{"id":426935,"date":"2026-08-08T00:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/426935\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:44:09","slug":"san-jose-will-work-with-feds-on-antisemitism-complaints-but-warns-of-misleading-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/426935\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Will Work with Feds on Antisemitism Complaints, but Warns of &#8216;Misleading&#8217; Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>San Jose State University, responding to the announcement of a new investigation by the Trump Administration, today affirmed its commitment to fighting antisemitism.<\/p>\n<p>While stating that the university would cooperate with the investigation by the U.S. Department of Education\u2019s Office of Civil Rights of alleged antisemitic harassment, a San Jose State spokesperson told San Jose Inside that a federal press release on Thursday was \u201cmisleading.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michelle Smith McDonald, senior director of strategic communications for<\/p>\n<p>McDonald said, \u201cWe want to immediately address a misleading implication in the Department\u2019s press release, which attributes a quote to a former SJSU administrator. This statement was never made by any representative of the university.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In its press release, the Department of Education said it had \u201cOne email from SJSU\u2019s Vice President for Student Affairs and Former Interim Chief Diversity Officer purportedly [that] made the distinction between \u2018good Jews\u2019 and \u2018bad Jews\u2019 based on their support of the Israeli government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neither the Department of Education nor McDonald identified the administrator alleged to have written the email. Patrick Day left the student affairs vice president position in 2024 after eight years, to take a similar position with California State University\/ Los Angeles, which he currently holds. He was succeeded at San Jose State by Mari Fuentes-Martin, the current vice president for student affairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe university treats antisemitic incidents with the utmost seriousness, and has taken numerous actions that prioritize the safety and well-being of all members of our campus community,\u201d McDonald said in a statement. \u201cThe university has consistently and repeatedly denounced antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will respond through OCR\u2019s investigative process,\u201d she said. \u201cProviding an environment free of antisemitism and unlawful discrimination in any form remains a top priority. We are committed to fostering an environment where all students and employees can live, learn, work and thrive free from harassment and discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sanjoseinside.com\/news\/u-s-department-of-education-investigates-alleged-antisemitic-harassment-at-san-jose-state-and-san-francisco-state\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Department of Education civil rights investigation <\/a>marks the opening of a second front in its campaign against San Jose State. The department\u2019s Office of Civil Rights said it had \u201creceived complaints that Jewish students were subjected to hostile environments on the campuses of both universities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSJSU students have allegedly been threatened, shunned, and made to feel unwelcome in classrooms because of their Jewish ancestry,\u201d the office said in a statement on Aug. 6. \u201cReports of anti-Israel protests disrupting classes and displacing students and staff, as well as physical attacks on Jewish students, have increased since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The latest action by the Trump Administration against San Jose State follows <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sanjoseinside.com\/sports\/trumps-education-department-offers-san-jose-state-a-deal-to-avoid-title-ix-penalties\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">threats in January of a withdrawal of federal funding <\/a>because of the university\u2019s response to a controversy over a transgender athlete on the women\u2019s volleyball team.<\/p>\n<p>In March, the California State University system filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block the federal action, calling the federal penalty &#8220;lawless overreach,&#8221; based on existing Ninth Circuit judicial precedents and Department of Education interpretations under President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit remains pending in federal court. The university system and the Trump Administration agreed to a court-approved stipulation that blocks the federal government from cutting off roughly $130 million in annual student federal funding while the litigation proceeds.<\/p>\n<p>The department this week identified similar complaints that have been filed against San Francisco State.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth SJSU and SFSU have reportedly failed to acknowledge or meaningfully respond to cases of antisemitic harassment on campus, seeming, in some instances, even to condone such abhorrent acts,\u201d the department said in a press release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe same California leaders who wax eloquent about their commitment to \u2018equity\u2019 and \u2018social justice\u2019 appear to turn their backs on violent, harmful acts of antisemitic intimidation and harassment,\u201d said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey in a statement. \u201cWe will investigate these allegations, ensure the safety of Jewish students, and protect the right of every student in America to an education free from discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Jan. 29, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order titled\u202fAdditional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,\u202fstating that it is \u201cthe policy of the United States to combat anti-Semitism vigorously, using all available and appropriate legal tools.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The California State University system filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on March 6, 2026, to block federal threats to strip San Jos\u00e9 State University of funding. The dispute centers on a Department of Education demanding that San Jose State sign a Title IX resolution agreement over its past inclusion of a transgender volleyball player. The lawsuit argues that subsequent 2025 executive orders by President Trump cannot be applied retroactively to penalize the institution for adhering to past laws.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"author-bio\">Three decades of journalism experience, as a writer and editor with Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Lee newspapers, as a business journal editor and publisher and as a weekly newspaper editor in Scotts Valley and Gilroy; with the Weeklys group since 2017. Recipient of several first-place writing and editing awards, California News Publishers Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jose State University, responding to the announcement of a new investigation by the Trump Administration, today affirmed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[3629,7,5529,13469,170078,3632,2803,54207,88,90,89,6345,6262],"class_list":["post-426935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-antisemitism","tag-california","tag-california-state-university","tag-discrimination","tag-michelle-smith-mcdonald","tag-office-of-civil-rights","tag-president-donald-trump","tag-san-francisco-state-university","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-state-university","tag-u-s-department-of-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}