How Trump Admin Weaponized “Antisemitism” Probes to Dismantle Higher Education “Brick by Brick”

Haley Van Erem, a former career attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, has filed a complaint claiming the Trump administration task force charged with investigating antisemitism pushed universities into massive settlements despite turning up little to no evidence of anti-Jewish discrimination on campus. Van Erem said in her complaint that the government’s probes into schools like Harvard, Brown and Columbia were “an unlawful process designed to achieve predetermined political goals.”

“Columbia affiliates, from the Board of Trustees down, have actually collaborated with the federal government in these sham investigations,” says Marianna Hirsch, professor emerita at Columbia University. “These were not probes into antisemitism accusations, but they were efforts to dismantle higher education brick by brick.” Columbia and Brown settled with the administration for $200 million and $50 million, respectively. Harvard refused to settle, and a judge threw out the case against the university.