The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today announced that Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has entered into a resolution agreement to ensure its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) when responding to allegations of harassment based on shared ancestry.
While OCR recognizes Muhlenberg College took many important steps to fulfill its obligations under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, OCR identified compliance concerns regarding the college’s fulfillment of its responsibility under Title VI with respect to repeated reports in a single semester regarding a professor’s classroom statements and social media posts that created a potential hostile environment for Jewish students. Although the college provided OCR with documentation of eight shared ancestry complaints regarding the professor, this documentation reflects that the college considered whether the professor’s conduct had created or contributed to a hostile environment in at most only two of those eight incidents. The second of those reports reflects that the college did not evaluate the totality of the circumstances, which is a required element of the Title VI standard, after having recognized the existence of a hostile environment resulting from the prior report.
In addition, the documentation does not reflect evidence that the college fulfilled its Title VI obligation to take steps reasonably calculated to redress any hostile environment related to shared ancestry affecting the education program or activity, if one exists, even if the conduct occurs on private social media and involves political speech. Students had reported significant anxiety and fear resulting from the professor’s comments in class and on social media that impacted their access to education. In at least one instance, a college administrator specifically determined that the professor’s conduct “was having enough of an impact on our student’s [sic] ability to engage in college activities” that the college spoke to the professor about this impact. But the college did not take steps to communicate to affected students about college actions, except for informing one student, and only after that student sought a follow up meeting to address concerns, that the professor committed to not discussing the war in class.
In addition, the third report the college received involved allegations, which the college confirmed, that the professor had entered the Hillel space on campus, photographed a student fundraising display for “the various war efforts in Israel” and posted denigrating comments on Instagram regarding the students. While the college secured a commitment from the professor not to enter the Hillel space in the future, the documentation provided by the college did not show that the college communicated that commitment to the affected students or otherwise took action to communicate to these students the college’s efforts to ensure their equal access to education.
To resolve the concerns OCR identified regarding the college’s response to alleged harassing conduct based on shared ancestry, the college agreed to:
These steps will be added to the many important actions the college has already taken to fulfill its Title VI obligations with respect to shared ancestry. Significantly, the college’s nondiscrimination policy and procedures comprehensively address its nondiscrimination obligations, including the impact of incidents involving alleged harassment that takes place off campus and on social media. OCR also recognizes the steps the college has taken to address many incidents of alleged shared ancestry harassment that may have created a hostile environment on campus, including issuing multiple community-wide emails from the President and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life; targeted emails from the Dean of Students to students identifying as Jewish, Muslim, and Palestinian students; brochures to inform students about best practices for social media, doxing, protected speech, harassment, and discrimination; a video outlining the College’s Title VI process; and trainings specific to Title VI.
“Muhlenberg College has committed to taking additional actions to build on its already strong policies to ensure that its practices responsive to concerns from students and other college community members fulfill its Title VI obligations as already described in its campus policies,” said Assistant Secretary for civil rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “All students deserve to learn in an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment, whether carried out by a student or faculty or staff member.”
While OCR recognizes Muhlenberg College took many important steps to fulfill its obligations under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, OCR identified compliance concerns regarding the college’s fulfillment of its responsibility under Title VI with respect to repeated reports in a single semester regarding a professor’s classroom statements and social media posts that created a potential hostile environment for Jewish students. Although the college provided OCR with documentation of eight shared ancestry complaints regarding the professor, this documentation reflects that the college considered whether the professor’s conduct had created or contributed to a hostile environment in at most only two of those eight incidents. The second of those reports reflects that the college did not evaluate the totality of the circumstances, which is a required element of the Title VI standard, after having recognized the existence of a hostile environment resulting from the prior report.
In addition, the documentation does not reflect evidence that the college fulfilled its Title VI obligation to take steps reasonably calculated to redress any hostile environment related to shared ancestry affecting the education program or activity, if one exists, even if the conduct occurs on private social media and involves political speech. Students had reported significant anxiety and fear resulting from the professor’s comments in class and on social media that impacted their access to education. In at least one instance, a college administrator specifically determined that the professor’s conduct “was having enough of an impact on our student’s [sic] ability to engage in college activities” that the college spoke to the professor about this impact. But the college did not take steps to communicate to affected students about college actions, except for informing one student, and only after that student sought a follow up meeting to address concerns, that the professor committed to not discussing the war in class.
In addition, the third report the college received involved allegations, which the college confirmed, that the professor had entered the Hillel space on campus, photographed a student fundraising display for “the various war efforts in Israel” and posted denigrating comments on Instagram regarding the students. While the college secured a commitment from the professor not to enter the Hillel space in the future, the documentation provided by the college did not show that the college communicated that commitment to the affected students or otherwise took action to communicate to these students the college’s efforts to ensure their equal access to education.
To resolve the concerns OCR identified regarding the college’s response to alleged harassing conduct based on shared ancestry, the college agreed to:
- Review all complaints against the professor and determine whether the professor created a hostile environment for Jewish students on campus through social media postings or other conduct in class, and if so, whether supportive services are required to redress the hostile environment.
- Review its response to previous reports of discrimination and/or harassment based on shared ancestry for the 2023-2024 academic year to ensure the college made a determination regarding whether the alleged conduct created a hostile environment, including incidents that occurred on social media or off campus.
- Provide training to all employees and staff responsible for investigating complaints and other reports of discrimination, including harassment, based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics (which includes antisemitism), as well as all staff involved in responding to reports of race, color, and national origin discrimination, regarding the College’s obligations under Title VI, as well as the college’s anti-harassment policies and procedures. And,
- Develop and administer a climate assessment for students and staff to evaluate the campus climate with respect to shared ancestry and the extent to which students and/or staff are subjected to, or witness discrimination, including harassment, based on race, color, and/or national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry.
These steps will be added to the many important actions the college has already taken to fulfill its Title VI obligations with respect to shared ancestry. Significantly, the college’s nondiscrimination policy and procedures comprehensively address its nondiscrimination obligations, including the impact of incidents involving alleged harassment that takes place off campus and on social media. OCR also recognizes the steps the college has taken to address many incidents of alleged shared ancestry harassment that may have created a hostile environment on campus, including issuing multiple community-wide emails from the President and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life; targeted emails from the Dean of Students to students identifying as Jewish, Muslim, and Palestinian students; brochures to inform students about best practices for social media, doxing, protected speech, harassment, and discrimination; a video outlining the College’s Title VI process; and trainings specific to Title VI.
“Muhlenberg College has committed to taking additional actions to build on its already strong policies to ensure that its practices responsive to concerns from students and other college community members fulfill its Title VI obligations as already described in its campus policies,” said Assistant Secretary for civil rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “All students deserve to learn in an environment that is free from discrimination and harassment, whether carried out by a student or faculty or staff member.”