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Columbia, Cooper Union, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania are among a half-dozen universities investigated for court cases of harassment on campus.
By Hurubie Meko
This week, the federal government opened discrimination investigations at a half-dozen universities, Columbia, Cooper Union and Cornell in New York, following court cases of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim harassment following the outbreak of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Since the war began on October 7, the U. S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has also opened investigations into Wellesley College in Massachusetts, the University of Pennsylvania and Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, as well as a K-school district. 12, Maize. Unified in Kansas.
Biden’s leadership opened the investigations as part of “efforts to take competitive action to address the alarming national backlog of reports of anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and other bureaucracy of discrimination,” according to a press release issued. through the Office for Civil Rights.
Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary of education for civil rights, said a school’s appearance on the list does not “reflect that the law has been violated. “
The office investigates possible violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects students who participate in federally funded systems and activities from discrimination based on race, color, and national origin. The federal company did not provide details about the incidents that led to the investigation, saying only that they stem from five court cases of anti-Semitic harassment and two of anti-Muslim harassment.
Protests across pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian teams on university campuses have intensified tensions between student teams, the university and the administration in recent weeks. Universities have struggled to get involved in the backlash while academics and universities voice considerations about protection and freedom of expression.
War-related clashes have been especially bitter in New York, where protests are almost daily. The number of hate crimes recorded in the city in October is more than double that of last October. Anti-Semitic incidents have more than tripled.
On Tuesday, about 400 students gathered at Columbia University to protest the war and criticize university leaders for postponing two teams of pro-Palestinian academics until the end of the semester. In the days after the start of the war, an Israeli student was assaulted by some other student.
Ben Chang, a spokesman for Columbia, said the university had obtained the civil rights notice “and will cooperate with any investigation. “
Earlier this month, Columbia announced the formation of a task force on anti-Semitism and an organization for others whose nonpublic information has been posted online.
Also this month, a Cornell University student was arrested and charged with violent anti-Semitic threats, prompting the university to cancel classes for a day. The campus is stretched to the limit and earlier this month organized a stopover at Gov. Kathy Hochul, who condemned the threats. Cornell officials declined to respond to a request for comment.
At Cooper Union, a meeting between opposing camps, in which pro-Palestinian academics knocked on the doors and windows of a library to which Jewish scholars had moved after a protest, has become part of the national debate about the war. There were no arrests or citations in connection with the incident, police said.
Not without delay, an email to the university seeking comment was returned.
And the University of Pennsylvania is already facing backlash over a Palestinian literary convention it organized before the outbreak of war. Since then, the campus has been rocked by complaints from other parties related to his response.
The university said it would cooperate with the investigation and was taking steps to fight anti-Semitism.
Other universities also face scrutiny of the war-related campus climate. Three Jewish academics sued New York University this week over what they see as a hostile environment that has allowed anti-Semitism to run rampant.
On Wednesday, the U. N. announced the creation of a Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism. And John Beckman, a spokesman for New York University, said Wednesday that the claims made in the lawsuit were inaccurate. It is not indexed as one of the establishments the federal firm is investigating.
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