The US Justice Department on Friday said it was probing what it said were possible violations of terrorism laws during protests over the Gaza war at Columbia University.
The move is said to have put a fresh pressure on the epicenter of last year’s nationwide anti-Israel activism.
According to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the investigation was part of President Donald Trump’s mission to end antisemitism in this country, calling it a pushback that was long overdue.
Meanwhile, civil rights proponents faulted the move, saying that protesters were covered by the First Amendment of the Constitution, which protects rights including free speech.
The announcement is reportedly the latest in a series of signals that the Trump’s administration has no intention of easing its crackdown on pro-Palestinian student activists and university policies that it says allow antisemitism to flourish on campus.
The Trump’s administration has told Columbia that the school must make a series of policy changes as a precondition for beginning talks on restoring $400 million in federal funding suspended last week.
The demands, spelled out in a letter dated Thursday, coincided with a search of two dormitory rooms by federal agents at Columbia’s New York campus.
The searches came a week after immigration agents detained Mahmoud Khalil, the leader of last year’s protests at Columbia, in a bid to deport him that so far has been blocked in federal court.
Earlier this week, the Department of Education warned that it was probing 60 schools for allegedly tolerating a hostile environment for Jews.