U.S. Department of Education Resolves Nine Discrimination Complaints Against CUNY Based on National Origin, Including Harassment Claims

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) made an announcement today regarding the resolution of all nine pending complaints against City University of New York (CUNY) and its affiliated colleges and schools, including Hunter College (Hunter), CUNY School of Law (the Law School), Brooklyn College (Brooklyn), Queens College (Queens), and Baruch College (Baruch). This resolution focuses on addressing discrimination concerns within CUNY schools from the academic year 2019-2020 onwards.

OCR has been investigating whether the university and mentioned colleges were aware of and failed to promptly or effectively respond to alleged discrimination and antisemitic harassment by employees and students, leading to a hostile environment for students of Jewish ancestry since the academic year 2019-2020.

Additionally, OCR has been examining potential discrimination at the university and among its colleges related to students’ actual or perceived national origin/ancestry, such as Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and South Asian heritage, and their association with these origins/ancestries since October 2023.

Due to concerns about CUNY’s systemwide compliance with federal nondiscrimination requirements, the university committed to resolving all nine complaints to ensure that each of the 25 CUNY campuses safeguards students against discrimination based on shared ancestry that violates Title VI without delay.

The complaints addressed in this agreement include:

• Hunter: Two cases involving harassment of students based on national origin (Jewish ancestry) during the 2020-2021 academic year; and harassment based on national origin/ethnicity (including Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and South Asian ancestry) since October 2023.
• Brooklyn: A case of student harassment based on national origin (Jewish ancestry) and race/color in fall 2020.
• The Law School: Three cases involving student harassment based on national origin (Jewish ancestry) during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years; and harassment based on national origin/ethnicity (including Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim ancestry) since October 2023.
• Queens: A case of student harassment and disparate treatment based on national origin/ethnicity (including Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and South Asian ancestry) since October 2023.
• Baruch: A case, including harassment based on national origin (Jewish ancestry) in spring 2022.
• Central Office: A case involving harassment of students based on national origin (Jewish ancestry) across the university’s constituent colleges and schools since the 2020-2021 academic year.