Columbia University and other Ivy League colleges that allow anti-Israel camps could take away more than $5 billion in federal funding, President Biden’s top education official warned Tuesday.
Ministry of Education Sec. Miguel Cardona strongly condemned the “abhorrent” protests taking over college campuses nationwide and confirmed that Columbia University is under a federal investigation.
The Ivy League universities, which received an estimated $5 billion in federal funding last year, have seen their campuses overrun by pro-Gaza demonstrators for weeks.
Protesters in Columbia, which received $1.2 billion from taxpayers in 2023, are calling on the school to end its investments in Israel-related entities.
Often their cheers have turned from pro-Palestinian sentiments to anti-Israel comments. One of the camp’s leaders has said that the Zionists must be killed.
“If a school refuses to comply with Title VI, yes, we would cut federal dollars,” President Biden’s Department of Education said. Miguel Cardona warned during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in education programs that receive federal funding.
Ministry of Education Sec. Miguel Cardona said his agency is investigating Columbia University. According to the agency’s website, two investigations are currently open
Pro-Palestinian protesters smashed windows and took over a Columbia University campus building, escalating tensions between them and the school
“And I have to tell you that we do indeed have an open investigation at Columbia University,” Cardona added.
If Columbia is found in violation of Title VI, Cardona would ensure that federal funding to the institution ends.
According to the Ministry of Education websiteThere are two ongoing investigations at Columbia University for Title VI violations.
One opened on November 16, 2023 and another opened a week ago on April 23, 2023.
According to the Department of Education, most Ivy League schools are currently under investigation for civil rights violations. Of the eight Ivy League schools, six are currently under investigation.
All investigations started after the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7.
Harvard University, Yale University, Cornell University, Princeton University, Brown University and Columbia University are all under investigation for civil rights violations.
The only Ivy League schools not under investigation are the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College.
Pro-Gaza protesters barricade themselves in a Columbia University building
The announcement comes after protesters in Columbia looted a school building on Monday evening.
Video footage shows students smashing windows with hammers and scuffling with university staff.
The students were able to occupy the building at night and hung a large banner on the outside of the hall that read ‘Intifada’.
The activists were told to disband their camp Monday afternoon, but they remained unmoved even after police came to remove them, while university faculty linked arms in a human chain to protect the protesters.
“The anti-Semitism that students experience on campus is unacceptable,” Cardona said.
When pressed by Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., on whether protesters blocking Jewish students from attending classes are acceptable on college campuses, as has happened in Columbia, Cardona responded: “Absolutely not.”
“While I support and defend First Amendment rights, it is not acceptable for students to experience anti-Semitism on campus or calls for genocide,” Cardona said after the hearing.
“We need to do better and our students need to be safe.”
Part of doing better, he testified, is securing the funding needed to deploy more Department of Education workers to college campuses where Title VI violations occur.
Pro-Gaza demonstrators unfurled a large ‘Intifada’ sign, referring to past bloody conflicts between the Israeli and Palestinian people
A member of Columbia University’s maintenance crew confronts protesters attempting to barricade themselves in Hamilton Hall
Currently, the agency has not deployed anyone to Columbia to monitor anti-Semitism and calls for violence on campus, despite ongoing protests and encampments.
It is unclear when the investigation into Columbia’s Title VI violations will be completed.
Anti-Israel rhetoric has become so intense that Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called for change as Jewish students have faced threats.