‘Hostile Environment’: University Failed To Address Hundreds Of Complaints Alleging Harassment Of Jewish Students

The Department of Education announced Thursday that it resolved several complaints with Rutgers University regarding how the school handled harassment of Jewish students.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigated three claims alleging Rutgers discriminated against students on the basis of national origin by not properly addressing reports of harassment and doxxing of Jewish students during the wave of antisemitic protests that swept college campuses since Oct. 7, 2023. This is according a department press release. The university has agreed to address the complaints and update its policy on investigating harassment claims.

Rutgers received nearly 300 reports between July 2023 and June 2024 alleging harassment against Jewish students and an additional 147 reports alleging discrimination against Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students.

The reports include claims of vandalism to the university’s Center for Islamic Life and to a student’s dorm room door, on which a swastika and defaced mezuzah were drawn, the press release said. Another report said an Israeli student was doxxed on social media by another student who also encouraged violence against the Israeli.

Several Jewish students reported feeling “unsafe” due to threats made against them and protest chants such as “Say it loud, say it clear, we don’t want Zionists here,” the announcement said. One of the encampments reportedly blocked Jewish students from accessing parts of the campus.

Rutgers’ Bildner Center for Jewish Studies was also apparently egged, the department said.

The university agreed to review its policies regarding investigating and responding to complaints and to issue a statement asserting it will not tolerate harassment and will properly investigate all current complaints, the announcement said. Rutgers will also provide discrimination training to university employees and campus police officers and will hold “listening sessions between relevant university administrators and representatives from relevant affinity groups to identify any needed additional university responses.”

“Rutgers University has committed to resolution terms that will address serious Title VI noncompliance indicated in their records regarding different treatment of students based on stereotypes about the countries students and their families come from as well as unredressed harassment of students and faculty that appear to have created a hostile environment in university campuses, inconsistent with the university’s federal civil rights obligations,” Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, said in a statement. “OCR looks forward to the change that will come for Rutgers University as a result of this agreement and to ongoing work with the university to ensure its compliance.”

Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway was called to testify in front of Congress along with presidents from several other prominent universities over their perceived failure to protect Jewish students while pro-Palestinian activists overtook their campuses. Holloway joined many of these leaders in stepping down from his role in September following the testimony in which he admitted many of the students responsible for disruptive protests had not been punished.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce opened an investigation into several universities and found that administrators were often apathetic to harassment claims against Jewish students and sometimes even expressed support for antisemitism on campus. Nationwide, protesters led weeks-long encampments and clashed with police. Eventually, hundreds were arrested.

Rutgers did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

(Featured Image Media Credit:By Ben Slayter / Wikimedia Commons)