Students for Justice in Palestine: Campus Climate Under Attack Since the September September 11, 2016 Israeli-Israel War and the U.S. Department of Education
The federal government launched discrimination investigations into six universities including Columbia, Cooper Union, and Cornell in New York, after receiving complaints of antisemitic and anti-Muslim harassment at the universities.
Other universities are also facing scrutiny over the climate on campus related to the war. Three Jewish students sued New York University this week over what they said was a hostile environment that had allowed antisemitism to go unchecked.
Since the start of the war on Oct. 7, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has also opened inquiries into Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the University of Pennsylvania and Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, along with a K-12 school district, Maize Unified in Kansas.
“Hate has no place in our schools, period.,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in the department’s announcement. “Schools must work to ensure that everyone is free to learn in schools if students are perceived to be targeted because of religion, race, or ancestry.”
After Hamas attacked Israel last month, students for justice in Palestine wanted to make sure they were well-equipped to stand up for their beliefs. The group has been banned or suspended by Brandeis, Columbia and George Washington University. And it was recently the target of thundering speeches on Capitol Hill and blistered during a Republican presidential debate.
The network has made great strides thanks to the deliberate lack of hierarchy, which has allowed chapters to spring up with few obstacles according to interviews with 20 people. The network’s tactics, including theatrical demonstrations and mock Israeli checkpoints have been replicated on campuses across the country.
The Office for Civil Rights, part of the Biden administration, said in a news release that they opened the investigations to address the alarming nationwide rise in reports of anti-Semitic and other forms of discrimination.
Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary of education for civil rights, said that the appearance of a school on the list does not “reflect a conclusion that the law has been violated.”
Antisemitism in the City of New York: High-Centric Campus Activities and a Center for Studying History of the War
The conflict over the war has been particularly bitter in New York, which is seeing almost daily demonstrations. The number of hate crimes logged in the city during October was more than double that of the previous October. Antisemitic incidents more than tripled.
Pro-Palestinian students banged on doors and windows of a library at the Cooper Union in a confrontation that became part of the national conversation about the war. There were no arrests or summonses as a result of the incident, the police said.
The civil rights office at Columbia received notification, and will cooperate with any investigation, said a spokesman for the university.
Earlier this month, Columbia announced the formation of a task force on antisemitism and a group to support individuals whose personal information has been posted online.
The University of Pennsylvania was facing backlash over a Palestinian literary conference it hosted before the war broke out. The campus has faced criticisms from both sides for its response.
A center for the study of antisemitism was announced by N.Y.U. And John Beckman, a spokesman for N.Y.U., said Wednesday that the claims made in the suit were inaccurate. The federal agency is investigating N.Y.U. but it wasn’t listed.