Education Secretary Miguel Cardona sent a letter Friday to college and university presidents condemning “abhorrent” instances of antisemitism on campuses, the latest response from the White House and Congress to the spate of pro-Palestinian campus protests roiling schools across the nation.
“As the 2023-24 school year comes to a close, I remain incredibly concerned by the reports of antisemitic hate directed at students on some campuses,” said the letter, first obtained by .
Cardona highlighted a “sharp rise in reports of antisemitism targeting Jewish students on some college campuses” in recent days. He also highlighted available resources, saying his department is “eager to provide further resources, training, technical assistance.”
Cardona’s letter comes ahead of a planned Friday meeting with a group of Jewish leaders, the first meeting he has held with them since Oct. 30.
War in Israel and Gaza
It comes a day after President Joe Biden spoke out forcefully on the unrest, saying there is a right to protest but not to cause chaos. He also condemned hate speech and violence as a whole, whether “it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans.”
To that end, the Education Department opened an investigation Thursday to determine whether Columbia University discriminated against Palestinian students and their supporters. It follows a lawsuit filed on behalf of four students and the campus group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine by Palestine Legal, an advocacy group, with the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR).
Columbia is now one of eight schools under investigation by the department into potential Title VI violations since April 22.
Pro-Palestinian Student Protests
Meanwhile, Congress looks poised to double down on its public support of Israel with a potential invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed Thursday evening that he intends to join House Speaker Mike Johnson’s invitation, saying the timing is currently being worked out. Johnson said the letter was drafted as a bicameral request and sent a month ago to Schumer but that the Democrat was sitting on it. Schumer said in a high-profile March speech on the Senate floor that Netanyahu had “lost his way.”
Also part of the congressional response is a controversial House-passed bill defining antisemitism, which is now seeing roadblocks in the Senate. The bill would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism and empower the Education Department to use it to enforce anti-discrimination laws.
While it passed the House 320-91 Wednesday evening, serious bipartisan concerns over First Amendment infringement since then have caused delays in fast-tracking the bill. Schumer said Thursday evening he will be looking for the best way forward on the matter now.
House Republicans have also initiated several investigations into the protests as part of what Johnson called a House-wide probe of antisemitism in America. Part of the inquiry includes a probe into potential violations of the Civil Rights Act, involving testimony from the heads of Yale University, the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Michigan. Another hearing will gather information on the Metropolitan Police Department’s handling of the protests at George Washington University in the nation’s capital.
Despite the crackdown from lawmakers, the college protests are showing few signs of stopping. As of Friday, the number of protesters arrested on campuses topped 2,000.
At the New School in New York City, police arrested 44 people Friday morning as the school looked to break up pro-Palestinian encampments erected by students. An additional 13 people were arrested at New York University.
At SUNY New Paltz in New York, police arrested 133 demonstrators Thursday evening and early Friday. School spokesperson Andrew Bruso said the arrests came after a 9 p.m. deadline for students to leave expired without any action.
The campus demonstrations originated after the Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas on Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. Israeli forces retaliated with unrelenting airstrikes on Gaza that leveled much of the strip, followed by a ground assault that the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians combined.
While initial protests on American campuses were sporadic, small, disorganized and largely relegated to schools with large Jewish populations, they’ve since grown in size and complexity and have all but paralyzed some of the country’s most elite campuses, where political free speech is pitted against a spike in antisemitic attacks that are leaving Jewish students saying they feel unsafe on campus. Many of the participants in nationwide demonstrations have recently coalesced around calls for their schools to divest financially from companies advancing Israel’s military efforts in the Gaza Strip or to separate from Israel entirely.