By Julia Olson
Assistant Editor
This is a developing story.
The U.S. Department of Education is launching an investigation into the University of Cincinnati, among others, amid heightened campus tension due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The investigations have been opened under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination at institutions which received federal funding.
The schools are being investigated for complaints of antisemitism and Islamophobia, likely as a direct result of campus tension over the current Israel-Hamas conflict. Some of the institutions under investigation are Cornell University, Columbia University, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Wellesley College, Stanford University, UCLA, Rutgers, and several others. The Department of Education website, which lists open Title VI Shared Ancestry Investigations, indicates the investigation into the University of Cincinnati was opened on December 5.
A congressional hearing of the U.S. House Committee on antisemitism on college campuses also took place on December 5. Testimony at the hearing caused major backlash, which led to the resignation of U. Penn’s president, Liz Magill, as well as calls for Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, to resign. At the time of publication, Gay remains president. The American Israelite will continue to follow this story and bring updates as they unfold.
