The U.S. Department of Education is expanding its Jew-hatred probe of Swarthmore College, a private liberal arts school in Pennsylvania, to include the campus Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, which shared a video on social media of people burning an Israeli soldier in effigy.
The video also states “long live al-Aqsa flood,” a reference to Hamas’s term for the Oct. 7 attacks, and urges viewers to go to “all out” rallies on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Education Department said on Wednesday.
“All out” appears to be a “call to violence,” the U.S. agency said.
“If Swarthmore has in fact turned a blind eye to such provocation, using the most horrific acts of violence against Jews since the Holocaust as a propaganda tool, someone is asleep at the wheel,” stated Kimberly Richey, assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights. “It appears the college’s leaders have cravenly allowed this to happen.”
The department will investigate if the school violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, she stated.
According to the college, the SJP chapter deleted its Monday repost of the video, and is not publicizing events on campus. (JNS sought comment from the college.)
In March 2025, the Education Department wrote to 60 schools, including Swarthmore, that were being investigated about Jew-hatred to tell them that they could be subjected to enforcement actions if they don’t meet their obligations to protect Jewish students under Title VI.
