Teams representing a wide range of college and universities joined one of the country’s main Jewish groups on Tuesday to encourage Trump’s administration to change the way it is trying to combat campus anti -Semitism.
The federal government has been withdrawn billions of dollars to finance research by a handful of university elite and is threatened to move on after others who claim that they may not have done enough to punish discrimination. However, one coalition, including the US Jewish Commission, argued in a joint statement on Tuesday that the government had to carefully follow the federal law and avoid hasty actions that could distort the discoveries of the research.
The federal civil rights law allows the government to discontinue money on the basis of discrimination. The law, however, also requires a detailed research and notification process – a protocol that higher education leaders believe that Trump’s administration has flawed.
The alarming leaders of the universities have struggled to persuade the White House to review his approach, and the joint statement represented an attempt to gain leverage through a public alliance that has reached higher education.
“The right and essential role for the US government in tackling anti -Semitism is through the powerful laws to combat the discrimination of the nation,” said the US Jewish Commission, a defense agency, which was also signed by a series of teaching groups.
The teams reported that the federal law allowed the “intense enforcement” while maintaining justice for individuals and schools.
The US Jewish Commission, in particular, warned that “overly wide” cuts in funding for the “Upledil Science and Innovation research, and ultimately reduce the necessary battle against anti-Semitism, while threatening the global pre-emergence of research universities”.
The Association and the Council stated that their schools “bind continuous reform and transparent action to eliminate anti -Semitism and all other forms of hatred and prejudice from our campuses”.
The White House and the Department of Education did not comment immediately.
Trump’s administration has previously rejected complaints after disconnecting or threatening to pull over $ 12 billion in research funding set to flow on a list of schools including Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard and Northwestern.
So far, Harvard is the only university to challenge the school’s funding in court. Then, Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, accused the University of “Showboating” and said Harvard knew “more than anyone who does not play ball is going to hurt their team”.
Higher education officials, however, say they are looking for the administration to follow the standard standards.
“It is really an important time to maintain the principle of the fair process and that the rule of law is working here,” Barbara Snyder, president of the US Universities Union, said in an interview.
Ted Mitchell, president of the US Council for Education, said in a statement that “efforts to eliminate hatred should address real concerns and problems, not cause cutting -edge damage and often rescue.”
Mr Mitchell suggested that the methods of Trump’s administration did not “really work to protect Jewish and other students who are subject to discrimination and harassment”.
However, defenders of the White House approach note that Columbia has agreed on a list of claims, after the government stripped it of about $ 400 million in grants and contracts.
Columbia’s agreement with the government began the analogy between the conservative critics of the academic world, and Ms Snyder acknowledged that she was not sure whether the joint statement would lead Trump’s administration to change her strategy.
“We have no idea if the White House or anyone else will take care,” he said, noting the long ties between its team and the US Jewish committee.
“It’s just the right thing,” he said.
Former Ted Deutch spokesman Florida, a Democrat, who is the CEO of the Jewish organization, said the statement was intended to mark that the fight against anti -Semitism and the attitude for the proper process were not mutually.
“Both of these things matter,” he said.
The US Association of State Colleges and Universities-which pioneered a letter last month that challenged Trump’s administration-also signed the joint statement, as well as the US Association of Community Colleges, the National Union of Independent Colleges and Universities and the Universities.
