COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN — Universities risk losing their ability to coordinate with the FBI even as safety concerns mount around campus protests, according to industry lobbyists who warn a recent change in agency protocol has deprived institutions of a key line of communication at a uniquely delicate moment. — Schools and a cluster of trade groups once worked with an FBI academic liaison inside the bureau’s Office of Private Sector — a single point of contact that higher education organizations described as a coordinator between schools and local field offices for work on counterterrorism, counterintelligence, cybersecurity, and criminal investigations. — But the liaison’s work was recently transferred into the FBI’s counterintelligence division, prompting complaints from college representatives who are now pushing FBI Director Christopher Wray to undo the bureau overhaul. — “Given the success of the Academic Liaison program, it is unclear to us why it has recently been moved to the Counterintelligence Division, and we are concerned that this will limit the effectiveness of the program to coordinate across FBI divisions,” the American Council on Education, Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and Council on Governmental Relations said in a letter to Wray this month. — When Historically Black Colleges and Universities were targeted with bomb threats in 2022, for example, industry groups said the FBI’s now-former academic liaison coordinated a briefing call for college associations and targeted institutions of higher education with FBI divisions. — “Our institutions have recently asked for similar outreach regarding antisemitism threats on our campuses but have been stymied by not having a coordinating entity that can work across all divisions and directorates of the FBI,” the groups wrote. — The FBI confirmed it received the groups’ letter but declined to comment on why the academic liaison program was moved into the counterintelligence division and when the restructuring occurred. — “We value our partnerships with law enforcement, industry, academia, and other community partners,” the bureau said in a statement to POLITICO. “We work every day to ensure positive engagement through FBI Headquarters and each of our field offices.” — In response to unrest on college and university campuses, the bureau said it also prepared a report for higher education entities, hosted calls with law enforcement agencies and associations including the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators and provided guidance to field offices on remaining engaged with campus safety partners. LABOR WOES — Weeks of campus unrest over the Israel-Gaza war are increasingly dragging in President Joe Biden’s organized labor allies, heightening tensions with a vital voting bloc he needs in November, POLITICO’s Nick Niedzwiadek reports. — Labor unions including the Biden-aligned United Auto Workers, which expanded in recent years to represent graduate instructors and other campus workers, are now condemning how some college leaders have responded to anti-war protesters. — The UAW, which represents about 48,000 people across the University of California, has accused the system of infringing on their members’ right to improve their workplace — and are demanding amnesties for protesters and changes in university policies that relate to the war. — The University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a trio of Ivy League schools are also each facing unfair labor practice allegations stemming from protests filed with the National Labor Relations Board. Collectively, the cases put a host of novel questions about the First Amendment and workplace rights at the doorstep of the independent agency’s Democratic majority and Biden’s handpicked general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo.
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