Department of Education Opens Probe Into Anti-Palestinian Racism at Columbia

Columbia University students protest the Israel/Gaza conflict at Columbia University in New York City on April 27, 2024. Emel Akan/The Epoch Times

The Department of Education has launched a probe into anti-Palestinian racism at Columbia University, Palestine Legal said on Friday, after a complaint was filed against the university over its handling of protests.

The advocacy group filed a complaint to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on April 25 on behalf of four students and the Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, alleging that they had been the target of “extreme anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and Islamophobic harassment” at the university.

“While the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) looks into all complaints it receives, it only opens a formal investigation when it determines the facts warrant a deeper look,” the group stated on X.

Palestine Legal said that the complaint explains how the institution has allowed and contributed to “a pervasive anti-Palestinian environment on campus—including students receiving death threats, being harassed for wearing keffiyehs or hijab, doxxed, harassed by admin, suspended, locked out of campus, and more.”

“Instead of protecting Palestinian and associated students when their voices are most needed to oppose an ongoing genocide, Columbia has taken actions to reinforce this hostile climate in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” it added.

The Department of Education confirmed to The Epoch Times that its Office for Civil Rights launched a Title VI Shared Ancestry investigation into Columbia University on May 2, and also noted an earlier investigation launched on Nov. 16 last year for “possible discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.” The department said it would not be commenting further on pending investigations.

In its complaint (pdf) dated April 25, Palestine Legal said that Columbia University President Minouche Shafik invited the New York Police Department (NYPD) onto campus “to arrest over 100 students who had been peacefully protesting Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, summarily suspending many of them, locking them out of classes, and even prohibiting them from taking exams or submitting papers online.”

Palestine Legal senior staff attorney Radhika Sainath said under the law, “if universities do not cease their racist crackdowns against Palestinians and their supporters—they will be at risk of losing federal funding.”

“Students have the right to speak out against the genocide of Palestinians, without fear of unequal treatment, racist attacks or being denied access to an education by their university,” she added.

Police Clear Protesters From Hamilton Hall

Police use a vehicle named "the bear" to enter Hamilton Hall from a public street, which was occupied by protesters, as other officers enter the campus of Columbia University, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in New York on April 30, 2024. Caitlin Ochs/Reuters

Days prior to the probe, Ms. Shafik said that she had requested the NYPD to remove the encampment from Hamilton Hall after a small group of protesters broke into the building and barricaded themselves inside.

Ms. Shafik said that “students and outside activists breaking Hamilton Hall doors, mistreating our Public Safety officers and maintenance staff, and damaging property are acts of destruction, not political speech.”

“This drastic escalation of many months of protest activity pushed the University to the brink, creating a disruptive environment for everyone and raising safety risks to an intolerable level,” she stated.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that approximately 300 individuals were arrested on April 30 after police moved in to remove protesters from Columbia University and the City College of New York.

“Those who broke into [Hamilton Hall] did include students, but it was led by individuals who are not affiliated with the university,” Mr. Adams said on May 1. “[Columbia] needed the NYPD’s assistance to clear Hamilton Hall and the encampments outside.”

He said the NYPD targeted individuals who escalated a peaceful protest into a volatile confrontation, incorporating anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiments. No injuries or violent clashes occurred in the process.

According to Ms. Shafik, Columbia’s academic leaders had “spent eight days engaging over long hours in serious dialogue in good faith with protest representatives.”

The university offered to consider new proposals on divestment and shareholder activism, reaffirm its commitment to free speech, and launch educational and health programs in Gaza and the West Bank. But they failed to come to a resolution, she stated.

Chase Smith contributed to this report.