Experts warn that colleges could experience a chilling effect to free speech after federal officials announced investigations into antisemitic harassment and discrimination on dozens of campuses.
Sixty schools — including the University of South Florida and University of Tampa — are under investigation by the Department of Education for events that followed Hamas' deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Letters from the Department of Education to the schools accuse them of violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in federally funded programs.
RELATED: Pro-Palestinian protests and the history of protests at USF
In the letter to USF, officials said "antisemitic protestors and antagonists have harassed and committed violence against Jewish students — denying them equal access to educational programs and activities" during demonstrations against Israel's military action in Gaza after the Hamas attack.
If schools are found to have violated Jewish students' rights, the agency could cut federal funding under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, which has already been done with Columbia University. The Trump administration canceled $400 million in grants and contracts for the New York school.
Tyler Coward is the lead counsel for government affairs for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
He said while universities have a responsibility to protect students from harassment and discrimination, they also should protect free speech.
"Right now, we’re seeing both colleges and the federal government put their thumb on the scale in favor of censorship of politically protected speech, and that is exactly the wrong message we should be sending to our students," Coward said.
The letter sent to USF does not go into how the school violated Title VI.
But in an email to WUSF, USF director of media relations Althea Johnson said antisemitism is not welcome on campus.
"In advance of the Fall 2024 semester, we updated our policy on discrimination and harassment to explicitly prohibit antisemitism, along with all other instances of hateful expression targeting individuals because of their religion, shared ancestry or cultural heritage," Johnson said.
"USF is currently participating in Hillel International’s flagship Campus Climate Initiative, a training and engagement initiative for college and university administrators, designed to address the rise of antisemitism on campuses."
Eric Cardenas is the assistant vice president for communications and public affairs for the University of Tampa. In an email to WUSF, he said UTampa received its letter because of a Department of Education Office of Civil Rights review of an incident between two students in September 2023.
RELATED: DeSantis wants colleges to expel or deport protesters who target Jewish students
"The incident was resolved through the student conduct process. The University has fully complied with the OCR review to date," Cardenas said.
"UTampa is committed to being an inclusive learning community, and condemns any form of discrimination, racism or any other form of hate."
The Trump administration has targeted anti-Israel protests on college campuses. Shortly after returning to office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order saying he would deport "pro-jihadist" protesters.
In addition, a Palestinian activist, permanent resident with a green card and recent graduate student at Columbia was arrested over the weekend by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after taking part in protests on that campus. The Department of Homeland Security alleges he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
Critics like Coward call actions like this unconstitutional, saying that universities should have clear and consistent policies for all student protests and speech.
"If there is evidence that the institution is enforcing some policies against some student groups while allowing other student groups to get around those policies, that itself is evidence of viewpoint discrimination," Coward said.
"These investigations paired with the administration’s reliance on an unconstitutional definition for what constitutes as antisemitism creates worry that the administration is going to require universities to censor politically protected speech by the First Amendment."
Copyright 2025 WUSF 89.7
