On June 30, a task force set up by the U.S. federal government, aimed at combatting antisemitism, published an open letter to Harvard University. "Harvard University is in violent violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin," the letter alleges. "The enclosed Notice of Violation details the findings of fact supporting a conclusion that Harvard has been in some cases deliberately indifferent, and in others has been a willful participant in anti-Semitic harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff."

The letter continues to outline the task force's findings, including that a majority of Jewish students feel unsafe; Jewish and Israeli students have been physically assaulted; and antisemitic imagery and slogans have been prominent on campus. The letter concludes by stating that failure to adequately change Harvard's culture "will result in the loss of all federal financial resources". The university, meanwhile, has told reporters that it "is far from indifferent on this issue and strongly disagrees with the government's findings."

So how much of this has to do with Jews, really? And how much is President Donald Trump's administration simply taking aim at left-leaning, Democratic-aligned instutitions?

David Weinfeld—a Harvard alumnus, former columnist with The CJN and current associate professor of world religions at Rowan University—joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy on The Jewish Angle to analyze the issue, and how the university's symbolic status makes it an ideal focal point for a larger assault on America's higher education system.

Credits

• Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy
• Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman
• Music: "Gypsy Waltz" by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective

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