DOE Investigating Anti-Israel Events at UNC, Duke

The Education Department has informed Congress that it is launching an investigation into how $235,000 in federal grants were used to fund a series of anti-Israel events that featured speakers and events tied to Palestinian terror groups organized by Duke University and the University of North Carolina.

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos informed Rep. George Holding (R., Ga.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, that she has directed her agency to investigate how these funds were used and whether they violated grant conditions, according to a letter sent to Holding, who had initially requested an investigation into the anti-Israel conference in April.

"I am troubled by the concerns outlined in your letter," DeVos wrote to Holding, according to a copy of that letter obtained by the Free Beacon. "In order for the Department to learn more about this matter, I have directed the Office of Post-secondary Education to examine the use of funds under this program to determine if the Consortium violated the terms and conditions of its grant, Department regulates, or the HEA. It is critical that recipients of grants use funds in accordance with statutory and regulatory requirements, as well as for purposes of the program for which they are funded."

The joint UNC-Duke conference spawned concern in the pro-Israel community due to what observers described as extreme anti-Israel bias.

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