LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration has launched an investigation into allegations of antisemitism across all 22 campuses of the California State University system, prompting concerns about the chilling of free speech on campus and the violation of staff members’ privacy.

In an email to the CSU community Friday afternoon, Chancellor Mildred Garcia wrote that the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had initiated a systemwide antisemitism complaint and was reaching out to faculty and staff directly to discuss their experiences on campus.

The administration at Cal State L.A. said Friday that the EEOC has subpoenaed the university to turn over the personal phone numbers and email addresses of all employees. Demonstrators had erected a pro-Palestinian encampment at the university in spring 2024, during a wave of campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

The new CSU probes leave no public university in California untouched by antisemitism investigations under the Trump administration. The EEOC is also working with the Department of Justice to investigate allegations of antisemitism on all 10 University of California campuses, where officials have complied with federal orders to turn over hundreds of employees’ contact information to the government.

In addition, federal departments and agencies have previously announced similar investigations into private universities, including Stanford and USC.

“I know this news may be unsettling — and that is understandable,” Garcia wrote in an email about the investigation. “Please be assured that we are responding appropriately. And — perhaps most importantly — please know with absolute certainty that we will continue to advance the CSU’s mission through these and any challenges we face.”

The EEOC did not respond to a request asking about alleged incidents of antisemitism at CSU that prompted the investigation.

Pro-Palestinian protests erupted at several Cal State campuses in 2024. Most were generally smaller than the sometimes volatile protests at UC campuses — including UCLA — and at USC, Stanford and Pomona College.

But two CSU campuses saw more aggressive protests. At Cal State L.A., police on June 17, 2024, took down an encampment that was up for more than six weeks as activists demanded CSU “divest from companies that financially and materially support genocide.” Administrators had tolerated the protest at first, but changed position after protesters barricaded themselves inside the student services building, with some administrators inside, for more than nine hours. The substantially damaged building reopened after two months.

Major demonstrations also unfolded at Cal Poly Humboldt in spring 2024, including student occupations of buildings that led the school to shut down the entire Arcata campus and move commencement ceremonies to other locations. Then-Cal Poly Humboldt President Tom Jackson Jr. said at the time that students engaged in “serious criminal activity that crossed the line.”

In a statement, CSU spokesperson Jason Maymon said CSU “unequivocally condemns antisemitism and continues to comply with longstanding federal and state anti-discrimination laws as well as CSU policies. The CSU is committed to fostering an inclusive, respectful, and supportive learning and working environment for all members of our community.”

On Friday, CSU also said the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has notified the university that it is investigating allegations of racial discrimination because of the system’s interaction with the PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups earn doctoral degrees in business.

The Office for Civil Rights is already investigating at least 45 universities across the nation for allegedly violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by working with the PhD Project. Garcia said that CSU used the PhD Project to spread awareness of job postings until 2024, but that “no student or applicant for CSU employment was given any preferential treatment based on race, national origin or any other protected characteristic.”

The California Faculty Association, which represents around 29,000 employees at CSU’s 22 campuses, released a statement Friday urging employees to reach out to the union or seek legal counsel before responding to requests from either federal agency.

The association also said that the subpoena of staff contact information at Cal State L.A. raises “serious concerns about our members’ privacy.”

“Our members are demanding a copy of the subpoena and asking that CSULA not comply with the subpoena until we have had a chance to review it and formulate a response,” the association said.

Luke Wukmer, a lecturer at Cal State Long Beach who is a part of the California Faculty Association, said he was disappointed by Garcia’s response and wishes she had pushed back harder on the government’s demands instead of cooperating.

“Academic institutions are an absolute pillar of speaking to truth, to fact and to reason,” he said, “and if we are going to be bullied by a branch of the federal government to comply with what seems to be new puritanical or overly draconian rulings, we are going to be in a lot of trouble.”

Jeffrey Santner, a Jewish faculty member at Cal State L.A., said he is not worried about antisemitism on campus and did not feel like it was a problem during the 2024 protests.

He said he assumes the probe is related to the Cal State L.A. pro-Palestinian encampment, and feels the investigation is an example of the government equating anti-Israel sentiment with antisemitism.

“I think most of us probably disagree with [that] and don’t think that the government is the same as a religion,” he said.

Santner said he wasn’t surprised by the chancellor’s response, given the Trump administration’s funding threats to universities that don’t comply with its demands.

“It would be nice if we fought back ... if our leader tried to take some leadership, since we have so many universities,” he said. “But the government is the government; it’s big and powerful.”

Rebecca Joseph, a Jewish professor in Cal State L.A.’s College of Education, disagreed with the federal investigation but said “there is rampant antisemitism on our campus and throughout the 22-campus system.”

“The problem on many college campuses is that people conflate being Jewish with being Zionist or Israeli,” said Joseph, who said there was stereotyping and a lack of cultural education about Jewish people.

Joseph, who is part of a Jewish faculty affinity organization, said she was not aware of any colleagues in the group who reported complaints to the EEOC. She believes the government actions are “not actually about antisemitism and are meant to get colleges to bend the knee.”

In March, the EEOC announced that holding campuses “accountable” for antisemitism would be a priority.

“Universities are workplaces, too, and large-scale employers. In addition to Jewish professors on campus, universities employ Jewish staff who work a variety of jobs, all of whom have the right not to be discriminated against or harassed on the basis of religion, national origin, or race,” said the statement by Andrea R. Lucas, who is acting chair.

Lucas added that campuses have become “a haven for antisemitic conduct, often in violation of the universities’ own time, place, and manner policies, as well as civil rights law.”

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