The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it found that George Washington University (GWU) had been “deliberately indifferent” regarding antisemitic discrimination on campus, and that it was in violation of a federal civil rights law.
In a press release from the DOJ on Tuesday, it was revealed that GWU had acted “deliberately indifferent to the complaints it received” regarding antisemitism towards its Jewish, American-Israeli, and Israeli students and faculty. The DOJ also claimed that GWU “took no meaningful action” to address antisemitism on campus.
Per the press release, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division’s investigation “was conducted pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
The Civil Rights Division’s investigation was conducted pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination, harassment, and abuse based on race or national origin, by recipients of federal financial assistance. The Division finds that GWU took no meaningful action and was instead deliberately indifferent to the complaints it received, the misconduct that occurred, and the harms that were suffered by its Jewish and Israeli students and faculty. The Justice Department will seek immediate remediation with GWU for its civil rights violations.
“Every student has the right to equal education opportunities without fear of harassment or abuse,” Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement, adding that “no one is above the law.”
A spokesperson for GWU, Shannon McClendon, issued a statement explaining that the university had been working “diligently with members” of the university’s Jewish community, and “Jewish community organizations” to protect the university’s community from antisemitism, according to Politico.
“We have taken appropriate action under university policy and the law to hold individuals or organizations accountable, including during the encampment, and we do not tolerate behavior that threatens our community or undermines meaningful dialogue,” McClendon explained. “We have worked diligently with members of GW’s Jewish community, as well as Jewish community organizations, city and federal authorities to protect the GW community from antisemitism and we remain committed to working with them to ensure every student has the right to equal educational opportunities without fear of harassment or abuse.”
In a letter addressed to GWU President Ellen M. Granberg, Dhillon expressed that as the DOJ had “determined that GWU was deliberately indifferent to the hostile educational environment” for Jewish, Israeli, and American-Israeli students, the DOJ was going to move forward with “enforcement of this important federal civil rights law unless resolution of this matter is reached in the near future.”
“The Department therefore offers GWU the opportunity to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement to ensure immediate remediation of these issues and related reforms to prevent the recurrence of discrimination,” Dhillon continued.
Universities that have received similar letters in the past have soon lost hundreds of millions in federal funding.
Breitbart News reported that in March, the DOJ revealed it would be sending the Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism to 10 universities across the nation to conduct investigations. The universities consisted of: GWU; Columbia University; Harvard University; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern University; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California.
In February, civil rights lawyer Leo Terrell was tapped to lead the antisemitism task force.
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