The Trump administration said Wednesday that it would normally use the law to investigate racist practices within police departments to investigate whether the University of California system is engaged in patterns or practices of anti-Semitism.
The Justice Department's move two days after other federal agencies announced a review of Columbia University's federal contracts, determined whether such funds should be found to be suspected of failing to protect Jewish students and faculty on campus.
President Trump has long been pushing American universities and universities out of his campus for policies towards protests on campus against Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip.
Some Jewish teachers and staff complained that such protests were characterized by anti-Semitic rhetoric that made them feel harassed and hindered the camp's ability to freely travel back and forth between classes.
“This Department of Justice will always defend Jewish Americans, protect civil rights, and use our resources to eradicate institutional anti-Semitism at our nation's universities,” Attorney General Pam Bondy said in a statement.
The University of California System said in a statement that it was “unshakable by its commitment to combat anti-Semitism and protecting civil rights for all.” We continue to take concrete steps to foster an environment that is free from harassment and discrimination against everyone in our university community. ”
The Department of Justice's pattern or practice enquiries study a wide range of conduct by agencies to see whether they allow or encourage abuse of certain groups, rather than criminal investigations. For decades, patterns or practice laws have been used primarily to investigate local and state police stations for the unfair treatment of people of color.
Reconciliation in such cases usually involves departments that agree to make concrete changes to their training and policies to eradicate problematic actions or practices.
Republican administrations generally have taken a more aggressive approach to such investigations than Democrats, and the Trump administration suspended such work in late January. Using the law to investigate the university system rather than the police department, the Trump administration is pressing for the debate that Trump first made during his campaign, with Democrats promoting racist treatment of white people.
The Ministry of Education last month published a survey on “wide-spread anti-Semitism” at five universities. Columbia. Northwest; Portland; University of California, Berkeley. University of Minnesota.
Last month, Linda McMahon urged her to focus on what he said was a backlog of anti-Semitism cases in the Civil Rights Office during a confirmation hearing as Secretary of Education, Louisiana Republican Speaker and Chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “I look forward to doing that,” McMahon said. She was confirmed in a post Monday.
The Department of Justice investigation attempts to determine whether the UC system violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The law allows the Department of Justice to begin investigating state and local government employers who have reason to believe there is a “pattern or practice” of discrimination.
The Trump administration has created a Multiple Task Force to combat anti-Semitism, and both actions this week have been billed as the first major move of its job. Last month, Trump administration officials announced that task force members would visit 10 schools across the country to discuss their campus anti-Semitism concerns about staff and students.
On Monday, the Department of Health and Human Services and Education identified a contract worth around $51.4 million in a contract between Columbia and the federal government that could be blocked as a result of the Trump administration saying it was a “continued omission in the face of Jewish harassment” at schools.
In a statement Monday evening, Colombia said it was reviewing its announcement and “looks forward to continuing work with the new federal government to combat anti-Semitism.”
According to 2024 financial statements, more than a quarter of Colombia's annual operating revenue comes from federal sources. Much of this comes from federal research grants.
Michael C. Bender Reports of contributions.
