The US Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism will visit 10 university campuses where reports of discrimination against Jews have been made, the US Public Affairs Office said on Friday.
The reports on antisemitic incidences that encouraged the task force’s visits were all made after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
The universities the task force will visit are Columbia University; Harvard University; George Washington University; New York University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Southern California; Johns Hopkins University; Northwestern University; and the University of Minnesota, according to the US Department of Justice.
Leading task force member Leo Terrell notified the 10 institutions that the force was made aware of allegations that the schools failed to protect their Jewish students and faculty members from discrimination.
Terrell also said that the task force will meet with the leadership from each university, law enforcement from the cities in which the institutions are located, and community members to gather information on antisemitic incidences.
The US Justice Department announced last month the launch of the task force, which includes representatives from the US Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Service, following US President Donald Trump’s “Executive Order on Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism.”
Terrell, who is also the senior counsel to the assistant attorney-general for civil rights, added that these visits to the universities “are just one of many steps this administration is taking to deliver on the commitment” to combat antisemitism on college campuses.
In Trump’s executive order in late January, the US president said Hamas’s attacks in October 2023 unleashed an “unprecedented wave of vile antisemitic discrimination, vandalism, and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses.
“Jewish students have faced an unrelenting barrage of discrimination; denial of access to campus common areas and facilities, including libraries and classrooms; and intimidation, harassment, and physical threats and assault.”
Hannah Sarisohn contributed to this report.