The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on August 2 that Drexel University entered into a resolution agreement to ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) when responding to allegations of discrimination or harassment based on national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry.
OCR found that the incident that prompted the complaint did not involve antisemitic conduct and that the university’s response to that incident did not raise Title VI concerns, However, Drexel University generally failed to fulfill its obligations to assess whether incidents of shared ancestry discrimination and harassment reported to it created a hostile environment, and where the university did conduct this assessment, it misapplied the legal standard.
According to the press release from the Department:
The initial investigation was prompted by an October 2023 complaint to OCR suggesting that a fire on the dormitory door of a suite where a Jewish student lived was motivated by antisemitism. After investigating, OCR confirmed the university’s documentation that, contrary to news reporting, the incident did not involve antisemitic discrimination and OCR found no evidence raising a Title VI concern regarding the university’s response.
OCR’s investigation showed that in response to the incident and other incidents, the university took important proactive steps to support a nondiscriminatory campus environment, including by issuing multiple public statements condemning antisemitism, offering support and resources to students, and convening a meeting with the campus’s Jewish and Muslim leaders to reiterate the university’s available resources and reporting options. The university also increased security patrols focusing on Jewish-affiliated organizations; held mandatory residence hall meetings with students to reinforce the importance of respecting the property of others, including religious symbols; and the Hillel Rabbi conducted training specific to antisemitism for investigative staff.
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Notwithstanding these proactive university efforts, OCR conducted a review of university documentation of 35 other incidents of alleged harassment on the basis of national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry, that were reported to the university from October 2022 – January 2024. This review demonstrated growing evidence of a hostile environment for over 18 months. Examples included: graffiti saying “F— the Jews” with a swastika written in a women’s bathroom in October 2023; several student reports that mezuzot (small scrolls placed on doorposts in Jewish homes) were removed from their dormitory doors in November 2023; repeated social media threats including “F— you and f— Israel”; and a group of masked individuals vandalizing the university’s Center for Jewish Life in April 2024. The university’s actions were limited to addressing each incident on an individual basis, including offering supportive resources to students, but did not consider whether broader and more responsive action was needed for the university community.
The university did not consistently conduct an assessment as to whether the conduct reported to it created a hostile environment. For example, when a student reported that an individual made racist and discriminatory jokes about people who wear hijabs, how “Indian people smell,” and that “Ashkenazi Jews are inferior,” the university simply offered supportive resources and outreach to the reporting student, without any assessment or determination regarding whether the underlying conduct created or contributed to a hostile environment.
In addition, when the university did consider the existence of a hostile environment, it misapplied the legal standard in making its determination. For example, in one incident, the university did not consider that harassing conduct need not always be targeted at a particular person in order to create a hostile environment for a student or group of students. In another incident, the university failed to consider whether a student’s remarks posted to social media created or contributed to a hostile environment because the conduct occurred off campus and on social media.
To resolve the concerns OCR identified, the university agreed to:
- Conduct a review of the university’s response to complaints and reports of antisemitic and other shared ancestry discrimination during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years, and take remedial actions, if required.
- Provide OCR with information regarding any complaints alleging discrimination, including harassment, on the basis of shared ancestry during the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years, and address OCR’s feedback, if any.
- Analyze the results of and create an action plan, subject to OCR approval, in response to its climate surveys.
- Revise its policies and procedures to ensure they consistently provide that it must assess whether incidents of reported shared ancestry discrimination or harassment have created a hostile environment within the university’s education program or activity, acknowledging that conduct that may have taken place off campus or on social media can contribute to a hostile environment within a university program or activity.
- Continue to provide training to all employees and staff responsible for investigating complaints and other reports of discrimination, including harassment, based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics (including antisemitism). And,
- Conduct annual training on discrimination based on race, color and national origin, including harassment based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, for all faculty, staff, and students.
“The commitments Drexel has made today are designed to ensure its full compliance with Title VI, building on many critical proactive steps the university has already taken, and importantly bringing university practices in line with federal civil rights requirements,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “OCR will work with Drexel in the coming years to ensure its full satisfaction of its federal civil rights obligation to ensure that Jewish students at the university, and all students at the university, can learn safely in an environment free from stereotyped discrimination related to their shared ancestral backgrounds.”
The resolution letter and resolution agreement are available on the Office for Civil Rights website.
In addition to OCR’s resolution agreement with Drexel University, dozens of similar investigations have been or are being conducted by the U.S. Department of Education. Here are some of the other investigations’ findings:
