US investigates colleges over complaints of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia
The federal government this week opened discrimination investigations at half a dozen universities, including Columbia, Cooper Union and Cornell in New York, following complaints of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim harassment after the war broke out between Israel and Hamas.
Since the war began on October 7, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has also opened investigations into Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the University of Pennsylvania, and Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, along with an elementary and secondary school district education, Maize. United in Kansas.
The Biden administration opened the investigations as part of “efforts to take aggressive action to address the alarming nationwide increase in reports of anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and other forms of discrimination,” according to a press release published by the Office for Civil Rights.
Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary of education for civil rights, said a school’s appearance on the list does not “reflect a conclusion that the law has been violated.”
The agency investigates possible violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects students in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance from discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin. The federal agency has not shared details about which incidents led to the investigations, other than to say they stem from five complaints of anti-Semitic harassment and two of anti-Muslim harassment.
Protests by pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses have increased tensions between student groups, faculty and administrations in recent weeks. Universities have struggled to contain the backlash as students and faculty express concerns about both safety and freedom of expression.
The conflict over the war has been particularly bitter in New York, where demonstrations take place almost daily. The number of hate crimes recorded in the city in October was more than double that of the previous October. Anti-Semitic incidents have more than tripled.
On Tuesday, about 400 students gathered at Columbia University to protest the war and criticize university leaders for suspending two pro-Palestinian student groups until the end of the semester. In the days after the outbreak of war, an Israeli student was attacked by another student there.
Ben Chang, a spokesman for Columbia, said the university has received a notification from the civil rights office “and will cooperate with any investigation.”
Earlier this month, Columbia announced the creation of a task force on anti-Semitism and a group to support individuals whose personal information has been posted online.
Also this month, a student at Cornell University was arrested and charged with making violent anti-Semitic threats, forcing the university to cancel classes for the day. The campus was on edge and received a visit from Governor Kathy Hochul earlier this month, who condemned the threats. Cornell officials declined to respond to a request for comment.
At Cooper Union, a confrontation between opposing sides, in which pro-Palestinian students banged on the doors and windows of a library where Jewish students had moved after a demonstration, became part of the national conversation about the war. No arrests or citations have been made following the incident, police said.
An email to the university seeking comment was not immediately returned.
And the University of Pennsylvania was already dealing with backlash at a Palestinian literary conference it organized before the war broke out. Since then, the campus has been plagued by criticism different sides about his reaction.
The university said it would cooperate with the investigation and is taking steps to tackle anti-Semitism.
Other universities are also facing criticism over the climate on campus in connection with the war. Three Jewish students this week sued New York University for what they said was a hostile environment that had allowed anti-Semitism to run unchecked.
On Wednesday, NYU announced it would establish a Center for the Study of Antisemitism. And John Beckman, a spokesman for NYU, said Wednesday that the claims in the lawsuit were false. NYU was not listed as one of the institutions the federal agency is investigating.