University leaders are being asked to address the violent protests during the Nov. 10 Turning Point USA event.
The Department of Education is investigating whether safety and security measures at the University of California–Berkeley were inadequate before a protest there earlier this month turned violent, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said on Nov. 25.
If deficiencies are found, she said, the university could lose federal funding under the provisions of the Jeanne Clery Act.
“Just two months after Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was brutally assassinated on a college campus, UC Berkeley allowed a protest of a Turning Point USA event on its grounds to turn unruly and violent, jeopardizing the safety of its students and staff,” McMahon said in a Nov. 25 statement.
The Clery Act requires higher education institutions to disseminate an annual security report to students and employees that includes campus crime statistics and detailed explanations of efforts to improve campus safety procedures.
McMahon said that Berkeley has violated this law in the past. In 2020, the university agreed to a $2.4 million settlement for insufficiently reporting campus crime and agreed to train campus security personnel, review safety procedures, and submit a revised report with updated statistics.
During the Nov. 10 event, campus protesters in opposition to the Turning Point USA student organization attacked attendees and set off explosions, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon stated on social media the next day. Attendees also reported that protesters yelled “Death to fascists” at them.
McMahon said Berkeley has been given 30 days to provide copies of its most recent annual security report, an “audit trail” of campus crime incidents between 2022 and 2024, a list of referrals to local law enforcement agencies and all interagency agreements, a copy of the campus police department activity and call logs from 2022 to this year, and several other documents related to crime and incident reporting.
“This is not about students’ First Amendment rights to protest peacefully. This is about ensuring accurate and transparent reporting of crime statistics to the campus community and guaranteeing that every student can safely participate in educational programs and activities,” McMahon said.
“The Department will vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that a recipient of federal funding is not allowing its students to be at risk.”
