The U.S. Department of Education announced on Tuesday that it was resolving three separate complaints under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, including nearly 300 allegations of Jew-hatred, with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
The evidence produced by the public university during the federal probe “reflects that the university likely operated a hostile environment based on national origin/shared ancestry in university programs or activities without redress as required under Title VI,” the department stated. Rutgers also “subjected some students to discriminatory different treatment based on national origin, including shared ancestry,” it added.
Of the 440 reports that the Education Department reviewed, about two-thirds (293) were for “alleged discrimination, including harassment, against students on the basis of shared Jewish ancestry and/or Israeli national origin and ancestry,” the government stated. The other third (147 reports) were based on alleged “basis of shared Palestinian, Arab, South Asian and/or Muslim ancestry,” it stated.
“By entering into this agreement, Rutgers has acknowledged Jewish students have faced a hostile learning environment across its campuses both before and since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel,” stated Rabbi David Levy, New Jersey director of the American Jewish Committee.
“The nearly 300 complaints of antisemitic and anti-Zionist vandalism, doxing and harassment investigated by the Department of Education are abhorrent and unacceptable,” Levy added. “Rutgers must now make an unequivocal commitment to meaningful reform, which can be achieved without infringing on academic freedom and the right to assemble and protest.”
Catherine Lhamon, assistant U.S. secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, stated that the department “looks forward to the change that will come for Rutgers University as a result of this agreement and to ongoing work with the university to ensure its compliance.”
Among the things the public school has resolved to do are to review its Title VI enforcement policies, to review the complaints in question from the former and current academic years, and see if further response is necessary, to review and report relevant disciplinary action it has taken in the last academic year and training its staff who handle complaints of bias, including campus police.
The Biden administration also charged Rutgers with conducting “listening sessions” between “relevant” school administrators and those of “relevant affinity groups,” and developing and putting in place “a climate assessment to students and employees in the university to evaluate the climate with respect to national origin.”
