Security and Academic Officials Pitch Federal Action to Quell ‘Heightened Tension’ on Campuses

Top school security and academic officials want the Biden administration to overhaul its response to campus antisemitism and Islamophobia — and the White House appears to be listening. Advisers to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas this week issued urgent recommendations for an expansive federal response to campus threats, free speech debates and hateful acts that have consumed the U.S. education system in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. Those recommendations include requests for a White House campus safety convening aimed at turning down the heat, new forms of information sharing and even modified immigration enforcement actions for Israel and the Palestinian territories, according to a draft report that was unanimously approved Wednesday afternoon by the Council.