By Zac Ezzone – Staff writer for the Triangle Business Journal

The University of North Carolina is under investigation by the federal government for alleged “violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.”

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has sent letters to 60 institutions warning the schools “of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations” under federal law “to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities,” the department said in a statement released Monday.

The department identified all 60 schools in a list published Monday, which included the University of North Carolina. The department did not specify whether this was in reference to a specific university or the UNC system more broadly.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill drew national attention last year for campus protests over the war in Gaza. However, a spokesperson for the university on Tuesday said the school has not received a letter from the Office of Civil Rights. Instead, the spokesperson directed requests to the UNC System office.

The UNC System office confirmed Tuesday that it has received a letter, but did not immediately comment on the situation.

The University of Virginia and the University of Tennessee are also on the list.

The investigation comes as universities in North Carolina are already facing potential cuts to federal funding, including hundreds of millions of dollars from agencies such as the National Institutes of Health that support university research.

In recent days, the Trump administration canceled more than $400 million in federal grants and contracts for Columbia University in New York City “due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students,” according to a statement on March 7 from the U.S. Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Education and the General Services Administration.

The letter sent to the UNC System Monday references the action taken against Columbia University.

The Department of Education earlier this year “launched directed investigations into five universities where widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported,” the department said in its statement Monday. The department began investigating or monitoring the 55 additional universities in response to complaints filed with the department’s Office for Civil Rights.

The Office for Civil Rights sent the letters under its authority to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance,” according to an overview of the statute on the U.S. Department of Justice’s website.

The letters come a few weeks after the UNC System Board of Governors approved a new policy regulating campus gatherings and student conduct. The policy, adopted on Feb. 27, creates “certain minimum requirements for campus policies regarding mass gatherings and related student conduct.” The policy includes eight requirements, one of which says that “persons wishing to gather in groups larger than a size set by the campus” have to reserve or notify campus administration at least 24 hours in advance of gatherings in indoor spaces and certain outdoor areas.

The preceding article originally appeared on March 11, 2025 at the Triangle Business Journal’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Any views or opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Carolina Leadership Coalition.