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Johns Hopkins University has agreed to resolve a federal civil rights investigation into whether it violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects students from discrimination based on shared ancestry, the Department of Education announced Tuesday.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights opened a slew of investigations into alleged Title VI violations after colleges saw an increase in protests and campus unrest following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the start of the war in Gaza. Those investigations have thus far found issues with how colleges responded to reports of antisemitic or anti-Arab harassment.
For example, the Hopkins investigation found that though the university received 99 complaints of harassment based on shared ancestry from October 2023 through May 2024, the university did not consider whether the incidents created a hostile environment for students.
Palestinian and Jewish students reported to Hopkins officials that they were subjected to stereotyped slurs and offensive signs such as one displayed at a protest that depicting a swastika and said, “Go Hamas, from the river to the sea, finish the job.” But the investigation found that the university’s response fell short. For example, when a professor wrote to students, “Those brutal Arabs will, God willing, pay a price like never before,” university officials spoke with the professor, who apologized. But the university didn’t assess whether the professor’s comments impacted students’ ability to access their education.
The office also flagged concerns that the university either did not employ the correct legal standards or was inconsistent in its application of the appropriate legal standard when assessing the incidents it did review.
To resolve the concerns, the university agreed to provide annual training to all employees and staff that investigate filed complaints and general training to all staff and students addressing discrimination based on shared ancestry. Hopkins will also develop an assessment, subject to department approval, that allows community members to evaluate the campus climate, and provide the OCR with documentation of its response to all complaints of discrimination for the 2024–25 school year.
