The Department of Education announced Monday it will investigate a March conference hosted by Duke University and the University of North Carolina accused of displaying anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bias.

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Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced in a letter to Republican North Carolina Rep. George Holding that she is launching an investigation into the matter. Her letter followed Holding’s April 15 request that a federal investigation be made into the conference after video footage and allegations of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias emerged.

The conference “Conflict over Gaza: People, Politics, and Possibilities” took place between March 22 and March 24 and was co-sponsored by the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies. The consortium reportedly received a $235,000 grant through the Department of Education in 2018, 65% of which has been spent, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke with The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“According to first hand accounts, the conference had a radically anti-Israel bias. Reportedly, speakers and panelists distorted facts and misrepresented the complex situation in Gaza. A video recently surfaced depicting the main musical performer, rapper Tamer Nafar, singing a brazenly anti-semitic [sic] song,” Holding wrote in his April 15 letter to DeVos.

Devos told Holding on Monday she is “troubled by the concerns” he addressed in the letter.

“I have directed the Office of Postsecondary 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,” Devos said.

“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. ”