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Harvard University is the latest college facing a civil rights investigation over its handling of alleged harassment of Jewish students, according to an updated U.S. Education Department list.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, which has spurred protests and incidents of bias on college campuses, the Education Department has opened 13 investigations into possible violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires federally funded institutions to protect students from discrimination based on race, color or national origin, including those who have shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.
Most of the 13 investigations involve a college or university. The department is updating the list of open Title VI shared-ancestry investigations weekly but hasn’t said what specific allegations the Office for Civil Rights is looking into. Opening an investigation doesn’t mean that the agency has made any decision about the case.
Fox News Digital reported that the investigation at Harvard is in response to a complaint filed by an alumnus who accused the university of not responding appropriately last month to incidents of harassment against Jewish students. The incidents in question occurred during a campus demonstration in support of Palestine. A man, later identified as an Israeli student, walked through the demonstration and was escorted away. The student later said he was assaulted physically and verbally, according to news reports.
Harvard president Claudine Gay will testify at a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing next week about how universities have responded to campus antisemitism. University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth are also slated to testify.
