Temple, Drexel, Swarthmore, Rutgers and others among 60 U.S. colleges threatened with sanctions amid antisemitism investigations
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said schools must do more to crack down on antisemitism on campus. President Donald Trump has made the issue a priority.
Temple, Drexel, Swarthmore, Rutgers, and dozens of other colleges and universities were threatened with sanctions Monday by the U.S. Education Department amid ongoing investigations into antisemitic activity on their campuses.
Education department officials said 60 colleges and universities received letters “warning them of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities.”
All are under investigation for civil rights violations antisemitic harassment and discrimination, the education department said.
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Sixty schools in all received the notice. They include Temple, Drexel, Rutgers, and Swarthmore. Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, and Yale are also on the list; so are Lehigh and Lafayette and Muhlenberg College.
President Donald Trump’s administration has made pursuing antisemitism a priority. Last week, officials cut $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia “due to the school’s continued inaction to protect Jewish students from discrimination.”
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the department was “deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better.”
What specific sanctions might be was not spelled out by department officials, but McMahon said that the colleges “benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers. That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”
Officials at Temple and Drexel didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
A Swarthmore official said the college had not yet seen the letter, but that it had no comment.
Rutgers spokesperson Dory Devlin said the university “condemns antisemitism in the strongest terms possible, and we always will do so. Our strong Jewish community is a point of pride for the university. The university adheres to state and federal law and will always strive to strengthen and enforce the policies and practices that protect our students, faculty, and staff.”
Devlin, in a statement, said the university takes seriously claims of antisemitism and takes disciplinary or remedial actions when appropriate.
The federal actions come as universities nationwide brace for the impact of federal funding cuts. The University of Pennsylvania on Monday announced a hiring freeze and non-compensation spending cuts, among other belt-tightening measures. The Trump administration has announced plans to cap National Institutes of Health research funding, and has threatened universities with additional funding cuts if they don’t scale back on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
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Penn had also been under investigation for antisemitism, but that case was dropped in January because a case making similar allegations is now underway in federal court.