A federal task force charged with combating antisemitism will visit 10 university campuses, including UC Berkeley, that “have experienced antisemitic incidents since October 2023,” the Justice Department has announced.
The Friday announcement follows President Donald Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order, which directs federal agencies to submit reports “identifying all civil and criminal authorities” within their purview “that might be used to curb or combat anti-Semitism.”
The order states that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel “unleashed an unprecedented wave of vile anti-Semitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.”
The Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism will visit Cal, UCLA, University of Southern California, NYU, Columbia, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, George Washington, Northwestern and the University of Minnesota. All 10 universities have been notified, according to the press release.
This latest action by the Trump administration comes just weeks after the U.S. Department of Education announced Title VI civil rights investigations into five campuses reported to have “widespread antisemitic harassment” — UC Berkeley, Columbia, Northwestern, the University of Minnesota and Portland State.
“The Task Force’s mandate is to bring the full force of the federal government to bear in our effort to eradicate Anti-Semitism, particularly in schools. These visits are just one of many steps this Administration is taking to deliver on that commitment,” Leo Terrell, the leading member of the task force and senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said in the announcement.
During the campus visits, the task force will meet with university leaders, impacted students and staff, local law enforcement and community members, the announcement said. Its goal is to gather information and consider whether “remedial action is warranted.”
UC Berkeley’s administrators are awaiting word on when the task force plans to visit, according to Dan Mogulof, assistant vice chancellor of communications.
“We will respond to any complaints or allegations through the process prescribed by the DOJ. We are confident we have the right processes in place now to respond to any antisemitic incidents,” Mogulof said Tuesday in a statement emailed to J.
Gregg Drinkwater, program director of UC Berkeley’s Antisemitism Education Initiative, told J. he is also awaiting information from the task force.
In notifying Berkeley and the other universities of the impending visits, the task force expressed to campus administrators that the federal government was aware of allegations that their school “may have failed to protect Jewish students and faculty members from unlawful discrimination, in potential violation of federal law.”
Cal was already under a Title VI investigation by the Department of Education under the Biden administration, but the case was dropped due to an overlapping lawsuit filed against the school by the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.
“UC Berkeley has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to confronting antisemitism as part of our support for a campus community where all can feel safe, respected, and welcome regardless of their origins, identities, beliefs, or perspectives,” Mogulof said in the statement. “So, too, is the university committed to compliance with, and enforcement of the rules, laws, and policies that prohibit identity-based harassment and discrimination on the campus.”