The United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has announced a resolution agreement with Brown University aimed at addressing civil rights compliance issues stemming from alleged harassment of students with Jewish, Palestinian, Arab, and/or Muslim ancestry. This action is grounded in adherence to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
As part of the agreement, Brown University identified four key priorities to counteract the alleged harassment on campus:
- Ensuring the safety of its community, particularly those who are Israeli, Palestinian, Muslim, Jewish, or have connections to the region affected by ongoing conflicts.
- Fostering a welcoming and discrimination-free learning and living environment.
- Providing support and empathy to affected community members.
- Strongly opposing all forms of discrimination and harassment, including antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate.
Additionally, the university has committed to reviewing reported incidents of ancestry discrimination and the institution’s response from 2023 to 2025. This will involve revising policies and procedures across university offices, including guidelines on protests and demonstrations. Steps to comply include maintaining detailed records on discrimination incidents, providing anti-discrimination training, and creating an action plan based on the assessment results.
This resolution follows a reported 75 incidents of antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim harassment against students from October 2023 through late March 2024. Specific reports included use of racial slurs, ethnic discrimination during student protests, and ongoing verbal abuse. The Office for Civil Rights criticized Brown University for insufficient response to these issues and lack of follow-up or investigation when anonymous complaints were made.
The broader context includes rising global hate speech and increased antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents. Noteworthy related events include campus protests over the Gaza conflict, condemnation of university responses to these protests by organizations like Amnesty International, and notable hate crime incidents, such as the shooting of three Palestinian-American students in Vermont. Moreover, institutions like NYU have recently faced and settled lawsuits related to allegations of antisemitism.
For further details, please refer to the original announcement on JURIST.