By settling with the Education Department, the schools close the cases against them as long as they meet the terms of the agreements, which mostly have required training, policy updates and reviews of past complaints.
But many colleges at the center of the highest-profile cases — including Columbia and Cornell — face investigations that remain unresolved and could run the risk of harsher penalties after Trump takes office. Trump has not said what he would like to see come of the investigations, but he has threatened to revoke federal money for schools that fall short of his demands.
“Colleges will and must end the antisemitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and federal support,” Trump said in a virtual address to Jewish donors in September. “No money will go to them if they don’t.”
Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, said the settlements are “toothless” and fail to hold colleges accountable for permitting antisemitism. In a statement, he said the Trump administration should “examine these agreements and explore options to impose real consequences on schools.”
One of the committee's priorities will be “calling out woke higher education institutions — especially those that allow antisemitism to run rampant,” Walberg said at a Wednesday meeting.
More than 100 U.S. colleges and school districts remain under investigation over alleged antisemitism in the wake of the October 7 2023 Hamas massacre of more than 1200 Israeli men, women and children. Those schools include Columbia, Cornell, Yale, Princeton and other prestigious schools targeted by a Republican campaign against antisemitism.
As Republicans take control of both chambers of Congress, there’s also a renewed push for legislation on the subject. A December report coordinated by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., found that colleges across the U.S. failed to stop antisemitism amid last year’s demonstrations, highlighting cases at Harvard, Columbia and UCLA.
