Stanford added to US Civil Rights investigation into antisemitism and Islamophobia on college campuses

By Janet Lorin and David Voreacos | Bloomberg

Stanford University and Rutgers University are among US universities now being investigated by the US Education Department for discrimination.

The agency updated its Office of Civil Rights website Tuesday, adding to a growing list of schools that already included Harvard University, Columbia University, Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania and Cooper Union. Investigators have opened at least 20 investigations into antisemitism and Islamophobia on college campuses since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act bars discrimination based on race, color or national origin in institutions that receive federal funding. While the Education Department could withhold funding from schools, it typically seeks to negotiate settlements.

A study released last month by the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International found 73% of Jewish college students and 44% of non-Jewish students have experienced or witnessed antisemitism since the start of the school year. Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations said last week it got more than 2,171 requests for help and reports of bias in the previous two months from a wide variety of Americans, including students, doctors and other workers.

Last month, three Palestinian college students were shot while walking in Vermont, leaving one paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet lodged in his spine.

The Education Department has also opened shared ancestry investigations at Wellesley College; Lafayette College; University of Tampa; Montana State University; Tulane University; Union College; University of Cincinnati; Santa Monica College; San Diego State University; University of California, San Diego; University of Washington, Seattle; Whitman College; and University of California, Los Angeles.

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