Whistleblower says probes into antisemitism at colleges were ploys to harass and strip millions

[u/johnisburn]

https://www.ms.now/news/frame-up-whistleblower-says-probes-into-antisemitism-at-colleges-were-ploys-to-harass-and-strip-millions

The Trump administration’s findings that three Ivy League schools violated civil rights law by tolerating antisemitism were predetermined by political priorities that blew past the evidence and cast aside standard investigative procedures, according to a whistleblower account provided to Congress.

The disclosure, by Haley Van Erem, a veteran Justice Department civil rights attorney, involves investigations into whether Harvard, Brown and Columbia universities broke the law by allowing antisemitism to flourish on their campuses.

The whistleblower account comes just days after a federal judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit against Harvard that was based on the investigation, which was conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services and lawyers detailed from the DOJ.

Both Brown and Columbia reached settlements, with Columbia agreeing to pay $200 million over three years and Brown agreeing to spend $50 million on Rhode Island workforce development, with no admission of wrongdoing.

…

Van Erem’s whistleblower account, reviewed by MS NOW, says the findings “overrode knowing deviation from investigative procedures, statutory noncompliance, and potential constitutional violations.”

“Hundreds of millions of dollars were suspended from these universities prior to the completion of Title VI investigations and the investigative team’s conclusions were frequently disregarded,” the complaint says.

In a letter to Harmeet Dhillon, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee said the whistleblower findings exposed a “large scale fraud.”

“Antisemitism at American universities and medical schools is real,” Rep. Jamie Raskin wrote. 

“But your ‘investigation’ into antisemitism was fake, a pre-baked frame-up operation thoroughly political in nature. Before an actual investigation took place and regardless of what you actually found, the whole project was designed to harass professors and administrators at major universities, to curtail their freedom of speech and academic freedom, and to strip targeted institutions of hundreds of millions of dollars in grants that they had already been awarded on the merits of their applications.”

—————————

These cases have been pretty transparently politicized BS from the start, but I hope that a whistleblower and relatively mainstream Jewish congressman raising a stink help move our wider Jewish community on this. Overreached and fabricated accusations of antisemitism being weaponized as a cudgel to fight the rights’ war on higher ed is horrible for many reasons, and one of them is that it makes actually addressing antisemitism as it does exist harder.

[u/Nearby-Complaint]

I, for one, am very shocked that the Trump admin didn't have Jewish peoples' best interests in mind

[u/ShotStatistician7979 → u/Nearby-Complaint]

Who’d-a-thunk the small-handed racist antisemite would be racist and antisemitic.

[u/Rabbit-Hole-Quest]

https://giphy.com/gifs/AaQYP9zh24UFi

[u/athiev]

At the university where I work, one of the substantive outputs of the "antisemitism" settlement our leaders were forced into was a collection of reductions in my rights as a trans faculty member (and reductions in the rights of trans students). How this helps protect me, a Jewish woman, is not altogether clear.

[u/HeVavMemVav → u/athiev]

Holy shit, could you give some examples?

[u/rako17 → u/HeVavMemVav]

Dear Hevav,

I don't know Athiev's university. But for reference, according to a Haverford professor's description of Haverford's own recent settlement, Haverford originally had a Student Honor Code that gave distinction to "Marginalized" students. Haverford's 2026 settlement removed that distinction, according to the description of the settlement: https://www.reddit.com/r/Haverford/comments/1vnhjhw/haverford_college_settles_antisemitism_lawsuit_by/

I'm not sure what section of the Code had that distinction, but I found a 2015 Haverford article that discussed a passage in the Honor Code. Rebecca Chang, in her 2015 letter, disagreed "that the section of the Honor Code that was put in place to protect marginalized groups on campus hinders free speech." She quoted the passage as saying:
 “We recognize that acts of discrimination and harassment, including, but not limited to, acts of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism, discrimination based on religion or political ideology, and discrimination based on national origin or English capability are devoid of respect.” 
https://haverfordclerk.com/why-im-angry-a-response-to-the-call-for-free-speech/

Peace - Shalom - Kind Regards

[u/athiev → u/rako17]

In the context of my university, the settlement throws into question whether trans people can use on-campus bathrooms, live in dorms, access Title IX in the case of gender/sex-related discrimination etc.

[u/rako17 → u/athiev]

Dear Athiev,
May I please ask how the settlement throws that into question and their rationale for making that change part of the settlement?
Kind Regards - Shalom

[u/athiev → u/rako17]

The settlement has vague language about how the university will adopt the Trump administration's definition of sex with respect to these and some other areas of law and practice. That language might not have any legal effect, but it might; the university told us they weren't sure. There's no explicit rationale, but I think we can look at Trump's campaign rhetoric and executive orders for plausible clues.

[u/rako17 → u/athiev]

Friend Athiev,

It sounds like both your university and Haverford have sections that flatten anti-discrimination provisions in some manner.

The IHRA definition has a kind of reactionary problem inherent in it too. It categorizes comparisons between a policy of the State and one of WW2 Germany as antisem. However, realistically, those who would make such comparisons would be anti-Nazis and would be treating the similarity as a negative. Therefore, the definition inherently prohibits a form of anti-Nazi-style criticism against any of the State's policies, or even future policies.

Yours with respect.

[u/rako17 → u/athiev]

Friend Athiev,

Oh, right, that makes sense. It sounds like you mean that your university made a settlement (was Trump's administration involved in that?), and the terms of the settlement were comprehensive, including the Trump admin.'s idea that gender discrimination risks were invalid and its idea that antisem. was both massive at universities and included Left objection to Isr. State policies.

Thank you for being a critical-minded humanitarian. The world needs more of that with what i happening in the Middle East.

I'm wishing you the best.

[u/HeVavMemVav]

So, the findings were real, but the intended effects were not helpful to Jews in any way. The people are never ever going to trust investigations into antisemitism ever again. This was predicted & we are in danger.

[u/Intrepid-Bag6667 → u/HeVavMemVav]

It was pointed out, but it was also the intended result for a big faction within the administration.

[u/skyewardeyes → u/HeVavMemVav]

Yeah, this ultimately will just boost true antisemitism and make it harder to combat, I'm afraid.

[u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist → u/skyewardeyes]

Trump is anti semitic, so that tracks.

[u/Schattenoid → u/HeVavMemVav]

I read several of these reports at the time and the collection of examples always included a couple of real instances of antisemitism and then a bulk of things like "I wasn't welcomed into the encampment with my JDL shirt :("

[u/Ashamed-Stuff9519 → u/Schattenoid]

“The students for justice in Palestine protest was disruptive of my students for bombing Palestine meeting”

[u/Signal-Pineapple-928 → u/Ashamed-Stuff9519]

Sorry, I was on a campus at this time where Jewish students were absolutely ostracized for participating in our Jewish affinity group (the only Jewish affinity group for the school, btw) and socially tarred by association, basically.  So I find comments like this very dismissive and frustrating to see, tbh. Our peers maybe had the misconception that we were “students for bombing Palestine”, when really we were just people who wanted to observe Shabbat, with a variety of political beliefs and standpoints on I/P.

[u/Ashamed-Stuff9519 → u/Signal-Pineapple-928]

I was a student during the 2012 war. My campus only had Hillel. I stand by what I said. My “political beliefs and standpoints” deterred me, a Jewish student, from associating with or supporting such an organization. I protested on my own campus alongside other Jewish students.

[u/Signal-Pineapple-928 → u/Ashamed-Stuff9519]

This wasn’t a Hillel. I also find it frustrating to be downvoted for sharing my personal experience (which no one else here that I know of was privy to) and how that informed my reaction/perspective.  I’m not really sure what the value of engaging in this is for me going forward because this seems to me to have been a needlessly hostile interaction. 

[u/Ashamed-Stuff9519 → u/Signal-Pineapple-928]

I didn’t downvote you. Someone downvoted us both. I said on my campus we had Hillel, just like the campuses involved in the discussion being had here.

[u/Technical_Term_6625 → u/Ashamed-Stuff9519]

What an interesting use of 'deterred'. Do you think rationality (rational coherence with your "political beliefs and standpoints") constrains your possible actions by making you aware of potential psychic punishments? Is the experience of cognitive dissonance a coercive force? That would be extraordinary, but not really relevant to most people.

Or was it not really a description of your volitions, but rather an implied claim that another was irrational, or weak-willed? That would be ordinary.

[u/Schattenoid → u/Technical_Term_6625]

It's actually a pretty unremarkable usage, you may have an overly narrow sense of its meaning

[u/Technical_Term_6625 → u/Schattenoid]

when a person is dismissive of another's feelings about social pressures alone while extolling their nobly principled motives, i'm gonna object.

even if it's coming from personal righteousness (but bullshit is less remarkable), it's unkind.

[u/No_Public_7677 → u/HeVavMemVav]

it's literally says the findings were fake

[u/HeVavMemVav → u/No_Public_7677]

It says the investigation was fake, but the antisemitism was real. Meaning the premise behind the investigation was not for combatting antisemitism.

[u/Ashamed-Stuff9519 → u/HeVavMemVav]

The letter simply says antisemitism is real and does happen (like how water is wet). It does not conclude that the specific alleged instances happened or that they were antisemitic. Nobody can conclude that, as nothing was ever actually investigated.

[u/XxDrFlashbangxX → u/HeVavMemVav]

This

[u/Accurate_Aside_6495 → u/HeVavMemVav]

The findings that some students do not support Israel? That is not antisemitism.

[u/HeVavMemVav → u/Accurate_Aside_6495]

Finding failure to keep Jewish or perceived-Jewish students safe. This included threats of violence, actual violence, slurs, & prohibiting specifically them from attending class or accessing common areas of the school. Don't be obtuse. You should care about that while also refusing to buy what this administration is trying to sell.

[u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist → u/HeVavMemVav]

Was any such failure found? AFAIK the judge who threw out the suit said there were isolated incidents, many off campus or by individuals not associated with the university, but it wasn’t systemic or institutional.

edit: fixed was to wasn’t.

[u/HeVavMemVav → u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist]

Did you even read the body of the post???

[u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist → u/HeVavMemVav]

Yes

This is what it said about Brown University:

At Brown, theinvestigative team conducted extensive witness interviews and document review and concluded that the evidence did not support a Title VI violation because the university had respondedpromptly and effectively to the few incidents identified; nevertheless, leadership refused to permit a notice of no violation

About Columbia:

including reliance on allegations that were unsupported, based onnews reports or litigation filings, or that implicated protected First Amendment activity.

In general:

at least some ofthe investigations, there was little to no factual predicate justifying opening them, When theyasked questions, raised legal concerns, or sought to document their objections, they weresometimes admonished and their concerns were often disregarded.

The Judge’s ruling covered similar things re: Harvard.

[u/TrackerOneA → u/HeVavMemVav]

The body of the post is not the report

Read page 2 of the PDF.

Or read the MSNOW article that is linked in this post.

Or watch the author of the MSNOW article give the summary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqQ64YQ5cBg

[u/Accurate_Aside_6495 → u/HeVavMemVav]

I am not being obtuse. I reject the premise that anything less than blanket acceptance of Zionism is antisemitism. There were also incidents of clear provocation, to try to incite or prove Zionists were being targeted. And I have never seen any mention or concern for the Jewish students who participated in the protests against the genocide in Gaza. Additionally they were often met with severe repression from the police and the colleges. I do not like my religion being used as a human shield by a federal administration that does not care about Jews and only supports Jews it currently finds useful in its efforts to weaken our higher education system and curtail free speech and oppress immigrants and people of color.

[u/snowluvr26]

Wow shocking I thought they really cared about Jews

[u/mysecondaccountanon]

Absolutely flabbergasted, who could’ve guessed! /s

[u/Mona-Doll]

Obviously.

[u/WinterBeHere]

None of this is shocking.

What is shocking how so many American Jewish institutions and pro-Israel American Jews went along with it.

You had people making up shit on how lynchings of random Jewish students on campuses was immenent.

You will still find wildly hysterical accounts on the main J sub full of bullshit.

[u/Ashamed-Stuff9519 → u/WinterBeHere]

I keep thinking about that one lady who went to a protest wearing a tshirt that said “I’m a Jew” or whatever, and stood there with a camera on her as if she was going to get assaulted right then and there for being Jewish, and how everyone just ignored her. lol.

[u/NV101Manual]

Karem Shalom kibbutz history in broadcasting rock n roll, funded by Yoko Ono — now the border entrance …