Why didn’t the Biden administration do anything to protect Jewish students at Columbia University? The Center to Advance Security in America is seeking the answer to this question.

(The Center Square) – An advocacy group sued the U.S. Department of Education on Friday seeking records related to the Biden administration’s response to anti-Israel riots held on Columbia University’s campus after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel.

View Comments (1)

Pray for your fellow intercessor.

The Center Square received an exclusive copy of the lawsuit as it was being filed.

Under the Biden administration, antisemitism flourished on U.S. college campuses as pro-Hamas rioters took over U.S. college campuses, including Columbia University, attacking Jewish students, harassing and threatening public officials, The Center Square reported.

For more than a year, antisemitism and violence escalated  by nearly 400% against Jews in America and Jewish students said they didn’t feel safe on U.S. college campuses, including at Columbia University, The Center Square reported.

Last June, the Center to Advance Security in America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the safety and security of Americans and to government transparency, submitted two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the U.S. Department of Education to find out how it handled “the rampant antisemitic discrimination that erupted in American educational institutions following Hamas’s terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.”

“Large demonstrations and encampments at Columbia University have been left unaddressed, resulting in calls for the university president to resign,” CASA Director James Fitzpatrick wrote in one letter to the agency. “Allowing university students to effectively control the campus grounds while creating a hostile environment for Jewish students sets a dangerous precedent for higher education while also impacting diplomatic efforts in support of Israel. Therefore, increased transparency on addressing campus protests is necessary to mitigate heightened antisemitism and violence.”

The FOIA requested communications to, from or received from DOE officials that contained phrases or words related to the riots, as well as records of meeting requests, meeting invitations, call logs and chats related to Columbia University encampments and riots. CASA also requested calendar entries of DOE officials and communications they had with members of the media, including Politico, the New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, the Los Angeles Times and others.

The DOE acknowledged receipt of the requests but then “failed to provide further communications, responsive records, or a time estimate for its response,” according to the complaint. Since then, CASA has never received the requested information.

On Friday, CASA sued the DOE in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia requesting the court to compel the DOE to provide the requested information in accordance with the law.

“Given the many public statements by former Biden Administration Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and his leadership team, there are undoubtedly government communications that were exchanged regarding the pro-Hamas, antisemitic demonstrations at Columbia University in the Spring of 2024,” CASA Director James Fitzpatrick told The Center Square. “The American public deserves to see how Biden administration Education Department officials were internally discussing these protests to gain insight into why no action was taken to address the threat to Jewish students.”

Even after President Donald Trump was sworn into office and began reversing Biden administration policies, CASA argues releasing the requested information “is in the public interest because it will help the public understand the nature of DOE’s response to mass disturbances, violence, and other serious civil rights issues at Columbia University.” It says its goal is to “inform the public so it can be engaged with its leaders and ensure their decisions are consistent with America’s best interests.”

Trump policies have prioritized cracking down on antisemitism on U.S. college campuses. One executive order he issued required higher education institutions to eliminate what he described as discriminatory policies under the guise of “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Another directed the targeting and deporting of pro-Hamas and Palestinian rioters who are either in the U.S. illegally or admitted through visas to rescind their visa and remove them from the country, The Center Square reported.

Last month, the Trump administration announced it was cancelling $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia, arguing it failed to crack down on antisemitism on campus. The move resulted in Columbia announcing it would overhaul its student disciplinary process, ban protesters from wearing masks on campus, ban demonstrations in academic buildings, adopt a new definition of antisemitism among other changes, The Center Square reported.

CASA’s lawsuit was filed by Dhillon Law Group, whose founder, Harmeet Dhillon, was nominated by Trump to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. The U.S. Senate confirmed her nomination on Thursday.

Last month, CASA first sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for failing to release records related to Secret Service staff possibly colluding with some congressional Democrats to strip then presidential candidate Trump of his Secret Service detail after a failed assassination attempt was made against him, The Center Square reported.

Share your prayers for Jewish students and against antisemitism below.

This article was originally published at The Center Square. Used with permission.