The Trump administration announced Friday that a federal task force will visit 10 university campuses to investigate antisemitic incidents that have been reported since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks set off a wave of college protests against Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza.
The Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which was formed by an executive order called “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,” has said its priority is to crack down on perceived antisemitic harassment on college campuses. In a statement, task force leader Leo Terrell, senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said the visits are “just one of many steps this administration is taking to deliver on that commitment.”
“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,” Terrell wrote.
The universities set to receive federal investigators are Columbia, George Washington, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, New York and Northwestern University, and the Universities of California, Los Angeles; California, Berkeley; Minnesota; and Southern California.
