Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12:20 pm on Feb. 4 with a statement from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
The University of Minnesota is one of five schools being investigated for “widespread antisemitic harassment,” the Department of Education announced Monday afternoon. The other schools being investigated are Northwestern University, Columbia University, University of California-Berkeley, and Portland State.
“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,” said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, in a statement.
“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,” the statement said.
At the same time, President Donald Trump is planning to shut down the Department of Education. It’s unclear how that move – or the chaotic and likely unconstitutional wrestling over the funding and operations of government agencies by billionaire Elon Musk – might affect the investigations.
The investigations are being run by the Office for Civil Rights, which is part of the Department of Education. The OCR is responsible for making sure schools and universities don’t discriminate based on race, color, national origin, or shared ancestry, which is prohibited by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In a statement, the U said it would be reviewing the details of the investigation “in the days ahead.”
“We are confident in our approach to combating hate and bias on our campus and will fully cooperate with this investigation. The University continues to stand firmly against antisemitism. 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,” the statement read.
“We hope this investigation, along with other initiatives already underway, will continue to improve the campus climate for Jewish Gophers,” said Emily Boskoff, executive director of campus Jewish organization Minnesota Hillel, in a statement.
“Along with building strong and vibrant Jewish life on campus at Minnesota Hillel, the entire campus community, including the university administration, has a critical role to play in countering antisemitism and all forms of hate.”
In a statement, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas welcomed the investigation.
“While the JCRC appreciates the steps that President Rebecca Cunningham has taken to enforce existing University policies and the University’s participation in Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative, significant work remains to restore confidence among Jewish students, faculty, and staff,” the statement said.
This new investigation is seemingly unrelated to a December 2023 Title VI complaint alleging campus antisemitism, and that the Jewish community was being discriminated against by the U.
That complaint was filed by Richard Painter, a current UMN law professor and former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, and Michael Hsu, a former member of the university’s board of regents.
In early 2024, the Department of Education launched an investigation into the University of Minnesota based on the complaint, which was not completed under the Biden administration. It is not clear how that original investigation affects the newly announced effort – which is also based on Title VI.
Painter said that the initial complaint was based on the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) and some faculty members and departmental websites that “justified and excused the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7.”
The Department of Justice also announced the formation of a “Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism,” whose initial focus is “to root out anti-Semitic harassment in schools and on college campuses,” an agency statement said. DOJ is working with the Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services on the task force.
After Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the University of Minnesota – like colleges across the country – has seen a wave of anti-Israel speech that often crosses into antisemitism.
That includes chalkings openly glorifying Hamas and the Oct. 7 massacre, and statements from faculty and students justifying the attack and denying Hamas sexual violence against Israelis.
Many Jewish students have also been afraid after an encampment protesting Israel in spring 2024, and a deluge of comments from professors and other students in classes.
The U also controversially tried to hire an anti-Zionist Israeli professor, who accused Israel of perpetrating genocide against Palestinians, as the next director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Two members of the CHGS board resigned in protest of the hire.
The most recent incident on the U campus was the takeover of Morrill Hall, the campus building where many administrative offices are located, by pro-Palestinian protestors. Eleven people were arrested and more than $67,000 damage was done to the building.
“The University, under new leadership appears to be taking antisemitism and violence more seriously; President Cunningham directed the occupiers to be removed by police,” Painter said in an email to school leadership. “I urge that the University cooperate fully with the federal investigation.” He also called for the removal of antisemitic and anti-Israel CLA websites, investigate reports of antisemitism or other bias, and prohibit CLA from retaliating against faculty, staff or students who report antisemitism.
The Trump administration has taken up campus antisemitism as a central issue, with an executive order on Jan. 30 directing each federal agency to identify “all civil and criminal authorities or actions within the jurisdiction of that agency, beyond those already implemented…that might be used to curb or combat anti-Semitism.”
That order also directs secretaries of state, education, and homeland security to recommend ways to “familiarize” universities with existing statute that says a visa holder can’t be a representative or member of a terrorist organization, or someone who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity.”
In a White House fact sheet, Trump is quoted as saying that he will “quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses.”
What standards the Trump administration will use to determine if visa holders are “Hamas sympathizers,” and to deport them, is unclear. Other Trump directives already have some students on a visa afraid that, just by attending a pro-Palestinian rally, they will be targeted for deportation.
The University of Minnesota did not respond to several requests for comment about its response to the threat of student and staff deportations.
“What I think a lot of people don’t appreciate is that, when you’re here on a visa…you’re here by way of privilege, not right, and that you agree, as part of getting this visa, that you won’t do certain things,” said Ethan Roberts, the deputy executive director of the JCRC.
“It’s not something that Trump had just added,” he said. “It’s been there for 20 years. And so if what the executive order aims to do is enforce existing law…we support the use of existing, 20-year-old law to go after people who espouse or support terrorist activity, or terrorists.”
But there is a difference between attending a protest, and actively waving a Hamas flag or glorifying the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Roberts said.
Asked if the executive order opened the door for the JCRC to scrutinize and track anti-Israel protestors, and recommend them for deportation, Roberts said no, that’s not the JCRC’s job.
“I wouldn’t anticipate we would be doing that,” he said. “That’s for others to do. We don’t see that as our role.”
As the application of visa statute to anti-Israel protestors continues to be fuzzy, it will likely be up to the courts to decide what speech someone can or can’t be deported for.
“The courts are still a little bit…nervous, or differential, when it comes to free speech issues,” even if non-citizens don’t have the same free speech rights, said Robert Aronson, a longtime immigration attorney. Aronson is a current board member of the JCRC, but was only representing his personal views when speaking to TC Jewfolk.
“If someone is simply espousing what they believe, I don’t think that would trigger, or should trigger, an expulsion,” Aronson said.
But cases of “overt threats to Jewish welfare,” say, if someone blocks access for Jewish students to a class, or is otherwise disruptive in a way that is more clearly threatening – then, Aronson said, he sees a case for deporting someone.
The deportation of visa holders over Israel protests is also a strange mix of larger issues that could drag out in unexpected ways.
“You have kind of a clash of values: You’ve got the antisemitism lobby, you’ve got the free speech lobby,” Aronson said. “This could actually get back to [the courts deliberating over] what is antisemitism.”
Targeting visa-holders is also part of Trump’s vilification of immigrants, and blaming them for societal issues in the U.S. That playbook was historically used by right-wing extremists, often against the Jewish community.
“You can say, well, okay, this is all part and parcel of white Christian nationalism, which is not terribly comforting to Jews,” Aronson said.
The University of Minnesota is also under pressure for its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, which may now jeopardize federal funding the university depends on. In response to Trump’s executive orders, the U paused the hiring of a DEI assistant dean for the law school.
In a statement to The Minnesota Daily, the campus student newspaper, the university said it was closely monitoring the various executive orders and directives coming from the White House.
“We want to assure everyone in our community that we value the activities that support diversity of thought and inclusion, which strengthen our teaching and research,” the statement said. “We are not rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion at the University and we are not making any preemptive changes to our existing programs.”
This is horrifying. We should not be deporting anyone for expressing their opinion. Waving a flag – of any kind – does not justify deportation. Chanting a chant on a college campus does not justify deportation. There are better ways to fight campus antisemitism.
As a Canadian, but now living in the United States since 1983, I have complete moral clarity on this subject. Those on student visas should not support terrorist organizations. Hamas is a terrorist group, not a militant one. Supporting Hamas endangers Jewish students at UMN, which is unacceptable. Therefore, you publicly support Hamas, you do not have the right to learn in the United States.
It depends on the chant. Hate speech should not be protected for visitors to the US on visas. No one has the right to come into my civic environment and incite violence against American Jews, which has happened in instances on many campuses.
I’m not a Trumper ! and I know that this could turn sideways against us; but I’m not mad about this. I don’t want immigrant students coming to my town and spreading hate against my people. I’ll be happy to see them go.