Reed College, a private liberal arts college in Portland, Ore., has reached a settlement with the Anti-Defamation League and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, resolving a federal civil rights complaint over the college’s handling of alleged antisemitic harassment of Jewish students, the groups announced on Wednesday.
The ADL and Brandeis Center filed a Title VI complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in September 2024, alleging that Reed failed to respond adequately after a Jewish student faced escalating antisemitic harassment following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. According to the complaint, the student later transferred to another university.
“This settlement is what accountability looks like, and it shouldn’t be the exception—it should be the standard every school holds itself to before, not after, a student gets hurt,” said Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center and a former U.S. assistant secretary of education for civil rights.
“Reed College is now bound to real reforms that show what it looks like for a college to forcefully combat antisemitism,” Marcus said. “In particular, it is crucial that Reed’s policies now acknowledge that anti-Zionist harassment is a violation of civil rights.”
Under the agreement, Reed will state in its nondiscrimination policy that it will consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, including its contemporary examples, when investigating complaints involving Jewish and Israeli students. The policy will also specify that “targeting Jews on the basis of their Zionist identity for adverse treatment is a form of national origin discrimination on the basis of shared ancestry.”
The college also agreed to appoint a Title VI coordinator, retain an independent consultant for three years to review its handling of complaints alleging anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli discrimination and harassment, and provide mandatory training on discrimination and harassment for student leaders and incoming students. The consultant will be selected in consultation with the ADL and Brandeis Center. Reed also agreed to complete its investigations into the allegations raised in the original complaint.
The settlement also states that the college will provide mandatory training on discrimination and harassment to all student leaders and incoming students and that it will finish its investigations into allegations of antisemitic harassment targeting the student in its original complaint.
The agreement states that Reed does not admit wrongdoing.
In a joint statement, Reed President Audrey Bilger, president of the college, and Board of Trustees Chair Deborah Kamali, chair of Reed’s board of trustees, said the agreement “is an opportunity to strengthen Reed’s ability to recognize and respond thoughtfully to all forms of discrimination” while formalizing several steps the college had already begun taking.
“It will be up to our community to implement these commitments thoughtfully,” Bilger and Kamali stated. “We will work closely with student governance bodies, faculty and staff to navigate the complexities ahead, and we are grateful for the care so many in our community bring to these difficult conversations.”
