April 1 (UPI) — The U.S. Department of Education announced the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism has launched an investigation into potential anti-Semitism on Harvard’s campus.
The Education Department announced Monday that will review the $255.6 million in federal contracts and over $8.7 billion in multi-year grant commitments awarded to Harvard and its affiliates.
The action follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in January that called for schools to take action to combat anti-Semitism, including he removal of “aliens” who engage in anti-Semitic activity.
The Education Department said it is working in conjunction with Health and Human Services and the U.S. General Services Administration to conduct a review of Harvard’s compliance.
If it’s determined that Harvard is not in compliance, it could lose its grants.
“Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination has put its reputation in serious jeopardy,” Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon said.
Columbia University has already lost $400 million in grants and contracts earmarked for the school on March 7 since the Education Department determined due to the school’s alleged “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
Columbia has since has agreed to the Task Force’s nine preconditions required to receive the canceled funds, which include the adherence to “all student visa and immigration laws in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security,” an assessment of its “portfolio of regional studies programs, starting immediately with those that teach about the Middle East and Israel,” and the clarification of what “time, place, and manner restrictions” are in place in regard to when “protests in academic buildings, and other places necessary for the conduct of university activities, are unacceptable.”
“Columbia’s early steps are a positive sign,” Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum said last week, “but they must continue to show that they are serious in their resolve to end anti-Semitism and protect all students and faculty on their campus through permanent and structural reform.”
Harvard President Alan Garber said Monday that the university still has “much work to do,” and that it “will engage with members of the federal government’s task force to combat antis-Semitism to ensure that they have a full account of the work we have done and the actions we will take up going forward to combat anti-Semitism.”
Garber added that Harvard received the warning because it hasn’t “fulfilled its obligations to curb and combat antisemitic harassment,” and that anti-Semitism “is present on our campus. I have experienced anti-Semitism directly, even while serving as president, and I know how damaging it can be to a student who has come to learn and make friends at a college or university.”
He further reported that Harvard has spent 15 months devoting “considerable effort to addressing anti-Semitism,” has strengthened its “rules and our approach to disciplining those who violate them,” and that it will “continue to combat anti-Semitism and to foster a campus culture that includes and supports every member of our community.”