Education Secretary Miguel Cardona condemned what he deemed the "unacceptable" behavior of protesters on college campuses across the country.

"I think what's happening on our campuses is abhorrent," Cardona told Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., at the Senate's budget requests hearing for fiscal year 2025 on Tuesday. "It's unacceptable and we're committed as a Department of Education to adhering to Title VI enforcement."

The secretary said the department could reduce federal funds for schools that violate Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin.

Pressed on whether the department was acting to eliminate antisemitism from college campuses amid the growing unrest, particularly at Columbia University, Cardona said the department is reviewing 137 discrimination investigations at Columbia.

He maintained campus safety is of "utmost importance."

"I wouldn't want to send my child to campus if I feel that they're not safe," he said. "That's the most important thing to me -- to make sure that our kids are safe on campus."

-ABC News' Arthur Jones II

Police arrested 79 people at the University of Texas at Austin, Monday and the Travis County Prosecutor's Office has now received 65 cases for criminal trespassing.

"An initial review of the probable cause affidavits does not appear to show deficiencies," Travis County Attorney Delia Garza told reporters Tuesday.

Last week, trespassing charges against protesters were dismissed because they did not show probable cause.

Garza criticized the arrests and charges brought against peaceful protesters and said it is putting a strain on the state's criminal justice system and police response.

"I'm also deeply concerned about how matters will escalate when people believe they are being prevented from exercising their right to participate in nonviolent protest," Garza said.

Brown University said it has reached an agreement with pro-Palestinian student protesters to end their encampment, which began on April 24.

"After productive discussions between members of the Brown University administration and student leaders of the Brown Divest Coalition, we have reached an agreement that will end the encampment by 5 p.m. today," Brown President Christina Paxson said in a statement.

Five students have been invited to meet with five members of the Corporation of Brown University to make their arguments to divest Brown's endowment from "companies enabling and profiting from the genocide in Gaza."

Paxson will also ask the Advisory Committee on University Resource Management to provide a recommendation on divestment by Sept. 30, which the corporation will vote on in October.

Students, faculty, staff and alumni will not face retaliation for being involved in the encampment, according to the agreement, and no registered student organizations will loose their recognition.

While Brown said it will continue to follow its conduct process for individual students who were involved in any activities related to the encampment or support of the encampment, the university said ending the encampment will be viewed favorably in disciplinary proceedings. Reports of bias, harassment or discrimination will continue to be investigated.

-ABC News' Nadine El-Bawab

Columbia University's Students for Justice in Palestine hit back at the university saying its decision to limit campus access to students living in on-campus dorms means protesters will not have access to food, water or bathrooms without swiping in.

Protesters are calling for students to join them for a rally at the occupied building they have renamed Hind's Hall at 2 p.m.

Linda G. Mills, the president of NYU, posted a statement Friday evening explaining why the school called in the NYPD to break up an encampment on the Greene St. Walkway earlier in the day.

Mills said 14 people who refused orders to leave the area were arrested and the incident was non-violent.

The president said that the police were called in for numerous reasons, including noise complaints from nearby residents and businesses, safety concerns over the crowds of supporters and counter-protesters and escalating threats.

"The encampment had become increasingly untenable for the NYU community and the neighborhood we inhabit," she said.

Mills said three senior administrators spoke with the protesters over the weekend to come to an agreement over shutting down the encampment.

The president said things escalated on Wednesday when a group of people from a May Day march came to the walkway and got into altercations.

The May Day incident and other issues, including threats leveled at NYU administrators, led the school to call the NYPD, according to Mills.

"The university’s senior leadership and I were compelled to conclude that we could not tolerate the risk of violence any longer and that we could not responsibly or in good conscience wait until something drastically worse were to happen in order to act. We needed to bring this to a close," she said.