Dear Colleague Letters Expand Federal Reach

Federal agencies are using informal guidance (Dear Colleague Letters) to reinterpret civil‑rights statutes—e.g., treating antisemitism as Title VI 'national origin' discrimination—and to pressure universities on curricula and behavior without formal rulemaking. That approach produces arbitrary enforcement (withheld research funds, disrupted foreign‑student education) and increases political leverage over campuses. — If agencies can reshape campus policy through guidance, they can rapidly politicize higher education funding, speech norms, and admissions with limited legal safeguards.