Feds probe complaints of antisemitism at six more universities, including Stanford and UCLA
The United States Education Department has opened investigations into six more colleges and universities amid complaints of antisemitism and Islamophobia on their campuses since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
The department is now investigating alleged complaints at Rutgers University, Stanford, University of California Los Angeles, University of California San Diego, University of Washington — Seattle and Whitman College in Washington State after previously opening similar inquiries into Harvard, Cornell, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania.
Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Education Department routinely investigates complaints that universities engaged in discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.
When it announced the investigations into the Ivy League schools last month, the department described its actions as part of a larger directive to “take aggressive action to address the alarming nationwide rise in antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and other forms of discrimination and harassment on college campuses and in K-12 schools since the Oct. 7 Israel-Hamas conflict,” it said in a press release.
A spokesman for the Education Department told The Post it does not comment on pending investigations.
It remains unclear what incidents prompted the agency to look into the six new schools, but the investigations come after months of antisemitic incidents at each of these campuses, which have only increased as tensions flared in the Middle East following Hamas Terrorist attack on Israel and the country’s military response in Gaza.
At Rutgers in New Jersey, which Hillel International says has the second largest Jewish population of any US college, the Newark chapter of the Student Bar Association at Rutgers Law School moved to block an Orthodox Jewish member, the New York Times reports.
It also held an event on Dec. 7 entitled “Race, Liberation, and Palestine: A Conversation with Noura Erakat, Nick Estes, and Marc Lamont Hill,” which Congressman Josh Gottheimer blasted as “providing a platform” for “well-known antisemites.”
He also claimed that in November, a student at the school was charged with bias intimidation, terroristic threats and false public alarm after threatening online to kill an Israeli student, Gottheimer wrote in a letter to school officials.
Then on Monday, as the school became aware of the investigation, the university suspended the New Brunswick’s campus’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine “in response to complaints of disruptive behavior by the group and an allegation of vandalism,” according to NorthJersey.com.
Associate Dean of Students Michelle Jefferson also informed the group it faced allegations of interrupting students during classes and meals, and of vandalism at Rutgers Business School, the outlet reports.
The chapter then responded with a statement alleging the university failed to act on allegations of harassment and doxxing directed at Palestinian and Muslim students, and that the school applied a “racist double standard” by suspending it.
Meanwhile, at Stanford, a lecturer was suspended for allegedly making Jewish students stand in a corner while branding them “colonizers” — while also downplaying the Holocaust and defending murderous Hamas terrorists as “freedom fighters.”
More than 2,000 alumni later signed an open letter to university leaders accusing them of failing to stem “the growing expressions of hate and persecution” against the Jewish community.
It claimed following Hamas’ attack on Israel, the medical school held a teach-in declaring: “The revolution is alive.”
University officials have since openly condemned calls for genocide on its campus.
“In the context of the national discourse, Stanford unequivocally condemns calls for the genocide of Jews or any peoples,” the school posted on X.
“That statement would clearly violate Stanford’s Fundamental Standard, the code of conduct for all students at the university.”
In a statement to The Post, a spokesperson for the school also said it is “fully committed to a campus environment free of discrimination and harassment, and one in which students of all backgrounds, national origins, and religions are supported and have the opportunity to thrive.
“We intend to work cooperatively with the Office for Civil Rights in its investigation of this complaint,” the spokeswoman said.
The University of Washington has also come under fire after Jewish students were filmed reduced to tears when hundreds of their peers held a “Day of resistance” rally for Palestinians.
And at the University of California Los Angeles, pro-Palestinian students were captured on video battering a piñata bearing an image of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to the chant of “Beat that f—ing Jew!”
In the aftermath, Michael V. Drake, the president of the University of California system, along with 10 network chancellors, released a letter condemning antisemitism.
“We write today to condemn the alarming, profoundly disappointing acts of bigotry, intolerance and intimidation we have seen on our campuses over the past several weeks,” they wrote.
But in response, hundreds of students and faculty members across the college system wrote their own letter calling for Richard Leib, the chairman of the university network’s Board of Regents, to resign over social media posts that the letter’s authors described as “dangerously one-sided” and alienating to Arab students and Palestinian activist groups.
Among the posts they cited was one he “liked” on X, which equated a group of protesters holding a “Queers for Palestine” sign with an image of cows holding a sign reading “Cows for McDonald’s.”
“We condemn in the strongest terms this shameless display of pinkwashing, which maliciously wields queer identities as a tool to justify Israel’s ongoing genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine,” it read.
“Aside from likening queer people to cows, it is undeniably racist and homophobic to suggest that state violence against Palestinians is somehow justified because homophobia exists within Palestinian society, as it does around the world.”
A spokesperson for the university said it is “aware of the Office for Civil Rights’ inquiry and will cooperate fully.
“UCLA is committed to maintaining an inclusive and supportive environment for all students, faculty and staff.”
A spokesperson for the University of California San Diego also said it is now “reviewing” the complaints and “will cooperate fully.”
“UC San Diego takes all allegations of discrimination seriously,” the spokesperson said.
The Post has also reached out to Rutgers, the University of Washington and UCLA for comment.
