Northwestern University facing HHS investigation into claims of discrimination against Jewish students
The Trump administration has opened another investigation of Northwestern University for alleged discrimination against Jewish students.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday it was investigating a "prestigious Midwest university" for possible Title VI violations, after receiving a complaint from a "multi-stakeholder advocacy organization" claiming "systemic concerns regarding the University's actions to maintain a campus climate, academic direction, and institutional policy that ensures nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin."
The announcement did not disclose the university or the group that filed the complaint, but Northwestern confirmed it is reviewing a request from Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights "for information around specific events, policies and procedures."
"There is no place for antisemitism at Northwestern and the steps we have taken since last summer have dramatically improved the safety of our Jewish students," the university said in a statement.
The Trump administration has accused Northwestern and other elite universities – including Harvard and Columbia – of failing to protect Jewish students from acts of antisemitism in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel, and the Israeli military response in Gaza.
Last month, the Trump administration announced it was freezing $790 million in federal funding to Northwestern, amid an investigation into what the U.S. Department of Education calls "explosions of antisemitism" on American college campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war.
Northwestern said federal dollars support life-saving research, which is now in jeopardy. In a statement last month, a Northwestern University spokesperson said they had not received official notification of a funding freeze.
The Trump administration also announced a freeze on $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard in April, after the university rejected demands for leadership reforms, an immediate halt to diversity, equity and inclusion policies, an audit of "viewpoint diversity" among students and faculty, and "meaningful discipline" for students who violated school policies when a pro-Palestinian tent encampment went up on Harvard Yard.
In March, the Trump administration announced it would be canceling $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University, alleging school had "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."
A total of 60 institutions of higher education were warned in March that they were under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education for possibly violating Title VI for allowing alleged antisemitic harassment and discrimination on their campuses.
The video above is from an earlier report.
