Dept. of Justice is investigating University of Washington

Published 2:57 pm Tuesday, April 21, 2026

The Trump administration is investigating the University of Washington over concerns about its handling of antisemitism in light of an off-campus event planned by a protest group.

Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced the investigation on social media April 20. It will be conducted by the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. This follows numerous federal probes into antisemitism on college campuses across the country in the aftermath of protests of Israel’s actions in Gaza and elsewhere.

Dhillon’s social media post cites the Students United for Palestinian Equality and Return’s event scheduled for April 21 to raise money for the Lebanese resistance movement, as Israel has ramped up attacks there.

University spokesperson Victor Balta noted the event hosted by the group known as SUPER UW, and scheduled for Tuesday night, April 21, is located off-campus. In a statement, he said the organization is “falsely claiming affiliation with the University of Washington” after its university registration was permanently revoked last May.

“The University of Washington strongly and unequivocally opposes antisemitism in all forms,” Balta wrote.

He said the Justice Department had notified the university that it is conducting a “compliance review.”

“The University will cooperate with the review and provide information and responses,” Balta said.

SUPER UW organized the occupation of a University of Washington engineering building last year that led to property damage and the arrests of nearly three dozen people. The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the federal investigation.

The Trump administration had announced a probe of the university after the protest. It’s unclear if anything came of that investigation.

Balta said the university has told Meta, which runs Facebook, that the group was using the university’s name on social media without authorization. Meta, according to the university, has declined to address the concern. The university is appealing the company’s decision.

Police reportedly arrested multiple pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrating at a Town Hall Seattle event over the weekend, where Noa Cochva, a former member of the Israel Defense Forces, was speaking.

SUPER UW also planned to protest Cochva on Tuesday at Red Square on the university’s campus, according to a Facebook posting from the group.

Since retaking office last year, Trump has targeted elite universities over allegations of harboring antisemitism. Several, including Brown, Columbia and Cornell, have struck deals with the federal government that require them to pay millions of dollars to restore withheld federal research funding.

Critics say the approach is using antisemitism as a pretense to punish universities for promoting a liberal worldview and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that the Trump administration opposes.

In March 2025, the UW and dozens of other colleges across the country received letters from the Trump administration warning of “potential enforcement actions” based on alleged antisemitic harassment on campus. This followed a national wave of university protests last year over Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, including an encampment on the University of Washington’s Seattle campus.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a First Amendment watchdog, said in a statement April 21 that, “Holding UW responsible for the actions of an off-campus group would stretch federal civil rights law far past its lawful bounds.”

“The federal government is not empowered to demand universities serve as roving monitors of private off-campus expression,” the group added, pointing to regulations and Supreme Court precedent. “Unless there are other allegations, this investigation should end.”

Dhillon’s short social media post says nothing about potential sanctions for the University of Washington. Nor did it give any specific examples of antisemitism the Department of Justice is investigating.

The agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for more information.

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