UC system reaches settlement after OCR investigates 5 campuses for discrimination after anti-Israel protests
The U.S. Department of Education has reached an agreement with the University of California after investigating nine incidents from Muslim and Jewish students at various campuses within the system.
On Friday, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a resolution agreement over multiple UC schools' responses to the events that took place during campus activism of the Israel-Hamas war.
The U.S. Department of Education has reached an agreement with the University of California after investigating nine incidents from Muslim and Jewish students at various campuses within the system.
On Friday, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a resolution agreement over multiple UC schools’ responses to the events that took place during campus activism of the Israel-Hamas war.
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”The complaints alleged that these universities failed to respond promptly or effectively to harassment of their students based on their actual or perceived national origin (including shared Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab ancestry) and that some of these universities subjected these students to different treatment with respect to their access to campus or university programs,” the office said in a press release on Friday.
The schools investigated included UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, UC Davis, and UC Santa Cruz.
”Of particular concern were reports of violence against students of Jewish and Israeli ancestry by protesters at the encampment and of a violent assault by counter-protestors on pro-Palestinian protesters at the encampment on April 30, 2024, and the subsequent law enforcement response, which the UCLA Chancellor described as one in which students ‘feared for their safety,’” the office writes.
”In addition, OCR has a concern that the encampment at UCLA in spring 2024 may have subjected students to different treatment based on their national origin/shared Jewish ancestry, when their access to parts of the campus or UCLA programs was limited. OCR identified a similar concern about possible disparate treatment with respect to Jewish students’ access to a multicultural center at UC Santa Barbara,” OCR continues.
The office also released a copy of the resolution letter that was sent to UC System President Michael Drake.
As part of the resolution, the UC system has agreed to multiple provisions, including: reviewing complaints of harassment and discrimination to determine if such incidents created a “hostile environment” and require further action, requiring OCR approval for any policies relating to Title VI compliance, and providing “climate assessments” to campus members to report harassment based upon race, ethnicity, and national origin.