Cardona: We’ll Pull Money over Campus Antisemitism, Islamophobia, But It’s Not First Move, ‘Want to Provide Support’

During a portion of an interview with CNN Correspondent René Marsh on Monday aired on Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona stated that the Department of Education will withhold federal funding from schools that refuse to comply with their obligations to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia on their campuses if it has to, but “That wouldn’t be the first thing that I would do. I would want to provide support for these universities, provide guidance. And if there are egregious acts, I want to make sure that we’re investigating them.”

Marsh asked, “How aggressively will the Department of Education pursue actually pulling funding in these scenarios?”

Cardona answered, “Withholding federal dollars is in our toolbox. That wouldn’t be the first thing that I would do. I would want to provide support for these universities, provide guidance. And if there are egregious acts, I want to make sure that we’re investigating them. Ultimately, if we have to withhold dollars for a campus refusing to comply, we would.”

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