Dept of Ed investigation finds Drexel failed to effectively combat anti-Semitism on campus
The university entered into an agreement with the OCR to ‘ensure compliance with Title VI.’
‘OCR is concerned that the University appears not to have taken prompt and effective steps reasonably calculated to end the hostile environment and prevent it from recurring,’ the office wrote.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) found that Drexel University in Pennsylvania failed to adequately combat anti-Semitism on its campus during the spring semester.
The university entered into an agreement with OCR to “ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) when responding to allegations of discrimination or harassment based on national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry,” the office announced on Friday.
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“OCR is concerned that the University appears not to have taken prompt and effective steps reasonably calculated to end the hostile environment and prevent it from recurring,” the office explained. “Specifically, for the past 18 months, the University had repeated notice of a growing, pervasive hostile environment.”
The incidents contributing to the growth of this hostile atmosphere included anti-Semitic graffiti (including a Swastika) and anti-Israel activists vandalizing the Center for Jewish Life on campus.
The OCR claimed that, despite the hostile environment on campus, the Drexel administration’s response was insufficient.
“[I]n response to almost all of the incidents reported to it, the University’s actions were limited to addressing each incident on an individual basis, instead of responding to the accumulation of evidence of a hostile environment that necessitated more effective responsive action,” it wrote.
Drexel issued a statement on Friday in response to OCR’s announcement, declaring it is committed “to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure a welcoming and inclusive campus environment in which all our students, faculty, and professional staff feel safe, respected, and supported.”
“By acting to prevent and respond more effectively to any conduct that threatens the sense of belonging we strive to maintain, Drexel will continue to grow more inclusive,” the university’s statement continued.
This May, the anti-Israel Drexel Palestine Coalition (DPC) set up an anti-Israel encampment at the school and pressured the school to “terminate” two prominent Jewish student groups, Hillel and Chabad, on its campus.
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Specifically, it attacked Hillel as a “global zionist campus organization,” and criticized Chabad for “welcoming an ex-IOF soldier.” IOF stands for “Israel Occupation Forces,” a derogatory name used by anti-Israel activists to describe the Israel Defense Forces.
The encampment, which the university administration called “extensively disruptive,” involved “about 40 to 60 individuals” and led to a campus lockdown, forcing classes to go remote and leading to the cancellation of certain events.
The DPC also demanded that the university president “publicly and explicitly condemn the Israeli settler colonial project and ongoing genocide in occupied Palestine.”
Campus Reform has contacted Drexel University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
