamas students shouting genocidal slurs like, “Yes Hamas, we love you, we support your rockets, too”; and highlights the experiences of students like Eden Yadegar, who testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce in February 2024.

“At Columbia University, the Jewish community is alone,” Yadegar told representatives, continuing:

We are ostracized, mocked, harassed, assaulted and scapegoated, simply because of our identities.
We cautiously map the routes we take to class to avoid being yelled at, spit on, accused of committing genocide or threatened by calls for genocide.

Though the investigation documents this evidence and more, DOE and HHS claim Columbia’s actions in April and May 2024 alone violated Title VI.

Gaza Solidarity Encampment

Cast your mind back to April 2024, when Columbia students set up a tent village on campus in “solidarity” with Palestine (and Hamas).

The intractable camp shut down campus, caused commencement to be cancelled and necessitated several police raids. Trespassing, violence and vandalism occurred on a massive scale.

Between April 17, 2024, when the so-called “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” formed, and May 6, 2024, when Columbia canceled commencement, DOE and HHS say Columbia’s campus environment met the legal standard for “deliberate indifference.”

Condition One: Jewish students experienced “pervasive and severe” harassment based on their nationality and race.

The Gaza Solidarity Encampment implicitly — and often explicitly — called for Israel’s destruction and the death of Israeli civilians. Jewish students not only faced verbal and physical harassment, but were deprived of academic experiences and opportunities.

HHS and DOE find:

[The Gaza Solidarity Encampment] blocked Jewish students from accessing classes, buildings and dormitories; caused significant destruction of university property shared by all students; and created an environment of intimidation and fear.

Students attended online classes for the last twenty days of the semester. The graduating class of 2024 did not receive a commencement ceremony.

The investigative report cites U.S. legal precedent describing when harassment becomes a civil rights violation:

Student-on-student harassment violates Title VI where it is so severe or pervasive that it “effectively bars the victim’s access to an educational opportunity or benefit.”

Condition Two: Columbia knew about the mistreatment of Jewish students.

Columbia’s administration was well aware of the disruptive encampment and protester’ ‘vile treatment of fellow students.

On April 18, 2024, Columbia’s former president, Minouche Shafik, called the NYPD to break up the tent city.

On April 21, an Orthodox Rabbi affiliated with Columbia told 300 Jewish students to flee campus until “the reality in and around campus ha[d] improved.”

In an April 29 statement asking campers to voluntarily disperse, Shafik herself wrote:

  • “The encampment has created an unwelcoming environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty.”
  • “External actors have contributed to creating a hostile environment in violation of Title VI, especially around our gates, that is unsafe for everyone — including our neighbors.”
  • “[The encampment] represents a noisy distraction for our students studying for exams and everyone trying to complete the academic year.”

Condition Three: Columbia could have done something about the harassment.

The encampment was comprised of Columbia students trespassing on Columbia’s land and vandalizing Columbia’s property. Administrators had internal and external mechanisms to solve these problems, including suspending and expelling students that violated school policy and calling law enforcement to remove trespassers.

Condition Four: Columbia’s response to the encampment was “clearly unreasonable” and only occurred after a “lengthy and unjustified delay.”

Though the Gaza Solidarity Encampment violated Columbia’s policies regarding protests and campus conduct, school leadership publicly waffled on confronting it.

On April 18, 2024, the NYPD tore the camp down and arrested 100 rowdy protesters at Shafik’s request.

Three days later, the tents went back up but, instead of calling the police, Shafik shifted all classes online.

On April 23, the administration gave campers yet another deadline to disperse, which they ignored. No action was taken.

On April 26, Shafik stated she did not plan to call the NYPD back to campus, apparently bowing to pressure from a contingent of faculty and staff who demanded administrators stop disciplining protesters.

On April 29, Shafik again asked campers to voluntarily disperse (because that had worked so well before). Instead, protesters invaded Hamilton Hall and assaulted custodial staff. Importantly, HHS and DOE note:

Some of the students who occupied Hamilton Hall … were not suspended until March 13, 2025.

On May 6, after failing to quell the encampment, Shafik cancelled graduation.

The report connects the cancellation to Columbia’s inaction:

The University repeatedly disregarded its internal policies and procedures … in allowing the encampments to remain, which resulted in the university’s inability to secure the Morningside campus to allow the 2024 Commencement Ceremony to proceed, and blocked student use of campus for twenty days.
Why It Matters

Columbia’s treatment of Jewish students is a referendum on civil rights.

This university has publicly, persistently and brazenly refused to protect their own students from abuse since at least 2023. All the while, faculty and staff members support protesters calling for Jewish students’ deaths.

For more than a year, it seemed they would get away with it. Christian families stared down a new normal — a world in which civil rights belong only to the intellectual elite and their acolytes.

By holding Columbia accountable for its actions, the government has reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the rights of all Americans.

That’s something everyone can celebrate.

Additional Articles and Resources

Feds Yank $400 Million from Columbia University Following Continued Antisemitism

Antisemitism at Columbia Alive and Well

New York Drops Charges Against Pro-Hamas Protesters Who Stormed Hamilton Hall

INVESTIGATION: Who funds anti-Israel protests?

Jewish Students Urged to Flee Columbia University Following Antisemitic Protest

Harvard Antisemitism Could Cost It $8.9 Billion, Feds Say

Harvard could lose more than $8.9 billion in government grants and contracts pending a federal investigation into campus antisemitism and civil rights violations.

In a letter notifying the university of the review, representatives of the federal government’s Joint Task Force Combatting Antisemitism wrote:

U.S. taxpayers invest enormously in U.S. colleges and universities, including Harvard University. These funds are an investment and, like any investment, are based on the recipient’s performance, not owed as a matter of custom or right.

To maintain its “financial relationship with the United States government,” the letter continues, Harvard must make critical reforms, including:

  • Banning masks on campus, which will prevent protesters from covering their faces.
  • Clarifying and enforcing rules about when, where and how students can protest.
  • Disciplining students who have committed antisemitic violations of school rules.  
  • Adopting “merit-based” hiring and admissions policies, rather than selecting employees and students of certain races, sexes and ideological perspectives.
  • Cooperating with law enforcement to protect students’ safety.

The Joint Task Force Combatting Antisemitism (task force) coalesced in early February to enforce “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism,” an executive order directing the federal government to “vigorously, using all available and appropriate tools, prosecute, remove or otherwise hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”

In March, the task force canceled more than $400 million grants and contracts with Columbia University, citing its “appalling inaction” against campus antisemitism.

Catastrophic loss of funding proved an effective incentive for Columbia to address its toxic campus climate. Within a month, the school committed, in part, to:

  • Implement a “strict anti-masking policy” with punishments for violators.
  • Cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security regarding immigration and visa laws.
  • Beef up campus security and give them permission to eject hostile or unsafe protesters.
  • Complete disciplinary proceedings against protesters that participated in pro-Palestine demonstrations and encampments, like last year’s takeover of Hamilton Hall.
  • Increase thought diversity among staff.

On March 25, reports alleged acting president Katrina Armstrong told faculty Columbia would not stick to some of the commitments it made to task force. In just three days, Columbia’s Board of Trustees replaced her.

The task force applauded Columbia for its swift action in a statement, calling the change an “important step” in continuing negotiations to reestablish Columbia’s “financial relationship with the United States government.”

The threat of forfeiting billions of dollars has had a similarly salutary effect on Harvard. Just days after the task force announced its review, the college suspended the Palestine Solidarity Committee, a group that frequently mounts disruptive campus protests.

“Harvard College placed the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee on probation and banned the organization from hosting public events until July on Wednesday,” the Harvard Crimson reported last week, citing the group’s failure to comply with school protesting rules.

But administrative upheaval hasn’t alleviated antisemitism’s deep roots on campuses. In the first week of April alone, Columbia had to contend with three separate protest events, two of which required security to boot people from the property.

Harvard, meanwhile, is fielding frantic calls to “fight back” against the task force’s “threats” and outside organizations continue partnering with student groups to hold antisemitic demonstrations.

I’m reminded of a comment Secretary of Health and Human Services RFK Jr. made when Columbia first lost funding:

Antisemitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues. In recent years, censorship and false narratives have transformed our great universities into greenhouse for this deadly and virulent pestilence.

For years, campus faculty and administrators fed the sickness of antisemitism. Now, an astonishing number of students have been infected. Policy adjustments alone can’t cure them.

Radical ideological change is the only permanent solution — and that takes time. In the meantime, Harvard, Columbia and the rest of their ilk will be playing whack-a-mole with the destructive ideology they once embraced.

Additional Articles and Resources

Feds Yank $400 Million from Columbia University Following Continued Antisemitism

Antisemitism at Columbia Alive and Well

New York Drops Charges Against Pro-Hamas Protesters Who Stormed Hamilton Hall

INVESTIGATION: Who funds anti-Israel protests?

Jewish Students Urged to Flee Columbia University Following Antisemitic Protest

Antisemitism — What It Is and Its Connection to the Israel-Hamas War

Israel is Under Attack—Here’s Why Christians Should Support Its Defense

Feds Yank $400 Million from Columbia University Following Continued Antisemitism

Columbia University lost $400 million in government grants and contracts today for failing to address campus antisemitism, four federal agencies have announced.

“Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding,” Linda McMahon, the Secretary of Education, wrote in a press release announcing the cuts, continuing:

For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer.

The Department of Education (ED) is one of four federal departments, including the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) and the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Justice (DOJ), comprising the Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism (Task Force).

The group coalesced on February 3 to carry out “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism,” an executive order directing the federal government to “vigorously, using all available and appropriate tools, prosecute, remove or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”

On Monday, the Task Force launched investigations into ten universities accused of Title IV civil rights complaints: Columbia, George Washington, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, New York, Northwestern, UCLA, U. of Minnesota and U. of Southern California.

It’s no surprise Columbia topped investigators’ list. Some of the most virulent acts of public antisemitism in the past year have occurred on its campus, including:

  • A “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” that frequently devolved into violence and sparked similar protests on campuses across the nation.
  • The “occupation” of Hamilton Hall, in which pro-Hamas students took over and vandalized a college building and assaulted employees inside. More than 200 people were subsequently arrested, though few experienced tangible consequences.
  • A museum-style exhibition celebrating Hamas. The two-day event included, among other horrors, a poetry reading “borrowing” from Yahya Sinwar, the deceased Hamas leader behind the October 7, 2023 massacre of more than 1,200 Israeli citizens.

The latter prompted two Jewish students, Shoshanna Aufzien and Alon Levin, to file a Title IV civil rights complaint against the school.

Title IV prohibits federally funded institutions and activities from discriminating based on race, color or national origin. These protections extend to the creation of “hostile environments,” which ED defines:

When a school staff, a student or another person engages in unwelcome conduct based on race, color or national origin that … is subjectively and 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.

The environment at Columbia has remained decidedly hostile this year.

On January 21, the first day of the semester, two students busted into a History of Modern Israel class and distributed flyers showing a boot stomping on the Star of David.

Last week, on February 26, dozens of pro-Hamas protesters took over a building at Columbia-affiliated Barnard College. According to a college spokesperson, the protesters “physically assaulted” an employee in the building, leaving them hospitalized.

Two days ago, 200 students took over Barnard’s Milstein library, preventing people from entering and “chanting anti-Israel slogans through bullhorns,” The New York Post reports. The stunt left nine protesters in handcuffs. Four were Columbia students.

This latest in a long chain of violent, hateful protests seemed prompt the Task Force to chop Columbia’s federal funding. The group noted in its press release that, even after it began its investigation, “chaos and antisemitic harassment have continued on and near campus in the days since.”

The Task Force also foreshadowed further cuts into Columbia’s whopping $5 billion federal grant endowment.

“These [$400 million in] cancellations represent the first round of action and additional cancellations are expected to follow,” the press release reads, continuing,

President Trump has been clear that any college or university that allows illegal protests and repeatedly fails to protect students from anti-Semitic harassment on campus will be subject to the loss of federal funding.

 A 2024 report from Columbia itself admits it likely violated Jewish students’ civil rights during the year’s pro-Hamas protests,

Some [documented complaints], though not all, suggest violations of federal and state law. In such cases, Columbia should provide follow-up, investigation and rigor in dealing with inappropriate behavior toward targeted groups. The frequent failures to do so, documented here, point to the troubling use of inconsistent standards which reinforce the need for specific change.

Antisemitism is evil. Columbia has allowed it to rule its campus, and the lives of its students, for going on a year. This author’s glad to see the university face the music.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says it best,

Antisemitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues…Making America healthy means building communities of trust and mutual respect based on speech freedom and open debate.

Here’s to eradicating disease in Columbia, and to a healthier future for American universities.

Additional Articles and Resources

Antisemitism at Columbia Alive and Well

New York Drops Charges Against Pro-Hamas Protesters Who Stormed Hamilton Hall

INVESTIGATION: Who funds anti-Israel protests?

Jewish Students Urged to Flee Columbia University Following Antisemitic Protest

Antisemitism — What It Is and Its Connection to the Israel-Hamas War

Israel is Under Attack—Here’s Why Christians Should Support Its Defense