Penn Creates New Title VI Center. Will Other Colleges Follow?

As colleges grapple with how to respond to reports of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campuses and heightened federal scrutiny, the University of Pennsylvania said last week it will open a new center to ensure that it fulfills its obligations under federal law to protect students from discrimination and harassment. The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights released several letters over the summer, outlining how certain colleges failed to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin. It also covers discrimination based on shared ancestry, which includes antisemitism and Islamophobia. OCR dinged colleges for not having clear processes and policies in place to respond specifically to reports of shared ancestry discrimination and to assess whether students were experiencing a hostile environment, among other issues.