President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, which many higher education leaders awaited anxiously just over a year ago, began a relentless disruption of higher education institutions. In addition to cutting federal funding and revoking student visas, the Trump administration has directed various federal departments to aggressively investigate and enforce regulations on public education.

UC Berkeley is currently the subject of at least six different federal investigations, many of which put campus administrators in a position where they must provide information to the government and potentially change policies or else face consequences. The Daily Californian reached out to federal investigators and reviewed documents to get a better picture of exactly why campus is under scrutiny.

Department of Education investigationsOffice of Civil Rights antisemitism investigation

Last February, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, or OCR, opened an investigation into campus as a continuation of an inquiry by the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce. The final report of the inquiry criticized campus for not disciplining members of student groups who organized a protest against a February 2024 campus speaking engagement featuring Ran Bar-Yoshafat, an Israeli attorney and former active IDF member. The original Title VI complaint filed with the OCR sought to ban pro-Palestinian groups on campus and “reinforce the campus police to protect Jews.” 

Last semester, UC Berkeley supplied OCR investigators with personal information of more than 160 students and staff. These investigations are still ongoing.

Federal Student Aid foreign funding investigation

Last semester, the Department of Education Federal Student Aid Office said in a press release that it was reviewing UC Berkeley’s disclosure of funds for the construction of a new research institute campus in China.

In 2015, campus inaugurated the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, or TBSI, which is a joint research institute between faculty and graduate students at UC Berkeley and Tsinghua University. Located in Shenzhen, China, the institute was built in close partnership with the local municipal government. In 2018, Berkeley Engineering announced that the Shenzhen Municipal Government would fund a new TSBI campus costing $220 million. 

In 2023, The Daily Beast accused campus of not reporting the investment to the Department of Education as required under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act, which dictates reporting of foreign sources of funding. 

In past comments to the Daily Cal, campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof said the funds actually went to a campus for the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, or TSIGS, and UC Berkeley had no responsibility to disclose the funding to the Department of Education.

The Department of Education sent a letter to UC Berkeley in June 2023 requesting that campus address the allegations and claimed it had admitted to failing to report millions in funding. An executive order signed in April 2025 directed the Department of Education to accelerate its investigation of Section 117 cases, which are still ongoing. In the meantime, campus was recently asked to disclose a number of records, including a list of undergraduate and graduate students involved in international research collaborations.

Office of Civil Rights investigation into The PhD Project

45 universities including UC Berkeley are under investigation by the OCR for partnering with The PhD Project, a nonprofit organization that has helped minority students pursue graduate positions in business academia. 

Founded in 1994, the group was praised by the Department of Education during former President Barack Obama’s administration. Now, many of its university partners are accused of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which outlawed race-based discrimination. 

In its announcement of the investigations, the Department of Education cited a previous letter that criticized DEI programs at schools, instructing campuses to halt programs. In an email to UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons obtained by the Daily Cal, the OCR specifically cited campus’s support of The PhD Project’s annual conference which, according to one of the OCR’s investigations, limited its eligibility to certain racial groups. 

The letter also requested a list of students who participated in the project, along with documentation of UC Berkeley’s relationship with the project.

This investigation into UC Berkeley is still ongoing. Campus has not yet responded to detailed questions about its relationship with the project.

Department of Justice discrimination investigations

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice opened an investigation into campus in March 2025, alleging that it used “DEI discrimination” when selecting students for admission. Affirmative action has been banned in California public schools since 1996, and in response to the investigation, University of California spokespeople said the university has abided by the ban. 

The DOJ did not specify what it was investigating campus for. A subsequent letter to the UC system about investigations into its hiring practices cited the “UC 2030 Capacity Plan,” adding that some or all UC campuses would be investigated for hiring discrimination. UC Berkeley’s section in the 2030 Capacity Plan details hiring initiatives aimed to “support student and faculty diversity,” which may be among the language the Civil Rights Division took issue with.

Investigations into Turning Point USA protestsDOJ Civil Rights Division security investigation

Harmeet Dhillon had history with UC Berkeley before she became the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. In 2017, she sued campus on behalf of two student groups following the cancellation of their event featuring conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos. Campus settled that suit by changing its event policies. Eight years later, Dhillon announced a federal investigation into UC Berkeley. In a letter to UC Berkeley Chief of Police Yogananda Pittman, Dhillon claimed campus had violated the terms of the 2017 lawsuit during the protests against Turning Point USA that took place outside the group’s event on campus in November 2025. The letter outlined a list of records the DOJ requested UCPD to preserve. Mogulof has confirmed full cooperation with the investigation.

While Dhillon’s letter to Pittman referenced litigation against the campus and its failure to properly secure the event, she also discussed that the investigation may involve protesters. 

FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation

Just after Dhillon’s announcement, Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced an investigation by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, or JTTF. These task forces are local collaborations between FBI field offices and law enforcement agencies. The terrorists under investigation are anti-fascists, a group that Trump commanded to be investigated in a presidential memorandum he signed in September 2025.

The Berkeley Police Department, whose officers arrested a man at the Turning Point USA event, said it is not a member of the task force. Conversely, Mogulof has stated campus intends to cooperate with and assist the JTTF to identify “outside agitators.” Campus and the FBI did not immediately respond to detailed questions about this investigation.

Department of Education review

Ten days after the Turning Point USA event, the Department of Education Office of Federal Student Aid opened a still ongoing investigation into campus alleging violations of the Clery Act, which requires universities to maintain records of crime on campus and maintain transparency on safety. In a press release, the office listed documents it had requested from campus, including crime logs, arrest reports, private security details and a “post-event response assessment.”