ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on Monday that Muhlenberg College has entered into a resolution agreement to ensure the school’s compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) when responding to allegations of harassment based on shared ancestry.
The case involved 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.
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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. A statement by OCR said Muhlenberg 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.
The agency also found that the school didn’t fulfill 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.
The students who filed the complaint against Muhlenberg 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. However, the school didn’t take steps to communicate to affected students about the college’s 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.
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In another report, Muhlenberg received allegations that it confirmed that the professor 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, 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.
OCR also acknowledged that Muhlenberg has already taken “many important steps to fulfill its obligations under Title VI” and recognized that the school had taken steps 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.
The letter of resolution is available and the resolution agreement are available on OCR’s website.
