UC Berkeley, Stanford among colleges targeted for alleged antisemitism

State of play: Last week, the administration pulled $400 million in federal grants and contracts from Columbia University for its "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."

• "U.S. colleges and universities 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," secretary of education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
• Institutions are bracing for impacts to educators, students and campus life as they weigh tough choices around hiring freezes, layoffs, graduate admissions and research cuts, amid other measures to mitigate the funding losses, The Guardian reports.

Friction point: While "antisemitism has absolutely been a problem" on some college campuses, state Sen. Scott Wiener accused Trump of using the investigation as an intimidation tactic to force institutions to conform to "his MAGA views on education, research, disease promotion, diversity, student protest, and so forth."

• "We need to be very clear-eyed in assessing this federal investigation: The Trump Administration does not care about Jewish students or faculty," he said in a statement.

Catch up quick: The Department of Education announced Monday that it sent letters to 60 universities, including UC Berkeley, Stanford and eight other institutions in California.

• UC Berkeley is among the five universities included in a direct investigation probe launched by the department in early February alongside Columbia, Northwestern, Portland State and the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, following reports of "widespread antisemitic harassment."
• The remaining 55 are "under investigation or monitoring" in response to complaints.

Between the lines: Some campuses on the list were epicenters last spring for the pro-Palestinian protests calling for a ceasefire in Gaza that led to hundreds of student arrests.

• The uproar on college campuses across the country triggered various civil rights probes into many of these universities on the list, including Stanford, which was also investigated for discrimination by the Office for Civil Rights under the Biden administration.

• The Justice Department also launched an investigation last week into the University of California to assess whether campuses have allowed "an antisemitic hostile work environment to exist" following the protests.

What they're saying: UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said in an emailed statement to Axios that the UC system is "unwavering in its commitment to combating antisemitism" and is working on improving the campus climate with new initiatives.

• Those steps include creating a systemwide civil rights office, issuing new policies about protests on campus, opposing calls for boycott against divestment from Israel and allocating $7 million for training and mental health support to prevent antisemitism and Islamophobia.
• "Stanford has taken concerns about antisemitism on our campus very seriously" and is dedicated to protecting "the right to constitutionally protected free speech and also preventing disruption of campus operations and illegal discrimination and harassment," university spokesperson Dee Mostofi told Axios.

What's next: Trump's aggressive crackdown on alleged antisemitism is only expected to ramp up as he considers pulling more federal funding from colleges and targets pro-Palestinian activists or foreign nationals he deems to be "Hamas sympathizers."