{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.tillis.senate.gov/2023/10/tillis-colleagues-urge-biden-administration-to-protect-jewish-students-amid-rising-antisemitism-on-college-campuses", "Tillis, Colleagues Urge Biden Administration to Protect Jewish Students Amid Rising Antisemitism on College Campuses", "2023-10-31", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "NC", "Thom Tillis", "T000476", "www.tillis.senate.gov", "tillis", "https://www.tillis.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Senator Thom Tillis and his colleagues recently penned a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona urging him to protect Jewish college students amid rising antisemitic incidents and attacks on college campuses in the aftermath of Hamas\u2019 deadly attacks on Israel.\n\nSince the Hamas-led massacre against Israel earlier this month, there has been a disturbing rise in antisemitic incidents, including targeted harassment and violent attacks directed at Jewish students on college campuses.\n\nUnder Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Department of Education has a responsibility to ensure university programs or activities that receive federal funds do not discriminate against students. So far, there has been no noticeable action from the Department in response to these horrific antisemitic incidents. The senators are urging the administration to use their enforcement power under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ensure colleges and universities uphold their responsibilities maintaining a safe learning environment for Jewish students and protect them from antisemitic harassment and attacks.\n\n\u201cWe are significantly concerned that your Department is not ensuring American universities are fostering a safe learning environment for all students after the terrorist organization Hamas\u2019 violent attack on civilians, including Americans and Israeli citizens,\u201d the senators wrote.\n\n\u201cThere have been dozens of targeted attacks on American college campuses since October 7, including reported vandalism, arson, and even professors taking discriminatory actions in their classroom toward their students, based on the student\u2019s status as a member of a protected class. At Drexel University, a Jewish student's dorm room door was set on fire. At Georgia Tech, someone wrote \u2018Free Palestine\u2019 in shaving cream below the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi\u2019s posted Israeli flag. At Stanford University, a professor encouraged Jewish students to stand in a corner alone in a purported \u2018academic\u2019 exercise to show how Israel treats Palestinians. A professor and faculty advisor at the University of California Davis wrote a social media post appearing to call for Zionist journalists and their children to be murdered,\u201d the senators continued.\n\n\u201cWe look forward to an update regarding your efforts on the Antisemitism Awareness Campaign and broader enforcement of Title VI to ensure the Department and colleges and universities receiving Federal financial assistance protect Jewish students in the same capacity as other legally protected classes,\u201d the senators concluded.\n\nRead the full letter HERE.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:49:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.tillis.senate.gov/2023/10/tillis-colleagues-urge-biden-administration-to-protect-jewish-students-amid-rising-antisemitism-on-college-campuses"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7999790832400322, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}