The Department of Education threatened to take enforcement action against Emerson College in a press release published on Monday if the institution does not improve its efforts to protect Jewish students on campus.
A letter was sent to 60 higher education institutions across the United States under investigation for alleged Title IV violations related to “antisemitic harassment and discrimination,” according to the press release. The action comes as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to address the “failure” of the previous presidential administration to investigate the cases.
Emerson’s administration did not immediately respond to The Beacon’s request for comment.
“The department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in the release. “U.S. colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers. That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”
Title IV of the Civil Rights Act ensures equal protection on the basis of race, color, and national origin, among other protected characteristics, in public schools and higher education institutions. Monday’s letter expands a series of investigations set in motion by an executive order signed by Trump designed to combat antisemitism. The probe into the alleged civil rights violations also comes after the Trump administration canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts awarded to Columbia University on March 7.
In April 2024, 118 protesters were arrested in the 2 Boylston Place Alley after staging a four-day encampment in protest of Emerson’s investment practices and to draw attention to the violence committed against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack.
Over the summer, Emerson’s administration tightened expression policies in response to the events that took place in the spring, and the Board of Trustees adopted a policy of institutional neutrality to avoid pressure to take a public stance on the historic conflict.
The 60 institutions under federal review include a mix of public and private universities. At least 17 experienced on-campus arrests in 2024 connected to pro-Palestine protests and encampments. Six of the 60 are located in Massachusetts, including Emerson, Boston University, Tufts University, Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Wellesley College; of that list, four had encampments or protests, but only Emerson and UMass Amherst had arrests. Six Ivy League institutions were named: Harvard, Colombia, Yale University, Cornell University, Princeton University, and Brown University.
The contents of the letter were not immediately available.
