January 17, 2024
THOM CARROLL/for PhillyVoice
The U.S. Dept. of Education's Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation Tuesday into alleged discrimination at Temple University following a series of pro-Palestinian protests that included anti-Zionist slogans that some regard as antisemitic.
Temple University is the latest Philadelphia-area school to capture the attention of federal officials probing alleged antisemitism on U.S. college campuses.
On Tuesday, the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into allegations that Jewish students at Temple have been harassed amid growing protests against Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, The Temple News reported.
The investigation stems from a complaint filed by Dr. Zachary Marschall, editor-in-chief of the conservative news website Campus Reform, accusing the university of turning a blind eye to discrimination against Jews on its campus. The complaint points to two protests held late last year in which members of Temple Students for Justice in Palestine were allegedly heard chanting pro-Palestinian slogans that some perceive to be antisemitic.
The complaint alleges Temple failed to protect Jewish students from harassment amid the protests, which reportedly involved students using phrases like "intifada revolution" and "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."
"From the river to the sea" has become a flashpoint of controversy in recent months as protests against Israel’s war in Gaza have ramped up around the world. To many Jews and supporters of the Israeli government, the slogan is interpreted as alluding to the destruction of Israel or the expulsion of Israeli Jews from the region, whereas pro-Palestine activists have argued that the phrase simply calls for the freedom of all Palestinians and Israeli Arabs living in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories.
"We are aware of the Department of Education complaint and intend on fully complying, providing the department with robust information on how we are supporting our community through these challenging times," a university spokesperson said in a statement to The Temple News. "As this situation evolves, the university will continue to adapt, ensuring that all members of this community have access to the support and resources that they need."
The complaint also points to the December incident outside the Israeli-owned falafel restaurant Goldie in Center City, during which pro-Palestine protestors were filmed chanting accusations that Goldie's owner, Michael Solomonov, was supporting genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The protestors were condemned by a list of notable politicians, including Gov. Josh Shapiro, who made an appearance at Goldie a few days later and reiterated his position that the protestors' actions were "a blatant act of antisemitism."
There have been protests in Philadelphia and around the world since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza, which followed the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas — the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza — that killed around 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240 hostages. Israel’s bombardment of Gaza over the last three months is said to have killed 24,000 Palestinians — mostly women and children — destroyed about half of the buildings in the territory and displaced most of the 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza, according to the United Nations. The surviving population of Palestinians in Gaza are now said to be at risk of starvation and disease as the territory devolves into what the United Nations Population Fund has called a "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis.
Earlier this month, the International Criminal Court in the Hague began hearing testimony in a trial brought by South Africa that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. That trial, which Israeli and American officials have condemned as baseless, could take years to resolve. In the meantime, the war between Israel and Hamas shows no signs of winding down, nor do the widespread protests against it.
The DOE’s investigations into higher education institutions hinge on whether or not the schools have violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects Americans from discrimination based on national origin in federally funded institutions and programs.
The proliferation of such probes comes amid a rise in reports of Islamophobic and antisemitic incidents across the United States, as well as intensifying scrutiny into the prevalence of antisemitism on U.S. college campuses. The University of Pennsylvania — whose president Liz Magill resigned last month after her testimony at a congressional hearing on antisemitism sparked criticism — has been the subject of its own DOE civil rights investigation since mid-November. The federal agency has launched similar probes into several schools nationwide, including local institutions like Drexel University, Lafayette College and Rutgers University. The DOE also opened a civil rights investigation into Muhlenberg College in Allentown on Tuesday.
As the Israel-Hamas war and the protests against it rage on, the line between overt antisemitism — such as the swastika that was spray-painted near a Holocaust memorial in Philly earlier this week — and legitimate criticism of the Israeli government has grown fuzzy. Last year, the Anti-Defamation League reported an 820% increase in antisemitic incidents across Philadelphia between October and December 2023.
This increase is largely driven by changes to the organization’s reporting methodology that widens the scope of perceived antisemitism to include protests and rallies that feature anti-Zionist chants and slogans. As the ADL explained in a recent update to its methodology, "since October 7, 2023, anti-Zionism is impossible to separate from the Hamas attacks." Pro-Palestine protests and anti-Israel criticism accounted for nearly half of the total incidents of alleged antisemitism reported by the ADL nationwide last year, according to The Forward.
It remains unclear how long the DOE’s investigations into Temple and other schools may take and what the likely outcomes will be. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education confirmed in an email to PhillyVoice that the investigation had been opened but declined to provide any further details.
Campus Reform is an offshoot of The Leadership Institute, a Virginia-based nonprofit focused on expanding the influence and effectiveness of conservative leaders in public policy and media.
