In a Monday letter, the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) warned the University of “potential enforcement actions” if they did not fulfill obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus.
Stanford is one of 60 institutions that received the letter, which was addressed to all universities currently under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.
The investigation comes in the wake of Friday’s $400 million cuts to federal grants for Columbia University by the Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. A news release announcing the cuts cited “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students” as a reason for the slash in funding.
The letters are in furtherance of President Donald Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order that aims to use “all available and appropriate legal tools, to prosecute, remove, or otherwise hold to account the perpetrators of unlawful anti-Semitic harassment and violence,” Trump wrote in the executive order.
“The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, according to the news release. “University leaders must do better.”
On Feb. 3, OCR launched direct investigations into five universities — Columbia University, Northwestern University, Portland State University, University of California, Berkeley and University of Minnesota, Twin Cities — where “widespread antisemitic harassment has been reported,” an ED press release wrote.
The other 55 universities, which include Stanford, are “under investigation or monitoring in response to complaints filed with OCR,” the press release wrote.
According to University spokesperson Dee Mostofi, the letter was sent to Stanford in connection with an OCR investigation that was initiated December 2023. “We worked cooperatively with OCR in that investigation and provided all of the requested information by March 2024,” Mostofi wrote in an email to The Daily.
In September of last year, the University announced a new Title VI process to replace the previous Protected Identity Harm (PIH) reporting system for reporting bias-related incidents.
This new policy solely covers incidents in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin at institutions that receive federal funds. “National origin includes shared (Jewish) ancestry,” the press release wrote.
“Stanford has taken concerns about antisemitism on our campus very seriously,” Mostofi wrote to The Daily. “Since last year, we have taken a number of steps to ensure that we have clear policies that both protect the right to constitutionally protected free speech and also prevent disruption of campus operations and illegal discrimination and harassment.”