Columbia University violated civil rights law by “acting with deliberate indifference towards student-on-student harassment of Jewish students” since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Trump administration alleged on Thursday.
“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,” Anthony Archeval, Acting Director of the Office for Civil Rights at HHS, announced.
Columbia is accused of failing to protect Jewish students against discrimination based on race, color, or national origin from Oct. 7, 2023, through the present — violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the investigation found.
The findings included that Columbia allegedly failed to “investigate or punish vandalism in its classrooms, which include the repeated drawing of swastikas and other universally recognized hate images,” and did not “establish effective reporting and remediation mechanisms for antisemitism until the summer of 2024.”
“We encourage Columbia University to work with us to come to an agreement that reflects meaningful changes that will truly protect Jewish students,” Archeval said.
The Post has reached out to Columbia for comment.
Columbia told Axios on Thursday that it is “committed to combating antisemitism” in response to the investigation.
“We understand this finding is part of our ongoing discussions with the government,” a spokesperson told the outlet.
“Columbia is deeply committed to combatting antisemitism and all forms of harassment and discrimination on our campus. We take these issues seriously and will work with the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education to address them.”
The HHS’s finding did not include any new actions against the university.
In March, the Trump administration announced that it canceled $400 million in federal grants over the Ivy League school’s “failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.”
The funding cancellation comes after more than a year of incidents that included large-scale protests, antisemitic harassment following the attack on Israel, and the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Demonstrators descended on Columbia and set up a tent city toward the end of the spring semester in 2024 and later occupied the historic Hamilton Hall building before being driven out by the NYPD.
In response, Columbia announced it would cooperate with the order, instituting numerous policy changes in direct accordance with a list of reforms requested by a joint task force composed of the Department of Education, the General Services Administration, and Health and Human Services.
Among the changes, the university banned all face coverings on campus worn “for the purpose of concealing one’s identity in the commission of violations of university policies or state, municipal or federal laws.”
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