Chapman joins extensive list of schools under investigation for anti-Semitism by Dept. of Education
The U.S. Department of Education is investigating Chapman University for alleged rampant anti-Semitism on the university’s campus following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
The U.S. Department of Education is investigating Chapman University, a private school in Orange, California, for alleged rampant anti-Semitism on the university’s campus.
The complaint was filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, an organization that aims to advance the civil rights of Jewish people.
“The case involves anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by Chapman Students for Justice in Palestine (CSJP) and its members,” the Brandeis Center explained on June 17. “CSJP is a local chapter of a national anti-Jewish hate group, with the stated goal of ‘dismantling Zionism on college campuses.’”
“After the October 7th Hamas massacre,” the center continued, “actions by CSJP and its members included removing a Jewish student from the group because of his shared Jewish ancestry and making heinous death threats against a different Jewish student.”
One incident in the complaint involves a CSJP member who allegedly issued a death threat to a Jewish student “after she responded to a social media post in which he called for ‘death to all Israelis who follow Zionism.’” The CSJP member allegedly responded, “f*** yeah I want you and all Zionist trash bags dead the f*** kinda question is that?”
“At no point since issuing the death threat has the student been prohibited from campus,” the Brandeis Center contends. “The Jewish student had to live and study in fear for her physical safety at Chapman due to the death threat issued on the basis of her Jewish identity by an individual who was routinely on the Chapman campus.”
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The Department of Education will investigate whether the university administration was aware of the apparent anti-Semitic activity on its campus and whether it chose not to respond. If the administration knowingly allowed anti-Semitism to persist, it may have violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which is what the new complaint alleges.
The Education Department is also investigating many other schools that the Brandeis Center has accused of anti-Semitism in recent times, including the University of Southern California, Brooklyn College, and the University of Illinois.
“Antisemitism continues to run rampant on college campuses,” Kenneth Marcus, a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education and the founder of the Brandeis Center, told the Jewish News Syndicate. “Too many universities are refusing to do what’s needed to address these civil rights violations.”
Campus Reform has contacted Chapman University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
