Tens of millions in cuts to federal funding. Letters from the best training official within the nation expressing disappointment. Enforcement directives to instantly deal with a “backlog” of antisemitism complaints.
The U.S. Division of Schooling’s Workplace for Civil Rights has taken sudden and unprecedented actions prior to now month highlighting its need to guard Jewish college students from discrimination. On the similar time, no such crucial has been evident in investigations into or statements on Islamophobia on college or campus grounds.
“This administration seems to be centered solely on responses to antisemitic incidents on campus,” mentioned Jackie Gharapour Wernz, an training civil rights lawyer who labored at OCR beneath the Obama and the primary Trump administrations. “However colleges must be centered on each.”
‘Lip service’ to defending all as Muslim college students are focused
The identical civil rights legislation that protects Jewish college students from antisemitism — Title VI of the Civil Rights Act — additionally protects Muslim college students from Islamophobia.
Beneath the Biden administration, and particularly in gentle of the Israel-Hamas conflict protests after Oct. 7, 2023, the Schooling Division repeatedly expressed to varsities that they have to shield Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian and Israeli college students equally.
“Jewish college students, Israeli college students, Muslim college students, Arab college students, Palestinian college students, and all different college students who reside inside our faculty communities have the appropriate to study in our nation’s colleges free from discrimination,” Catherine Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights for the Schooling Division beneath the Biden administration, warned in a Expensive Colleague letter in November 2023.
The Biden administration issued the letter amid what it referred to as an “alarming rise” in each antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents at colleges.
Conversely, the Trump Schooling Division has made a minimum of 5 bulletins associated to ending antisemitism in colleges — none of which additionally expressed protections for college students of Muslim, Arab or Palestinian backgrounds.
“They’re centering Jewish college students or others who’re experiencing antisemitic behaviors, they usually’re very clearly going after Palestinian and or Muslim college students, as within the instance at Columbia [University],” mentioned Brett Sokolow, a Title VI and Title IX training civil rights knowledgeable who typically works with college district directors searching for to adjust to federal laws. “So whereas there’s some lip service to defending all, I believe the [Title VI] enforcement device goes for use primarily to the advantage of those that are experiencing antisemitism.”
Final week, the Trump administration reduce $400 million in funding to Columbia College over what it referred to as “inaction” in harassment of Jewish college students, and warned of extra cancellations to comply with. Referring to anti-Israel protests that erupted on campuses over the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Schooling Division mentioned “any faculty or college that enables unlawful protests and repeatedly fails to guard college students from anti-Semitic harassment on campus will likely be topic to the lack of federal funding.”
“That is solely the start,” mentioned Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant lawyer basic for civil rights and head of the federal Joint Activity Drive to Fight Anti-Semitism, in a joint March 7 assertion with the Schooling Division.
Just some days later, Trump vehemently supported Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s arrest of outstanding Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, saying the transfer was the primary of “many to come back.” Khalil, a authorized everlasting resident of america and up to date Columbia graduate, helped lead campus protests opposing the conflict in Gaza.
Addressing a ‘backlog’ of antisemitism complaints
Israel-Hamas conflict protests erupted on greater training and Ok-12 campuses beneath the Biden administration.
As a part of its broader effort to crack down on Title VI after Oct. 7, 2023, the Schooling Division’s OCR opened civil rights investigations into complaints of each Islamophobia and antisemitism. Its caseload had gotten so unwieldy that Lhamon and then-Schooling Secretary Miguel Cardona pleaded on the time with Congress for extra funding to help investigative employees and deal with the excessive variety of complaints.
In a single high-profile instance in 2023, the division opened an investigation into New York Metropolis Public Faculties, the nation’s largest college system, for allegedly failing to guard college students from a hostile setting ensuing from each antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Towards the tail finish of Biden’s presidency, the administration had begun resolving the inflow of Title VI complaints raised after the most recent Israel-Hamas conflict.
However the Trump administration, in a March 7 assertion, has referred to this OCR’s Title VI caseload as a “backlog of Biden Administration-era complaints alleging antisemitism” and mentioned the decision agreements beneath Biden had been “toothless” and proceed to offer “little to no treatment for Jewish college students.”
Whereas curbing consciousness round Islamophobia and Muslim college students’ protections, the brand new administration has additionally reopened Title VI investigations into lots of the similar establishments that had already reached settlement agreements over alleged antisemitism with OCR beneath Biden, mentioned Harold Jordan, nationwide training fairness coordinator on the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania who has typically labored with OCR.
Nevertheless, quantifying the Schooling Division’s efforts to resolve each Islamophobia and antisemitism instances beneath the Trump administration is troublesome. Though the administration has been publicly lighting a fireplace beneath colleges for his or her dealing with of alleged antisemitism incidents, it has not up to date its web site to mirror any pending civil rights investigations since Jan. 14, 2025 — the Tuesday earlier than Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Previous to the inauguration, OCR up to date its pending and settled investigations each Tuesday for the sake of public transparency.
“The Workplace for Civil Rights shouldn’t be selecting and selecting whose rights are essential,” mentioned Lhamon, who cracked down on Title VI violations following Oct. 7 whereas at OCR. “So you recognize, it is very disturbing to me to listen to solely about some sorts of hurt within the press releases and the general public bulletins of the division now.”
The Schooling Division didn’t reply to Ok-12 Dive’s a number of requests for touch upon whether or not it intends to guard Muslim college students and college students from Muslim-majority international locations as it’s defending Jewish and Israeli college students, or on the standing of complaints involving alleged Islamophobia particularly in gentle of elevated incidents following Oct. 7.
Backdrop of rising Islamophobia
Because the Trump administration is seemingly sidelining Muslim and Arab college students, incidents of Islamophobia on college grounds rise.
In 2024, training discrimination was among the many most typical kinds of complaints filed with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights advocacy group, in accordance with the group’s annual report launched March 11. That is along with complaints of bullying of Muslim college students, the CAIR report mentioned.
CAIR is anticipating Muslim college students’ Title VI civil rights complaints to solely improve beneath the present administration and is urging the Trump administration to oppose each antisemitism and Islamophobia, together with all types of bigotry.
The ACLU agrees. “We would like each allegation of discrimination that falls throughout the purview of that division — you recognize, race, gender, nationwide origin, and many others. — to be taken critically,” mentioned Jordan.
“That features college students who’ve complained that they’re being mistreated as a result of they’re Muslim. And that doesn’t seem like taking place within the present administration at this second.”