The University of Minnesota is among five colleges under investigation by Donald Trump’s Department of Education over allegations of antisemitism, according to the Education Department’s Monday press release.
The University and the four other colleges — Northwestern University, Columbia University, Portland State University and University of California, Berkeley — are facing Title IX investigations from the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. The investigations stem from allegations that these colleges have tolerated antisemitism on their campuses since Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses,” Craig Trainor, the agency’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in the statement.
The order also calls for an investigation into all antisemitism complaints, both pending and resolved, since Oct. 7, 2023.
The office has not released why they decided on these five colleges.
The University of Minnesota has seen several pro-Palestine Protests since Oct. 2023. These protests include one where several members of UMN Students for a Democratic Society were arrested after they barricaded themselves inside Morrill Hall.
This is not the first time Trump has taken aim at antisemitism on college campuses. On Wednesday, Trump promised to prosecute antisemitic students and revoke the visas of international students who were “Hamas sympathizers.”
Trump’s Department of Education has already made substantial changes to higher education in his first few weeks in office. Among the notable changes was ordering public institutions like the University of Minnesota to roll back their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.
The University stands by its handling of antisemitism on campus and is actively reviewing the details of the investigation, according to a University statement sent to the Minnesota Daily.
“We are confident in our approach to combating hate and bias on our campus and will fully cooperate with this investigation. The University continues to stand firmly against antisemitism,” the University statement said. “We have and will continue to respond promptly and fully to any reports of harassment, intimidation, or bias against Jewish students — or any other members of our University community — in accordance with our University values, our own policies, and our responsibility under the law.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
KG
Mar 5, 2025 at 10:03 am
Drago, let’s distinguish between biological ancestry, which uses tools like DNA and cultural ancestry, which relates to shared traditions, languages, religions, values, and practices. Yes, Palestinians have Canaanite DNA, and it’s nice to know about biological ancestry and migration patterns. However, a people shaping its society and being shaped is more complex than mere DNA tests. The obvious reality remains: Palestinians lost any connection to ancient Canaanites long ago. Palestinians are an integral part of Arab culture and identity. Palestinian language is Arabic, predominant religion is Islam, and extended family structure is common in Arab societies. Palestinian society severely persecutes LGBTQ+ individuals, has high rates of child marriage, and discriminates against women—issues consistent with other traditional Arab societies. Palestinians predominantly marry other Arabs. The keffiyeh, adopted by extremist pro-Palestinians as a sign of pride in Hamas’s massacre of Jews on October 7, is traditional Arab headgear (without the face mask). Palestine is a member of the Arab League.
The Jews carry Canaanite DNA, too. That’s reasonable because the ancient Israelites conquered Canaan. But in contrast to Palestinians, the Jews as a people have maintained their collective identity as Jews from ancient times. The term “Jews” derives from the ancient region of Judea. Their nation, Israel, traces its name to the tribes of Israel. Hebrew, their ancient language, remains the language of the Jews. The religion of the Jews is Judaism, which can be traced back to their ancient beliefs. For 3,000 years, Jews have lived continuously in Israel-Palestine, as confirmed by extensive historical and archaeological evidence. Jewish presence in Israel-Palestine antedates Arab presence by 1,000 years. If you believe you can rewrite history or claim the land of Israel for your own based on DNA printouts, you’re mistaken.
In 1850, there were 15,000 Jews in Israel—before anyone referred to themselves as Palestinians (much less Canaanite). The settler-colonialist narrative pushed by pseudo-scholars in UMN’s GWSS, CSCL, and AIS doesn’t apply to the Jews. In modern times, Jews privately purchased land from its Ottoman owners in Israel-Palestine and lived on it. Colonization wasn’t part of their story. Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe carry Middle Eastern DNA, and those who migrated to Israel returned to their ancient homeland. That gives the lie to you calling them colonialists.
The big problem for Palestinians is their failed leadership. Arab leaders including Arafat, the Palestinian terrorist, rejected several peace offers and instead initiated wars against the Israel–and lost. If Palestinians had accepted any of the several peace offers, you would be living on most of Palestine today. Hamas initiating war on October 7 was a grave miscalculation. If you think Jews will abandon Israel because of the massacre of its people and systematic rape of Jewish women by Hamas terrorists—reminiscent of the systematic rape committed by the Arab Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against Sudanese women—you’re deluding yourself. Hamas is guilty of all the death and destruction in Gaza. Drogo, I don’t know of any group other than Islamists like Hamas, RSF and Boko Haram that systematically rapes women. Do you?
Here at UMN, antisemitism has risen sharply since October 7. If you want to understand what antisemitism is, start by reading DanG’s comment on UMN in this thread. You show contemptuousness of anti-Jewish discrimination by perverting the generally accepted meaning of the word “antisemitism.” Jews, like everyone else, have the right to study on campus without fear or intimidation in any academic unit.
Drago
Feb 28, 2025 at 4:07 pm
Reading KG’s giant wall of misinformation, lies, propaganda, anti Arab racism and anti-Semitic diatribes against Arabs (Arabs are Semites therefore racism against Arabs is horribly anti-Semitic, making it all the more ironic that KG the clown is out here Crusading against Anti-Semitism when his Anti-Semitism against Arabs would make Hitler blush) gave me a brain aneurysm from the sheer volume of lies and misinformation saturating such a troll wall of text. Dear God I need to take Advil after reading all of KG’s nonsense because I am honestly baffled that in the era of ubiquitous information and AI that it is still possible to disseminate such blatant lies and blood libels against Arabs and Palestinians. Dear God, where to begin dismantling this Zionist bot’s ocean of lies and misinformation. Let’s see…
1) Actual DNA tests have shown that Palestinians share DNA with the ancient Canaanites and are the continuous descendants of the Canaanites, so before you posit that the Palestinians are all just Arab invaders why not open up a damn book and read the actual research papers showing Palestinians possessing near identical DNA to the Canaanites. The fact that you think all Palestinians are just descendants of Arab invaders in the 7th century shows how you never took a damn history class ever in your life, never opened a book in your life on world history, and dont understand how migrations and invasions throughout history worked. The Arab armies that conquered the world from Spain to India in the 7th century were way too few in numbers to possibly expunge the entire indigenous populations of all the lands they conquered you donut! Obviously the Arabs conquered land, some Arabs settled in those lands, but actual DNA tests across the Middle East show that most Middle Easterners retain the indigenous DNA of their populations with some Arab admixture.
You would know all of this if you actually opened a book on world history and did some damn research instead of mindlessly parroting the nonsense you read on Twitter.
2. Just because modern Palestinians cant speak Canaanite doesnt prove jack you donut. Modern Irish and Scots living in Ireland and Scotland cant speak their indigenous Gaelic and Pict languages, with almost everyone in Great Britain speaking English with some regional dialects. Using your garbage logic the Irish and Scots living in Ireland and Scotland today are just English invaders. This is the level of brain rot your arguments are reflecting. No logic, no historical awareness, no research, just regurgitating brain rot you read online from Zionist propaganda sites. Tell me how many Italians today speak Latin? How many Mexicans today speak their indigenous Aztec languages? How many Comanche, Powhatans, Sioux, Lakota, etc today living in America speak their indigenous languages? In many cases, almost none, since people who are conquered and colonized have their languages usually superseded by the language of the conquerors, which given Palestine’s history of conquest by the Arabs meant that Arabic was the language they now speak. You would understand how this worked if you ever opened a book in your life and read it cover to cover.
3. You have the audacity to promote blood libels against the Arabs being bloodthirsty and savage conquerors and slave traders despite the Arabs in their heyday having one of the most advanced civilizations in their Golden Age, giving us scientists like Ibn Al-Haytham – one of the founders of the scientific study of optics and one of the 1st scientists in history to actually propound the scientific method – as well as the Arabs being the most advanced civilization in world history for their time in their treatment of the mentally ill, where they built the 1st mental hospitals in the world called bimaristans to help treat the mentally ill using holistic treatment like diet, music, and bath therapy to help the mentally ill at the same time in history where Europeans were torturing and executing the mentally ill because they thought they were witches, devils, or possessed by demons. Did the Arabs own slaves? Yeah, they did, just like almost every other civilization in history did from the Egyptians to the Romans to the Chinese and especially the Greeks themselves, whose most famous philosopher Aristotle viewed slaves as being akin to beasts who deserved to be enslaved. And since you’re a Zionist it’s rich and ironic that you slam the Arabs for slavery given the Jews notorious history of enslaving black Africans during the Transatlantic slave trade, but even before that when the Hebrews invaded the land of Canaan they slaughtered many of the men and took the women and little girls as young as 6 years old to be used as concubines, aka sex slaves.
Dont believe me, read the Book of Numbers and Deuteronomy see for yourself.
Bringing up how the Arabs practiced slavery hundreds of years ago as some kind of slam dunk against their history, culture and as some kind of argument to support Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians is the most sociopathic, depraved, and idiotic thing ive ever read in my life, but I cant say im surprised that you would argue that since you support a genocidal state that has commit ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians and genocide in Gaza. Dont expect anything resembling morals from a sociopath.
4. Let us for the sake of argument pretend that all Palestinians are descendants of Arab invaders that arrived in the 1st millennium. Let us pretend, because honestly that claim is so outrageously false and an Anti-Semitic libel against Palestinians that no one who has ever read even more than 1 sentence of a history book would ever spew such blatant misinformation and falsehood, but since you insist on going down that route let me call your bluff.
The putative Arabs who arrived in Palestine in the 1st millennium, 1st in the 3rd century AD under the Ghassanid kingdom, and then later on after the Islamic invasions in 636, would effectively then have over 1400 year claim to the land. As someone who has actually read a damn book on history I would know that 1400-1700 years in the land of Palestine already makes the putative Arabs more indigenous to the land or as indigenous to the land as many people who claim to be indigenous to their lands today. The English whom we claim are indigenous to England only crossed the English Channel from Germany and settled in England in the 4th century to 6th century AD, which is after when the Ghassanid Arabs settled in Palestine. The Normans settled in England and created the modern royal family of England in 1066 after William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings, meaning that the Arabs are more indigenous to the land of Palestine than the entire royal family of England today.
Modern day Hungarians are descendants of Magyar tribes that only settled in the Carpathian Basin encompassing modern day Hungary in 896, meaning that the so called Arab invaders whom you claim are who all Palestinians descend from, according to your BS logic the Arabs are more indigenous to Palestine than the Hungarians are to Hungary by several hundred years. Dont even get me started on the Turks living in Turkey but used to be called Anatolia, the Bantu Zulu living in South Africa, the whites living in every continent outside of Europe from South Africa to New Zealand to Australia to Canada to America, or even the entire Spanish population in North and South America who have been conquered and mixed with Spanish invaders after 1492. Or how about the Russians who descend from the Varangian Rus, a Viking tribe that settled into Russia in the 8th century and from whom we derive the word Russian from? The Arab connection to Palestine far surpasses all these people’s connection to the lands they live in today, but no one today is seriously arguing that we should expel Hungarians from Hungary, English from England, Zulu from South Africa, all whites living anywhere not named Europe, or Russian elites descending from the Varangian Rus from Russia.
5. The claim that modern day Palestinians are all just migrants from Arab lands who arrived there in the 19th to 20th century is literally a fabrication and libel promoted by the liar and propagandist Joan Peters in her book “From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine.” Her book has been debunked by every credible and noteworthy historian as being a literal hoax and lie, on the same level as “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. Norman Finkelstein, an actual intellectual and actual historian, dismantled her book and her thesis in his book “Image and Reality of the Israel-Palestine Conflict”, so try again before thinking you can assert a historical hoax and think I wouldn’t notice it.
Next time KG learn some history, take a history class, and read an actual book on the topics you’re discussing instead of mindlessly parroting propaganda and lies you read online that have been debunked ad nauseam.
KG
Feb 26, 2025 at 10:20 am
Drago, terror-enabling, extremist pro-Palestinian liars and fools like you think your hatred and poison will go unanswered by normal people.
First, “Palestinians” cannot claim ancestry in Israel going back thousands of years unless you’re telling me they talk Canaanite with their children and celebrate Canaanite rituals. The best Arab Palestinians can historically do is arrival with the Arab conquest in the first millennium. Arabs were brutal conquerors and colonizers and settled on land where Jews were living.
Second, racist Arab slavers have been heavily involved in the lucrative Black African slave trade and systematic rape of African women for hundreds of years, even today. Nicholas Kristoff, writing from Africa: “There is so much rape,” a woman crossing from the Darfur region of Sudan told me. She recounted how an Arab militia called the Rapid Support Forces had publicly raped … to terrorize the community and force Black African ethnic groups to flee. ‘Slaves, you have no place here,’ she quoted them telling Black villagers like her, among many other racist epithets. Witness accounts suggest … a deliberate policy of rape to terrorize Black African ethnic groups and drive them from Sudan. (See Nicholas Kristoff, New York Times, September 24, 2024.) That context helps us understand why Jewish women were systematically and viciously raped by Palestinian Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
Third, “Palestinians” use the simplistic “indigenous” argument to convince non-experts, such as UMN American Indian Studies. However, the Arab conquest didn’t completely displace the Jews. Jews have lived in Israel continuously, through other imperial conquests, into modern times; and Jews can prove it, archeologically and historically. Your claim that Israel is a “colonial state founded by European settlers in the 1900s” is demonstrably false. The land on which some Jews settled at that time was legally purchased from landlords, whether Turkish, Arab, or otherwise, as recognized by the Ottomans.
Fourth, “Palestinians” are mostly a hodge-podge of extended family groups from various Arabic-speaking regions who were economic migrants during the prosperous years of the British Mandate. Arab family names show where many originated (Masri—Egypt, Tantawi—Tanta in Egypt, Halabi—Aleppo, Lubnani—Lebanon, etc.).
Finally, the ICJ’s “plausible” genocide simply means the litigation continues. The Advisory Opinion that alludes to “apartheid” is simply that—advisory.
I am amazed how you and your cronies twist truth to suit your false narrative. It makes you look like fools.
Drago
Feb 19, 2025 at 7:32 pm
I am convinced that KG is a Hasbara bot not just because he is prolifically and indefatigably spewing Zionist myths and talking points, but his quote mining of a single individual to prove that the Palestinian people never existed is literally taken from the Hasbara playbook.
Whether the people who lived on the land contemporarily known as Palestine/Israel were called Palestinians or Arabs is not the point, it’s a moot point that obfuscates the issue at hand; what’s the point is that Palestinian people living on their land who have ancestry going back thousands of years ago on that land are being expelled, dispossessed, genocided, bombed, starved and forced to live as 2nd class citizens on their own land by an Apartheid settler colonial state founded by European settlers in the 1900s.
That’s the damn point!
This nitpicking on whether the indigenous Palestinians were called Palestinian or Arab is literally a red herring and diversionary tactic Zionists use to distract from the fact that Israel has expelled close to over 1 million Palestinians from their land since 1948, which is a fact according to the UN and every international human rights organization.
It’s also a fact that the International Court of Justice, the highest court in the world mind you, has ruled in a historic ruling on July 19, 2024 that Israel is guilty of the crime of Apartheid in their occupation and treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, that’s a fact that can be verified right now going on the International Court of Justice website and reading their 284 page ruling on Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories from July 19, 2024.
What’s also a fact is that on January 2024 15 out of 17 United Nations judges ruled that Israel’s actions in Gaza plausibly amount to the crime of genocide. That’s a fact!
So please KG, continue your typical facile, glib and disingenuous quote mining and Hasbara diversionary tactics, because nothing you say can change the facts that Israel is an Apartheid state (as per the report by Amnesty International and the International Court of Justice) guilty of genocide against the people of Gaza (as per the United Nations).
KG
Feb 11, 2025 at 3:15 am
Slalom, since you insist on going off topic, let’s also remember what Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) senior official Zuheir Mohsen said in 1977: “The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.”
Slalom
Feb 10, 2025 at 8:07 am
Remember the USS Liberty!
KG
Feb 8, 2025 at 9:10 am
DanG’s comment reminds us how antisemitism has manifested through specific actions targeting Jewish students at the U. Ask yourself: would this kind of behavior have been tolerated if African Americans or Native Americans were the targets? Most would say “no.” That instinctive response reflects a basic understanding of what antisemitism is.
Consider the chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” If you ask, “Where is the democratic state of Israel?” and are shown a map that erases Israel entirely, it becomes clear this isn’t just a protest against Israeli government policy. It’s not a call for two peoples to live peaceably side by side. It’s a call for the elimination of Israel and destruction of the Jewish people living in their ancient homeland—a call for ethnic cleansing. That is antisemitism.
When a Jewish student fears to wear jewelry with a Jewish star, an old religious symbol, because of intimidation, bullying and threats that is antisemitism.
When images of hostages abducted during the horrific October 7, 2023, massacre were torn down or defaced, was that a critique of Israeli policy or Netanyahu? No—it was a display of contempt and callousness toward Jewish lives, dismissing the inhumanity of abduction and the universal desire to see hostages freed. That, too, is antisemitism.
If you are still in doubt about what antisemitism is, the DOE investigation of UMN will provide clarity. If uncertainty remains, the passage of the bipartisan Antisemitism Awareness Act will offer further insight.
DanG
Feb 7, 2025 at 5:50 am
My son transferred out of UMN last year because of pervasive antisemitism. In the time he was there, the windows of the Hillel building were shot out (something virtually unreported), the Hillel had to go on lockdown after a group of ~30 men blocked the doorway outside and called for students to come out so they could beat them up (police found that not one of these men had UMN student ID), a Jewish student brave enough to counterprotest pro-Hamas demonstrators was threatened that night by two men that if he did so again they would shoot him (police report was filed), Pro-Hamas self-appointed “marshals” in neon-colored vests stood outside a number of campus buildings to “keep Zionists (i.e. anyone identifiably Jewish) off campus”, posters of Israeli hostages were repeated torn down, etc, etc
Susan S. Pastin
Feb 4, 2025 at 9:33 pm
I am Jewish, worked on the Minnesota daily, and graduated from the J school in 1968.
I support Israel and consider myself a Zionist in that I believe Jews have a right to a homeland. But I also believe Palestinians have a right to a homeland!
And I am frankly ashamed – but not surprised – at Netanyahu’s attempts to bulldoze and ethically cleanse Gaza!
I consider that Netanyahu to be Israel’s equivalent of Trump – A barbaric, narcissistic sociopath, who believes might makes right!
I really don’t think the right, including Seig Heil Elan Musk, care about Jews. In fact, the right wing has always included a good share of anti-Semites, Including conspiracy theorists Who delight in blaming Jews.
I think the Trump Regime’s planned investigations of universities is a mixture of their innate anti-intellectualism, and an another of their divide and conquer tactics.
Sophia
Feb 4, 2025 at 3:02 pm
My guess as to why the U is on this list? Michael Hsu (former Regent) and Richard Painter (current law professor) filed a complaint to the Dept of Ed back in December of 2023. The call is literally coming from inside the house.
See the Daily article about this, published 01/17/24.
KJ
Feb 4, 2025 at 2:52 pm
I can tell you exactly why Trump’s DOE chose to investigate these particular schools … because each one of them is located in a blue state that voted against him in the 2024 presidential election.
Being pro-Palestine and advocating against the bombing and starvation of Palestinian people does not equate to being anti-Semitic. The state of Israel and its government are distinct from the Jewish people and their faith. However, when individuals criticize or condemn the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) for their treatment of Palestinians, they are often unjustly labeled as anti-Semites. While it’s undeniable that there are anti-Semites within the pro-Palestine movement, just as there are anti-Muslim sentiments in the pro-Israel movement, we must be cautious not to generalize. People should not be accused of hatred toward an entire group simply because they support one cause over another.
Free Palestine
Feb 4, 2025 at 1:19 pm
What Anti-Semitism? Telling Israel that it’s not OK to bomb hospitals, bomb schools, bomb universities, and starve an entire population of 2.3 million Gazans and commit genocide against them isn’t anti-Semitism you donuts! If that’s anti-Semitism then consider me a proud Anti-Semite as well as every other decent human being with a conscience who isn’t a sociopath who’s condemning Israel’s barbarism and genocidal madness.
And to the snowflakes above crying about how triggered they are watching people carry a Palestinian flag at the CLA graduation, you need some serious therapy and heavy medications because being this triggered over a flag is just insanity. People in Gaza are having their heads blown up, missing their limbs, being starved to death, but poor miss triggered snowflakes seeing a flag and people protesting that they think genocide is wrong
From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free.
Cry more snowflakes ❄️
Emery
Feb 4, 2025 at 12:01 pm
I’ve heard conflicting information about whether the Trump Administration planned to allow for ongoing civil rights investigations (and that they had issued stop work orders regarding pending investigations) and whether the Department of Education will continue to operate as a Cabinet-level department. If the agency performs essential law enforcement and investigative work, why eliminate it? Alternatively, if control of educational policy is better handled by states, why target institutions in five different states with a single inquiry?
Paul Shambroom
Feb 4, 2025 at 11:08 am
Yes, antisemitism is a scourge and probably is a factor for a small number of people protesting for Palestinian rights and peace. There is much more to this story than is being reported. Many of these efforts to address antisemitism on campus are, in actuality, attempts to suppress free speech and legitimate criticism of actions of the Israeli government, and US support for those actions.
LostonCampus
Feb 4, 2025 at 10:59 am
Good!!! I attended a CLA graduation last year that was the most disgraceful thing I have ever seen. 1000’s of people CHANTING From the River to the Sea!! And the CLA DEAN stood there like an idiot ALLOWING them to continue to parade the palestine flag around. Shameful.
TA
Feb 4, 2025 at 9:00 am
Good. Finally some accountability.
brokentrust
Feb 4, 2025 at 8:59 am
After the click bait articles from yesterday, one from this same reporter, the Daily is not to be trusted. Whoever is charge over there at the Hubbard School of “Journalism” might want to check on the student reporters as the two articles published here yesterday were inaccurate and seemed intentionally scare-mongering. Congrats, Daily, you frightened your fellow students and community with your thirsty work. Why, besides a high view count, would anyone do that??