Indiana University-Bloomington, a 204-year-old institution which U.S. News & World Report ranks among the nation’s top 75 universities and top 35 public schools, is under investigation for Jew-hatred under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The U.S. Department of Education had not yet updated its listing of open investigations, but Campus Reform reported on Monday that the department notified it that it was investigating the school.
Zachary Marschall, the publication’s editor-in-chief, filed the complaint, which “alleges that the Bloomington, Ind. institution hasn’t properly responded to antisemitism on campus, leaving Jewish students ‘afraid to speak up,'” per the publication.
The publication notes that protesters at one rally at the school chanted “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and that a protester wrote, “My heart is with the Palestinians and my wrath for the Zionists.”
On Nov. 15, Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) wrote to Pamela Whitten, president of Indiana University, about Jew-hatred on campus, noting that “multiple” members of the student government resigned, some accusing the student body president of being “blatantly antisemitic” and “not want[ing] to work with Jewish students.”
“As you are aware, on Oct. 10, you released a ‘statement regarding the Middle East’ that deplored ‘the horrific violence that has occurred over the past few days,’ but that named neither the Israeli victims nor the Hamas perpetrators,” the congressman wrote to the university president. “Indiana Israel Public Affairs Committee President Ethan Fine, numerous alumni and an IU assistant professor criticized your statement for failing to assign responsibility to Hamas for its terrorist attack.”
“This criticism preceded a second, more specific statement from you clarifying that ‘Israel has suffered grievous atrocities at the hands of
Hamas terrorists’ and recognizing ‘the pain and fear that is affecting the Jewish community on our campuses,'” Banks added.
“As an IU graduate, allegations of antisemitism at my alma mater are personal and extremely concerning to me,” he wrote. “As a lawmaker, I would note that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits anti-Jewish and antisemitic discrimination. If IU administrators condone or tolerate campus antisemitism, the university could lose access to federal funding.”
More than 200 people, many of them faculty and staff at the university, called the congressman’s letter “threatening” and “inappropriate,” Fox News reported in late November.
“These professors are proving my original point,” Banks told Fox News. “Nowhere in their response do they address my main concern in the letter: IU student leaders feel antisemitism on campus is being ignored.”