The U.S. Department of Education announced on Wednesday a federal investigation opened into charges of religious and race-based hate at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
The law school is part of Loyola Marymount University, a private Jesuit research institution that includes three campuses in Southern California serving more than 10,000 students. The case involves claims of religious discrimination, denial of benefits, racial harassment and retaliation.
“During an April 16 event planned by the Jewish Law Students Association, community members were subjected to antisemitic insults,” Loyola Marymount University said in a statement on April 18. “The law school rejects hateful rhetoric—in this case, antisemitism leveled against members of the law school community. Antisemitism has no place on our campus or in our society.”
The school stated that after receiving reports of the “abhorrent speech associated with antisemitism,” it chose to implement “immediate steps to address complaints.” These included “interim safety measures on campus” and “procedures to prevent behavior that violates our code of conduct or is inconsistent with our mission and values.”
The Education Department typically does not reveal the origins of investigations in its reviews of potential violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for discrimination involving “shared ancestry” at K-12 schools and universities.
