Trump admin says Columbia University violates Jewish students' civil rights

Washington, May 24 (IANS) The Trump administration has accused Columbia University of violating civil rights law by "acting with deliberate indifference" toward discrimination against Jewish students, including what it said was a failure to investigate vandalism in its classrooms, such as drawings of swastikas.

The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release on Thursday that it had conducted an investigation over a 19-month period beginning on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip launched a surprise cross-border attack on Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 people hostage, reports Xinhua news agency.

"The findings carefully document the hostile environment Jewish students at Columbia University have had to endure for over 19 months, disrupting their education, safety, and well-being," said Anthony Archeval, the acting director of the Office for Civil Rights.

"We encourage Columbia University to work with us to come to an agreement."

"The announcement comes as the Trump administration is engaged in negotiations with Columbia over federal funding. The administration cut 400 million US dollars in contracts and grants to the school in March, saying the university had failed to sufficiently clamp down on acts of antisemitism on its campus," reported The Washington Post about the move.

This comes against the backdrop of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cancelling Harvard's certification to use the SEVIS system -- Student and Exchange Visitor Information System -- in an escalation of US President Donald Trump's attack on the Ivy League school.

The DHS decision had also told the university that foreign students on its rolls currently must transfer to another college or lose status.

There are an estimated 780 Indian students and scholars at Harvard.

However, a US judge in the state of Massachusetts on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration's order.

--IANS

int/sd/