The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is set to implement new measures to prevent discrimination based on national origin after a 2020 complaint to the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights highlighted several antisemitic incidents on campus, including swastikas, vandalism of Jewish symbols, and a brick thrown through a Jewish fraternity's window.

The OCR reviewed 139 incidents of discrimination reported to the university between 2015 and December 2023, most involving antisemitic allegations and a few related to anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian or anti-Arab discrimination. OCR found that the university failed to assess whether these incidents created a hostile environment for students, faculty or staff, the education department said on Tuesday.

Examples of the unaddressed incidents include a physical attack on a Jewish student accompanied by antisemitic remarks, flyers linking Jewish individuals to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a rock thrown at an event at the Hillel Center. Additionally, the university's programs handling these complaints lacked coordination, leading to inconsistent application of policies and procedures, the office concluded.

At the time, the university said, "We deplore antisemitic incidents on campus, including those that demonize or delegitimize Jewish and pro-Israel students or compare them to Nazis. ... All Jewish students, including those who identify with Israel or Jewish campus organizations, should be able to participate in campus activities aimed at fighting racism and achieving social justice."

To address these issues, the university has agreed to revise its nondiscrimination policies, ensure equitable law enforcement responses to protests, provide training on discrimination and harassment based on shared ancestry, conduct annual training for faculty, staff and students, and review its response to complaints from the 2023-24 academic year. The university will also administer a climate survey and develop an action plan based on the results, subject to OCR approval.

"The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has now agreed to take the steps necessary to ensure its education community can learn, teach, and work without an unredressed antisemitic hostile environment, or any other hostility related to stereotypes about shared ancestry," Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon said in a statement. "OCR will work with the University in the coming years to ensure its fulfillment of this core federal civil rights guarantee."

Topics Discrimination, U.S. Department of Education, Civil rights