Muhlenberg College has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that resolves an antisemitism investigation into the school. The resolution ensures Muhlenberg will comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which lists proper methods of responding to allegations of harassment based on shared ancestry.
A press release revealed the investigation was the result of multiple reports in a single semester, which claimed that statements made by a professor in the classroom and social media posts created a hostile campus environment for Jewish students.
The Department of Education recognized that Muhlenberg College did take steps to fulfill Title VI obligations, but that compliance concerns were identified.
Muhlenberg sent documentation of eight complaints about the professor to the OCR, but they only assessed two of the incidents. In the second case, the college did not follow Title VI standards of evaluating the overall situation.
In addition, the school failed to properly respond when the professor entered the Hillel space on campus, photographed a student, and posted the photo with denigrating comments on social media. The professor was confronted by the administration, but students were not informed of this meeting.
In the agreement, Muhlenberg College has committed to review all complaints regarding the professor, review its response to previous discrimination reports, provide training to all employees and staff who investigate these complaints, and develop and administer a climate assessment for students and staff to evaluate the campus environment.
In a statement, Muhlenberg said it’s determined to “build on its already strong policies” to create a learning environment free from discrimination and harassment.
