Education Department opens Title VI antisemitism investigations at five universities

The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced Title VI investigations into five universities — Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, the University of California system, and University of Michigan — over campus responses to antisemitism following the October 2023 Gaza war protests. The OCR investigations gave the department authority to seek internal records, interview faculty and administrators, and ultimately revoke federal funding if it found violations. Within weeks, the number of universities under investigation expanded dramatically. Legal experts noted that Title VI investigations had historically focused on race-based discrimination in admissions and financial aid, but the 2025 wave applied the enforcement mechanism broadly to speech and campus climate questions, giving the federal government a powerful lever for intervening in university affairs under civil rights law. Universities began reviewing their protest policies, speaker invitations, and campus security protocols under the shadow of potential federal funding loss.