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Swarthmore College faces Title VI investigation following CAIR complaint

The college faced a separate Title VI investigation in March after a complaint was filed over increased campus Jew-hatred following the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Swarthmore College
Parrish Hall at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Credit: Kungming2 via Wikimedia Commons.

The U.S. Department of Education opened a Title VI investigation on Dec. 3 into complaints of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bias at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

The case includes complaints of denial of benefits, retaliation and national origin discrimination involving religion.

CAIR-Philadelphia and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee announced on Oct. 29 the filing of a 32-page Title VI complaint against the school, alleging both anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian bigotry.

“It is sad that an institution with Swarthmore College’s caliber would repeatedly fail its community members and foster an unsafe environment,” CAIR-Philadelphia legal director Adam Alaa Attia said. “We hope this complaint serves as a solid reminder that Swarthmore’s own students and faculty are dedicated to help it overcome its anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian bias.”

JNS contacted Swarthmore regarding the investigation but did not receive a response.

Swarthmore’s student population is about 7% Jewish, according to the Anti-Defamation League. A previous Title VI investigation began at the school in March over the college’s minimal response to increased antisemitic activity on campus following the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

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“The juxtaposition of us being at the United Nations, and all those people walking out while literally their employees helped to perpetuate Oct. 7 was put in a certain frame,” Rabbi Steven Burg of Aish told JNS.
“When someone gets out of the ambulance and says, ‘May God punish Hamas,’ while I’m filming, the people around him turn their camera away,” he said.
Jason Brodsky, of United Against Nuclear Iran, told JNS that the address carried messages to “the international community, antisemites abroad, state threats against Israel and most especially the Iranian people.”