By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (Reuters) – A former Department of Justice attorney has said the Trump administration’s probes of U.S. universities over accusations of antisemitism lacked evidence and had predetermined outcomes.
Investigations by a Trump administration task force into alleged antisemitism were “marked by extraordinary procedural irregularities, predetermined outcomes without factual or legal support, and disregard” for specific legal requirements and free speech rights, lawyers for Haley Van Erem, a former career attorney in the DOJ’s civil rights division, said in a complaint.
The whistleblower complaint sent to the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee was made public on Tuesday by Democratic U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin.
The complaint said Van Erem and others suggested to also open probes into allegations of anti-Muslim bias on university campuses but those proposals “were not pursued by leadership.”
Republican President Donald Trump has targeted universities with probes and federal funding suspension threats over pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s assault on Gaza. The Trump administration alleges the protesters were antisemitic and supported extremism.
Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say opposing Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and its assault on Gaza is not antisemitic and advocacy for Palestinian rights should not be equated with supporting extremism.
“While at the DOJ, Ms. Haley Van Erem did not work on university investigations. And for all matters, the department stands behind the integrity of these investigations,” a DOJ spokesperson said.
Senior DOJ and Department of Health and Human Services officials “departed from longstanding investigative practices designed to ensure due process, accuracy and legal compliance,” the complaint said.
“For at least some of the investigations, there was little to no factual predicate justifying opening them. When they (Van Erem and others) asked questions, raised legal concerns, or sought to document their objections, they were sometimes admonished and their concerns were often disregarded,” it added.
The complaint said some DOJ assignees felt the mandate to conduct interviews with some Middle East studies professors “seemed like an attempt to intimidate those professors and was rooted in Islamophobic assumptions that Middle East Studies professors would harbor antisemitic viewpoints rather than any actual evidence of complaints about antisemitism.”
The government has also targeted universities over diversity initiatives, transgender policies and climate programs. Rights advocates have raised due process, free speech and academic freedom concerns.
Columbia University agreed to pay more than $200 million to the U.S. government to resolve federal probes and restore most of its federal funding in July last year. Brown University said it would pay $50 million to support local workforce development when it reached a settlement with the government in 2025.
Both institutions, who have said they oppose all forms of discrimination, had accepted certain government demands.
Harvard University is yet to make a deal. It has previously cast Trump administration probes as “retaliatory actions against Harvard for its refusal to surrender our independence and constitutional rights.”
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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