Jewish students file OCR complaint against Colorado College for Title VI violations

Attorneys representing Jewish students at Colorado College have filed a federal complaint against the school, alleging that the college’s administration hasn’t acted to address antisemitism on its campus. 

In addition to the legal team representing the students, the National Jewish Advocacy Center also filed on behalf of the students, claiming that since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the college has failed to protect Jewish students who have been subject to discrimination on campus. 

The complaint states that the discrimination that Jewish students have endured “stems from these students’ actual or perceived Jewish ethnicity and shared ancestry, and, at times, their Israeli national origin.” 

The complaint says that the treatment of Jewish students at Colorado College constitute a  violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prevents that discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, and color for any program that receives federal funding.

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The complaint goes on to explain how students have “complained to Colorado College about the antisemitic incidents and sought assistance to quell the hostile environment on campus,” but that “Colorado College has done nothing to address the ongoing issues or the perpetrators behind them.”

Using Colorado College’s definition of harassment and how it can become discrimination if it targets a person or group on a basis of identity, the complaint listed multiple examples where Jewish students felt they were targeted as a result of their faith. 

Specifically, the complaint lists pro-Palestine student protesters, and Colorado College’s organized pro-Palestine faculty group’s calls for an “intifada” on its campus as meeting a threshold to qualify as discrimination and harassment.

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The complaint also listed a number of direct instances and incidents where protests or student activism on the Colorado College campus contributed to problems becoming harassment and discrimination.

One specific example listed is when the associate vice president of Colorado College, David Jensen, refused to remove a student government DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) leader from his leadership role on campus for participating in anti-Israel protests, because the student was “elected” and not a college staff member.

The complaint also lists a number of other incidents on campus where Jewish students were targeted or felt threatened on campus, including some that took place during pro-Palestine protests.

The complaint concluded by requesting that the Office for Civil Rights take measures to support Jewish students on Colorado College’s campus, including measures to “[e]ducate the Colorado College community on the various iterations of antisemitism” and to set up an “Antisemitism Taskforce” on campus. 

Campus Reform has contacted Colorado College for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.