House Republicans urge Cardona to implement Trump executive order on antisemitism

Higher Ed Dive

Natalie Schwartz

December 21, 2023

Republicans on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce this week urged U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to implement a Trump-era executive order intended to combat antisemitism.

Every year since the executive order was signed, the Education Department has indicated it would develop regulations to comply with it, according to the letter.

“It never has,” the letter stated.

This inaction has left colleges “unprepared for and unwilling to address the fires of antisemitism that have swept campuses this fall,” the lawmakers argued.

An Education Department spokesperson confirmed via email Wednesday that the agency has received the letter.

“Any harassment or discrimination against students based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, such as Jewish ancestry, is unacceptable and prevents our nation’s learners from achieving their full potential in the classroom,” the spokesperson said.

The Republicans’ letter comes amid spiking antisemitism and Islamophobic acts across U.S. colleges in the wake of the latest Israel-Hamas war.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not cover discrimination based on religion. However, in late 2019, then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that discrimination against Jewish people may violate Title VI if it is based on their race, color or national origin.

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