The Trump administration wrote to 60 universities on Monday (10 California universities) warning of “potential enforcement” against them a few days after cancelling federal funds to Columbia University and accusing them of ignoring anti-Semitism allegations.
“We know that Columbia and other universities have more students at other universities that engage in terrorist, anti-Semitism, and anti-American activities,” Trump wrote in a social media post. “We will find these terrorist sympathizers from our country, arrest them and deport them.
Also on Monday, UCLA announced a new campus-wide initiative to combat anti-Semitism. Prime Minister Julio Frenk said the university would “force it to end hatred.” UCLA was not one of the University of California to receive the Department of Education letter, but is under multiple federal investigations into alleged anti-Semitic cases by the Trump administration.
Palestinian students, staff and faculty accused UCLA of prioritizing its efforts to tackle anti-Semitism, and said the university is overreacting its threat to cut the Trump administration’s threat, focusing on equality on racism and prejudice against Arab-Americans, Palestinian-Americans and Muslim Americans. UCLA’s $11 billion budget, which is roughly $1.1 billion, comes from federal sources.
UCLA officials denied the allegations, and the university has been working on all reports of discrimination and has been planning an anti-Semitism initiative since January, but was delayed by the Los Angeles fire and urged classes to go online. UCLA helped FEMA recover by enabling it to use vast Westside properties in its disaster recovery centers.
U.S. universities, unleashed in protests last spring, are on alert as the Trump administration threatens to crack down on campus demonstrations against Israel that erupted since October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in southern Israel and the war in Gaza continues.
After immigration authorities detained Palestinian activists who helped Colombia with anti-war protests over the weekend, Trump warned Monday that the person’s potential deportation was the first of “many coming.”
Mahmoud Khalil, a detained activist, was a legal US resident and a Colombian student until December. He is accused of supporting Hamas, which the US labels as a terrorist group. His lawyers said he is legally protesting US foreign policy and that his clients are being used to make political claims about freedom of speech.
A federal judge in New York City ordered Khalil not to be deported Monday, but the court considered the legal challenges posed by his lawyers. The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
The detention faced criticism last year for calling for riot police against student protesters and avoided seeking criminal charges against generally Palestinian activists. Protesters were calling for the sale to be sold from campus or from Israeli ties from arms companies, including study abroad programs. Many foreign students, including UCLA and USC students, participated in the protest, but numbers are unknown.
At UCLA, the Dashew Center, a hub for international students, issued a warning this year in a webinar to avoid protests that could be deemed illegal. A similar warning has been issued on USC.
A demonstration will be held at the Loisquad in Westwood on Tuesday at the Palestinian Judiciary and Graduate Students for Palestinian Justice – a group suspended for vandalism at UCLA last month at Regents and Regents’ homes – at Westwood.
“I’m going to let go of our students. There’s no ice. [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] At UCLA, social media ads for the demonstration said.
The UC system has a policy of complying with federal immigration regulations, but it has a policy to use police to “take other joint efforts with federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies and investigate, detain or arrest individuals for violations of federal immigration law.”
California campuses respond to warning letters
On Monday, the Department of Education picked out several California campuses for financial behavior similar to that of Columbia. It included four UCSs: San Diego, Santa Barbara, Berkeley and Davis, as well as USC, Pomona College, Stanford, Chapman University, Santa Monica College and Sacramento.
A UC spokesperson said the university system is “aware” of anti-Semitism letters from the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office.
“We want to be clear. The University of California is unwavering in its commitment to protecting the civil rights of all students, faculty, staff and visitors.” “We continue to take concrete steps to promote an environment that is free from anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination and harassment for everyone in the university community.”
In a statement, USC said it is “condemning anti-Semitism publicly and explicitly in all forms and taking strong action to protect all students, including members of our Jewish community, from illegal discrimination of all kinds. USC is proud to register one of the largest Jewish student organizations in the country. We look forward to responding. [the] We share with them the Civil Rights Letters and everything we did to create a welcoming and non-discriminatory campus environment for all members of our community. ”
Pomona College spokesperson Patricia Vest said he would “collaborate” with the campus federal investigation. “The University is firmly committed to ensuring the right to Pomona education for all students, including taking all appropriate measures to prevent anti-Semitism and all forms of ancestor discrimination and harassment,” Best said.
A Chapman University spokesperson said in a statement that he was “fully committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment for all members of the campus community,” and that “we stand on the record.”
Santa Monica College said there have been three open cases in the education sector over anti-Semitism complaints since last year.
“We have outlined in detail the university’s full compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the statement said.
Sacramento spokesperson Lanaya Lewis said: “I am in a position to support our Jewish community and reject all forms of anti-Semitism.”
Stanford did not respond to requests from the Times.
What UCLA does
At UCLA – If a vigilante group attacked the camp last spring while police were unable to stop the violence, the new initiative will build on recommendations made by the Task Force on Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israel Bias in October.
“It includes strengthening relevant training and education, improving the complaint system, ensuring the enforcement of current and new laws and policies, and working with stakeholders.
The effort is led by Stuart Gabriel, a professor of finance at UCLA Anderson School of Management, to chair the task force to fight anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias.
Gabriel did not respond to the interview request.
Some of the newly announced UCLA efforts are similar to the University of California agreement in December, and will resolve several civil rights complaints with the Department of Education. These complaints were centered around campuses in LA, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Davis and Santa Cruz.
The allegations stated that the UC campus could not respond promptly or effectively to student harassment based on actual or perceived national origins, and although some of the UC campuses received different treatments for these students regarding access to university programs, the education department did not believe that all complaints had sufficient evidence.
Frenk’s Monday announcement drew praise from some members of the UCLA Jewish community.
“Prime Minister Frenk’s strong leadership stimulates a deep sense of gratitude and hope for the future in our community. Dungold, who leads UCLA Hillel, said: “As we approach the Jewish holidays in Purim, our community remembers and celebrates the lessons of the holidays.
However, members of the UCLA’s task force on anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim and anti-Arab racism, formed around the same time as the university’s anti-Semitism task force, said UCLA is not sufficient to address hatred towards those communities.
“We all know why this is being announced today. We know that UCLA is looking at Colombia. UCLA is already being scrutinized for something we all think is ridiculous… we don’t have a strong enough response. [to protests] Though our students were the most brutal of all peaceful protesters across the country,” said Chicana/O, co-chair of the Task Force on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab Racism, and Gay Johnson, associate professor of research in Central America.
Sheren Razak, a well-known professor and co-chair of Penny Canner’s Women’s Studies, noted that her group has published three reports on racist and bias cases against Arab Americans, Palestinian Americans, Muslim Americans, Muslim American students, staff and faculty.
“Are there any statements about the task force report? What about other task force reports, like today?” asked Ruzak.
The group is scheduled to have their first sit-in with the prime minister via Zoom on Wednesday.
A UCLA representative said Frenk planned future actions later this year to address campus climate issues that go beyond anti-Semitism, anti-Muslims and anti-Arab bias.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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