High-ranking officials at the Department of Education held a virtual briefing this week with leaders of various Jewish organizations to explain the department’s efforts to fight antisemitism on college campuses.
The department held an hour-long session on Monday, about two weeks after Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona met with Jewish leaders to discuss rising antisemitism on college campuses across the country.
“It was a continuation of their efforts to be transparent about what they’re doing to address antisemitism, both in K through 12 schools and in higher education institutions,” Talya Steinberg, the National Council of Jewish Women’s associate director for government relations, told The Times of Israel.
Cardona appeared briefly to start off the meeting, which was run by his deputy, Cindy Marten, and the assistant secretary for the Office of Civil Rights, Catherine Lhaman. The officials noted the large number of complaints about antisemitism they’ve received since the attack on Israel last month, and reviewed reminders that the department sent to schools that receive federal funding about their legal obligation to address incidents of antisemitism.
The Education Department officials also said they plan to meet with the leaders of federally funded schools, including colleges and K-12 schools, later this week in Washington.
“We appreciated that the secretary, the deputy secretary, and everybody else on the team is taking this seriously,” said Nathan Diament, the Executive Director of Public Policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. “They realize this is a crisis. But we’re still looking to them to match their actions to the moment in terms of being as aggressive as possible and as proactive as possible.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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