Biden administration announces measures to combat antisemitism on U.S. campuses

The Israel-Hamas war being waged half a world away is inflaming campuses here in the U.S. The Biden administration on Monday announced new measures to combat the sharp rise in antisemitism on college campuses since the start of the war.

A few days ago at Cooper Union college in New York City, a group of Jewish students huddled inside a locked library as pro-Palestine protesters banged on the window.

"For approximately 10 minutes, they were banging on the door of the library," one NYPD official said. 

"When Cooper Union staff anticipated the protesting students' departure, they closed the library doors for approximately 20 minutes so that the protesting students would not bring the protest into the library," a Cooper Union official told CBS News. "The library doors were never locked."

The FBI is investigating disturbing and hate-filled online threats made against Jewish students at Cornell University.

Jewish students at Cornell were advised to avoid the kosher dining hall out of an "abundance of caution" due to online threats, Cornell Hillel's mission wrote online over the weekend.

"No one should be afraid to walk from their dorm or their dining hall to a classroom," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said to students at Cornell on Monday.

But Jewish students at Columbia University said on Monday that they are afraid in a way they weren't before. 

"We know now that there are students in our class that simply hate us because we're Jewish," Eli Shmidman, a law student at Columbia, told CBS News. 

"I think it's a really important time to understand that there's a difference between political discourse and the harassment, the attacks of Jewish students, on campus," Julia Jassey, who runs a nonprofit called Jewish on Campus, said in an interview. 

President Biden, who on Monday told reporters that he was "very concerned" about the rise in antisemitism, announced new steps to combat the problem. The White House said it would send dozens of cybersecurity experts to help schools examine antisemitic and Islamophobic threats. 

The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security are also working with campus police departments to track hate-related rhetoric, which includes rising Islamophobia as well.

Earlier this month, President Biden said he'd directed the departments "to prioritize the prevention and disruption of any emerging threats that could harm Jewish, Muslim, Arab American, or any other communities during this time."

"My Administration will continue to fight Antisemitism and Islamophobia," Mr. Biden added.

The antisemitic sentiments aren't confined to colleges. 

A man in Las Vegas, Nevada, was charged with one count of threatening a federal official after he left a series of antisemitic voice messages vowing to assault, kidnap or murder a U.S. senator. Sources told CBS News that the target was Nevada Democrat Jacky Rosen, who recently traveled to Israel as part of a congressional delegation.

Senator Rosen's office on Monday evening confirmed she was the target of the threat.

"Threats against public officials should be taken seriously. Senator Rosen trusts the U.S. Attorney's office and federal law enforcement to handle this matter," a spokesperson for Senator Rosen said in a statement.

And in Illinois, the man suspected of murdering a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy —an alleged hate crime— made his first appearance in court on Monday.

In:
• Hamas
• Israel
• Antisemitism

Nancy Cordes

Nancy Cordes is CBS News' chief White House correspondent.

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