A group representing a vast range of universities joined one of the nation's most important Jewish groups on Tuesday, urging the Trump administration to change the way it seeks to combat anti-Semitism on campus.
The federal government suddenly withdraws billions of dollars of research funds from a few elite universities and threatens to chase after others who claim they have not done enough to punish discrimination. However, the coalition, including the American Jewish Commission, argued in a joint statement Tuesday that the government should carefully follow federal law and avoid rushed actions that could endanger research breakthroughs.
Federal Civil Rights Act allows governments to block money based on discrimination. However, the law requires a detailed investigation and notification process. This is a protocol that higher education leaders believe the Trump administration has rebelled.
Unstable university leaders have struggled to persuade the White House to rethink their approach, and the joint statement represents an effort to gain leverage through public alliances beyond higher education.
“The appropriate and essential role for the US government in dealing with anti-Semitism is through the country's strong anti-discrimination laws,” the advocacy organization, the US Jewish Committee, said in a statement. The statement was signed by higher education groups, including the American Association of University and the American Council of Education.
The group said federal law allowed “active enforcement” while maintaining fairness for individuals and schools.
In particular, the American Jewish Commission warned that it would “overly broadly” cut research funding “threatening the global excellence of American research universities” while undermining the necessary fight against science and innovation and ultimately anti-Semitism.
The association and council said their schools “swear on continuous, consequential reforms and transparent actions to eradicate all other forms of anti-Semitism and hatred and prejudice from campus.”
Educational department spokesperson Maddie Biederman said in a statement Tuesday that some campus leaders have not done enough to protect students.
“A federal fund is an investment, not a right, but a right and obligation to ensure that funds flow to universities that comply with the law and maintain the market for ideas,” she said. “Universities that have lost federal funds have chosen to do so by refusing to do good about their commitment to students and taxpayers.”
The administration threatened to withdraw or pull over $12 billion in research funds designated to flow to school rosters, including Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard and Northwestern.
So far, Harvard is the only university to challenge a freeze on school-specific funding in court.
Higher education officials say they are looking for a government to follow established standards.
“It's a really important time to stick to the principles of due process and the rule of law works here,” Barbara Snyder, president of the American Association of University, said in an interview.
“Efforts to boost hatred should address real concerns and issues rather than damaging cutting-edge life-saving and life-saving research,” Ted Mitchell, chairman of the U.S. Education Council, said in a statement.
Mitchell suggested that the Trump administration's method “is not actually working to protect other students who are subject to discrimination or harassment.”
But advocates of the White House approach should note that Columbia agreed to the list of requests after the government stripped its approximately $400 million grants and contracts.
Columbia's deal with the government has sparked joy among conservative academic critics, and Snyder admitted he is unsure whether the joint statement will lead the Trump administration to change its strategy.
“I don't know if the White House and anyone else will care,” she said. I noticed her long ties with her group and the American Jewish Commission, a nonpartisan group founded in 1906.
“That's just the right thing to do,” she said.
Ted Ducci, a former Florida representative who is the Democrat and CEO of Jewish organizations, said it was intended to show that standing up for anti-Semitism and legitimate processes is not mutually exclusive.
“Both of these things are important,” he said.
The American Association of State University has also signed a joint statement, and the American Association of Community Colleges, the National Association of Independent Universities, and the Association of Public and Land Cultivation Universities.
