Task Force for Ministry of Justice will visit Harvard to examine anti -Semitism allegations | News

The Task Force of the US Justice Ministry for Anti -Semitism will visit Harvard and nine other universities and universities to examine anti -Semitism, the department announced on Friday -and conducted the Trump government's approach.

During the visits, the Federal Task Force to combat anti -Semitism – which was founded at the beginning of the last month in response to an arrangement in January, will meet with “leadership of the university, local law enforcement authorities, affected students and employees, local law enforcement authorities and parishioners to determine that” whether remedial measures are justified “.

Leo J. Terrell -A leading member of the Task Force and a loud Harvard critic -said that the visits were “just one of many steps” that the Trump administration against anti -Semitism on College Campus promoted.

“The mandate of the Task Force is to make the full power of the federal government to exterminate anti -Semitism, especially in schools,” he said in a press release.

In an interview about Fox News just a few hours after the visits were announced, Terrell threatened to use the work of the Task Force to remove the universities of their financing.

“Let me tell you what we will do – we will take your financing away, we will sue you under title VII, we will sue you under title VI,” he said. “Why are Jewish Americans not protected in schools?”

All 10 universities who are planning to visit the Task Force were informed about the visits on Thursday, according to the press release. The publication did not state when the visits will take place or what incidents the Task Force wants to examine.

A Harvard spokesman did not immediately answer a comment on Saturday afternoon.

For the other universities that were identified by Task Force, Columbia University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, the University of California, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern are California-Alle last spring.

According to the press release of the Ministry of Justice, the Task Force decided to attend the 10 schools because it was “alleged that the schools may not protect Jewish students and faculty members from illegal discrimination based on potential violation of the federal law.”

The publication did not state which allegations the investigation initiated. But Harvard was named in three lawsuits for his treatment of anti -Semitism complaints, one of which was rejected on Wednesday. Two other cases were enclosed, although some of the plaintiffs continue to pursue their complaints as part of a new lawyer.

Harvard was also subject to an investigation by Title VI by the office for civil rights of the US Ministry of Education for allegations against anti -Semitic nuisance, but the investigation was concluded due to a simultaneous complaints due to the same complaints.

The university has long been a goal for the investigation by Federal Republicans for anti-Semitism at US universities, including a house-wide ended in December, which was terminated in December.

Last month, one day after the Federal Task Force started, the US Health Ministry and Human Services initiated an investigation by the Harvard Medical School for Pro-Palestine messages, which students were borne at at closing ceremony.

Terrell, a lawyer and commentator for civil rights in Fox News, was a vocal critic of Harvard's response to Hamas' on October 7, 2023, attack against Israel and repeatedly threatened the federal files against the university under the Trump administration. Just a few days before Trump was sworn in, Terrell said that he would “start working next week” to revoke Harvard's federal financing.

The graduate of the Harvard Divinity School Alexander “Shabbos” Kestenbaum – The senior plaintiff in an anti -Semitism action against the university – celebrated the planned visits to X.

“I look forward to ensuring that you don't let Harvard's lies and meaningless words deceive yourself,” he wrote.

– Staff -writer DHRUV T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @Dhruvtkpatel.