'Hubs of violence': New petition would force colleges to come clean on protest assaults
· Fox News
FIRST ON FOX — The Department of Education is being urged to take action to protect students from political violence on college campuses.
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America First Legal (AFL) on Thursday filed a petition urging the Department of Education to require colleges and universities to "regularly disclose all instances of politically or religiously motivated violence occurring on or near campus."
"Universities are meant to be hubs for the free exchange of ideas. Instead, they are hubs of violence and intimidation," Emily Percival, senior counsel at America First Legal, said.
"This conduct — though masked as free speech — is not protected by the First Amendment. For too long, universities have allowed this plague of violence to fester in the darkness. Students and parents deserve the truth about what is happening on campus, and the universities should be the ones shining the light."
The AFL cited some examples of egregious behavior on college campuses, including the protest that broke out at the University of California at Berkeley during a Turning Point USA event, which led to multiple arrests as demonstrators attempted to breach police barricades.
The unrest that unfolded at UC Berkeley prompted the U.S. Department of Justice to launch an investigation.
Major schools like the University of Michigan and Columbia University dealt with hostile environments during protests that addressed the war in Gaza. Because of protests causing safety and discrimination concerns for Jewish students, the Trump administration put a freeze on federal funding at some of these schools.
The Trump administration froze approximately $790 million for Northwestern University and over $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University over potential civil rights investigations. In November, the Trump administration announced an agreement with Northwestern University requiring the school to pay $75 million and protect students and staff from any "hostile educational environment directed toward Jewish students."
Although the Trump administration addressed some of the issues on college campuses, the AFL argued that many instances of political violence are being overlooked. Therefore, they want the Department of Education to amend the Clery Act to provide more transparency about violence on these campuses that are linked to protests or riots.
For example, they want to mandate that universities produce and publish a "Political and Religious Violence Transparency Report" that records and details all "violent protests, riots, politically or religiously motivated assaults, and protest-related property damage."
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"Many of these incidents are not fully captured in current Clery Act reports, leaving students and parents without essential safety information," the AFL argued.
"Students and parents across the country deserve to know whether colleges and universities take adequate measures to protect the physical security and civil rights of students on campus, and the federal government has the authority to require the provision of this information. Schools that do not comply could face significant fines, penalties, and loss of access to federal funding."
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment.