
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is one of five universities under investigation by the federal government following reports of “widespread antisemitic harassment,” the U.S. Department of Education announced.
The investigations were opened under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which protects students from discrimination and harassment based on national origin, including shared ancestry, the department explained.
Other universities targeted by the probe include Columbia University, Northwestern University, Portland State University, and the University of California, Berkeley.
“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. The Biden Administration’s toothless resolution agreements did shamefully little to hold those institutions accountable,” said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for Civil Rights.
“Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses, nor will it stand by idly if universities fail to combat Jew hatred and the unlawful harassment and violence it animates.”
A House Committee on Education and the Workforce report released last October found that universities “overwhelmingly failed to impose meaningful discipline for those who engaged in antisemitic conduct” on college campuses during a wave of anti-Israel protests last spring.
Administrators made “astounding concessions to the organizers of illegal encampments” that popped up on campuses across the country, the report said.
At the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, former Interim University President Jeff Ettinger agreed to provide “amnesty” last May to the organizers of an anti-Israel encampment in exchange for its disbandment.
Just days later, some parents were left stunned when a graduation ceremony turned into an “antisemitic hate rally.”
Then in October, a group of pro-Palestine activists barricaded themselves inside the school’s Morrill Hall, damaged property, and prevented staff from leaving the building.
This all came after a group of legislators wrote to the university regarding the “rise of antisemitism on campus.” They pointed in particular to an October 2023 statement published by some faculty members on the university’s website shortly after Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel. The statement accused Israel of using “settler colonial violence” and carrying out a “genocidal war” in Gaza.
The university said it will fully cooperate with the new investigation and remains confident in its approach to “combating hate and bias” on campus.
“The University continues to stand firmly against antisemitism,” the university told the Minnesota Daily. “We have and will continue to respond promptly and fully to any reports of harassment, intimidation, or bias against Jewish students—or any other members of our University community—in accordance with our University values, our own policies, and our responsibility under the law.”
In an exclusive statement, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer thanked President Donald Trump’s administration for opening the investigation.
“For far too long, the University of Minnesota has served as a breeding ground for radical activists to sow antisemitism and division,” said Emmer. “Maybe they’re following their Congresswoman’s lead, but regardless, this is unacceptable. Antisemitism has no place on our college campuses, and I am grateful to President Trump and his administration for investigating.”