Brown University reached an agreement with federal education officials to resolve a complaint over alleged antisemitism on campus, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said on Monday.
The DOE received a complaint in December 2023 alleging violations of the federal law that bars discrimination based on race, color, or national origin — known as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
While investigating the complaint, the DOE said it found “some 75 reports” of alleged antisemitic, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim harassment against students from October 2023 through late March 2024. They included allegations that students called a classmate a “Zionist pig Jew;” a Palestinian-American student being berated by their roommate for weeks about their identity; and students blocking Jewish students from attending a pro-Palestinian rally.
The investigation found “the university appears to have taken no or little action in response other than to acknowledge receipt of the reports, list support resources, and request to meet with the complainant, consistent with its policies then in effect.”
In a statement, Brown denied that it violated the federal nondiscrimination law, but said the school had voluntarily agreed to clarify and enhance existing procedures related to discrimination and harassment complaints. It also plans to conduct annual nondiscrimination training for all students and employees. In February, Brown announced new efforts confronting antisemitism and discrimination.
“The University is satisfied that the voluntary resolution with OCR enforces and reaffirms Brown’s commitment to strengthening our policies, systems and operations to ensure a campus environment where students, faculty and staff are safe and supported,” Russell C. Carey, Brown’s executive vice president for planning and policy and interim vice president for campus life, said in the statement.
Federal officials acknowledged the University’s “notable proactive steps to support a nondiscriminatory campus environment.”
“I commend Brown University for assessing its own campus climate and undertaking responsive reforms to comply with Title VI, in addition to the terms it agrees today to undertake in response to OCR’s investigation,” the Education Department’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Catherine E. Lhamon, said in a statement. “OCR looks forward to (working) with the university to ensure a nondiscriminatory learning environment for its Jewish, Muslim, Israeli, and Palestinian students and students of all other backgrounds.”
According to a Brown spokesperson, the initial complaint alleging antisemitism was filed by the editor of Campus Reform, an online media outlet that describes itself as “a conservative watchdog to the nation’s higher education system.” The media outlet wrote about filing the complaints in January.
