SEATTLE — The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights sent letters to 60 higher education schools across the nation, including four in Washington, warning of possible enforcement actions for alleged Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.
The University of Washington’s Seattle campus, Pacific Lutheran University, Eastern Washington University and Whitman College received letters from the office on Monday warning of “potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations … to protect Jewish students on campus, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities,” a news release states.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act bars discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin.
In the news release, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said Jewish students on the 60 campuses in question “continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year.”
While the news release states the 60 institutions are “presently under investigation,” the University of Washington reached a resolution in a related investigation by the Department of Education in January.
UW spokesperson Victor Balta said the university “stands firmly against antisemitism” and will review the Department of Education letter when it is received.
Spokespeople for the other universities in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Other schools that are being monitored include Columbia University, Harvard University, Portland State University, Stanford University and Northwestern University.
A January resolution agreement between UW and the Department of Education did not find liability or wrongdoing on UW’s part but found there were gaps in how the university responded to bias incident complaints. UW agreed to review its policies, provide regular discrimination training to employees and students and review its response to discrimination and harassment complaints by this summer.
“We continue to engage with Jewish students, faculty, and community leaders as we implement our response to the recommendations made by the UW’s Antisemitism Task Force and work toward an even more welcoming environment for all students,” Balta said in a statement on Monday.
After Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s siege of Gaza, reports of discrimination surged on and off campuses among Jewish, Israeli, Muslim and Arab people.
President Donald Trump and his administration have focused solely on antisemitism. Trump signed an executive order days after his inauguration for the federal government to take action against higher education institutions with administrative complaints of antisemitism. The order also threatens to detain and deport international students who participated in pro-Palestinian or pro-ceasefire protests. On Saturday, a lawful U.S. resident who is Palestinian and participated in protests at Columbia was detained by federal immigration agents.
In February, the department announced it would be investigating five institutions under Title VI, and the administration canceled $400 million in federal grants to Columbia University this month. The department also sent a “Dear Colleague” letter threatening the federal funding of any academic institution that considers race in most aspects of student life, a controversial interpretation of federal law following the 2023 Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action. The interpretation could challenge courses taught in schools, scholarships for people of color and the existence of student organizations like Black fraternities or sororities.
Encampments were set up at UW and Whitman College last year, with protesters demanding their schools divest from Israel. Multiple reports about the UW encampment were submitted, according to the federal resolution agreement.
At UW, about 140 reports alleging shared ancestry harassment or discrimination were submitted to the Civil Rights Office, including reports of swastika graffiti on campus and later widespread graffiti tags that read “divest from Israel” and “long live the intifada,” among many other messages.
In September, a Board of Regents meeting was disrupted when pro-Palestinian protesters shouted over Jewish speakers during public comment, and the board ended the meeting early.
As a result of the UW encampment, administrators reached an agreement with protesters promising to provide scholarships for Palestinian students displaced from Gaza and be more transparent about the school’s investment portfolio.
