Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism visiting 10 college campuses
The Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced Friday it would be visiting 10 university campuses that experienced antisemitic incidents since October 2023.
The Department of Justice said the task force will meet with university leadership, impacted students and staff, local law enforcement and community members and decide “whether remedial action is warranted” due to the incidents.
Leo Terrell, a leading task force member and senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, informed the 10 schools of the upcoming visits.
The schools include Columbia University, George Washington University, Harvard University. Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California.
“The President, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, and the entire Administration are committed to ensuring that no one should feel unsafe or unwelcome on campus because of their religion,” Terrell said.
“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," he continued. "These visits are just one of many steps this Administration is taking to deliver on that commitment."
The task force, which was created to comply with President Trump’s executive order to combat antisemitism, said its first priority is to “eradicate antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses.”
After Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza, incidents of antisemitism have skyrocketed in the U.S., primarily on college campuses. Republican lawmakers launched a year-long investigation into the matter and have hosted multiple hearings which led to the resignations of at least two university presidents.
Recently, the Department of Education announced it was launching investigations into five universities for antisemitic activity.