The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a warning to Pomona College on Monday as part of a wider investigation into 60 institutions, claiming that the college has failed to adequately address discrimination against Jewish students.
“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 …” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said. “[U.S. taxpayer] support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.”
Various 5C Jewish organizations expressed conflicting views — some claimed to see it as overdue accountability, while others expressed concern that the action was a political maneuver to undermine higher education.
“Pomona, both before and after Oct. 7, 2023, failed to adequately respond to antisemitic incidents and a general climate that was hostile to Jewish students who see a connection to Israel, the Jewish state, as part of their identity,” Emilio Bankier PO ’27, vice president of Haverim, wrote in an email to TSL.
Bankier stated that the 5Cs need to better cultivate a culture of respect and empathy, and that they should be prepared to assert the right of Jewish students to express their identities without being subject to social ostracization, harassment and discrimination.
He said that from what he has seen over the past years, federal intervention may be the only thing that will make Pomona address its antisemitism problem.
“We can only hope that addressing antisemitism remains the true focus of the administration,” Bankier wrote.
However, Ezra Levinson PZ ’27, an organizer of Jewish Voice for Peace at the Claremont Colleges, wrote in a statement to TSl that the investigation is not about antisemitism or the safety of Jewish students.
Levinson referred to a White House X post on March 10, which celebrated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ arrest of Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil; the post, which began with the words “SHALOM, MAHMOUD,” was accompanied by an image of Khalil’s face with the caption: “LED ACTIVITIES ALIGNED TO HAMAS.”
Shalom means “peace” in Hebrew, and is often used as a greeting or farewell.
“When the White House tweets ‘SHALOM, MAHMOUD’ in celebration of their detention of an activist, they’re scapegoating Jewish people for the extralegal repression that the federal government is carrying out,” Levinson wrote. “That makes Jews less safe, not more.”
She added that the investigation is part of a larger scheme to escalate “authoritarian crackdown” on dissent.
“The actions of the federal government represent a serious threat not only to activists, but also to all students and our universities,” she wrote. “All of us — students, faculty, staff, administrators, community members — need to take action in response.”
Levinson referenced an Instagram post made on March 11 by Peter Beinart, a columnist and journalist at the New York Times.
“What they’re doing is using Jews as a pretext for an attack on universities they hate, because these universities are outside of their control, and because these universities — as universities have been in America for a long time — are centers of progressive dissent against right-wing, authoritarian, and more generally establishment capitalist politics,” Beinart said in the post.
Levinson emphasized her concern about the political motivations behind the federal intervention.
“Using the idea of Jews as a shield for authoritarian dirty work, whether in Israel or here in the United States, puts Jews in danger,” she wrote.
Similarly, Bankier acknowledged the concern that the administration may be using the real issue of antisemitism on campuses as a way to justify their political actions, adding that the Trump administration’s broader political aims are concerning.
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