A government task force is set to investigate incidents of hate on ten university campuses across the United States. The universities in question are Columbia University, George Washington University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Northwestern University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern California.
The task force’s visits come in the wake of large protests by pro-Palestinian students at several universities, denouncing Israel’s actions in Gaza. In a notable incident last year, the New York Police Department arrested over 100 students at Columbia University after they established encampments on campus. Similarly, the University of California, Irvine, faced tensions as pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police, resulting in the suspension of five students. Furthermore, recent events saw pro-Palestinian student protesters at Barnard College in New York staging a protest in an academic building, where a staff member was physically assaulted and hospitalized. Additionally, two students were reportedly expelled from the same college for disrupting a class on the “History of Modern Israel.”
The Department of Justice’s task force will conduct investigations at New York University and Harvard University as part of its efforts to address antisemitism on college campuses.
Contributing: Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY
This article was originally published on USA TODAY.
