[This press release used to reside at the Department of Education’s website but was removed by about January 19, 2025]PRESS RELEASEEmory University in Georgia enters into resolution agreement to ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with respect to alleged harassment of students based on national origin – shared Palestinian […]

[This press release used to reside at the Department of Education’s website but was removed by about January 19, 2025]

PRESS RELEASE

Emory University in Georgia enters into resolution agreement to ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with respect to alleged harassment of students based on national origin – shared Palestinian and/or Muslim ancestry

January 16, 2025

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today announced that Emory University in Georgia has entered into a resolution agreement to ensure compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with respect to alleged harassment of students based on national origin (shared Palestinian and/or Muslim ancestry). 

OCR’s investigation identified Title VI compliance concerns regarding the university’s response to campus protest activity and to notice the university received of discrimination against Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim university students, based on shared ancestry, that could contribute to or create a hostile environment for students. Specifically, OCR is concerned that the gratuitous violence of the law enforcement activity reflected in widely publicized videos from the arrests during the April 2024 protests may have created a hostile environment within the campus community for Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim university members and those perceived to have associated with them. Additionally, OCR identified concerns that the university’s publicly available policies and procedures for receiving and responding to reports of discrimination based on national origin and race lack the clarity necessary to ensure that the university provides a prompt and effective response, consistent with the requirements of Title VI, to reports and complaints of race and national origin discrimination. And at the university’s request, OCR agreed to resolve the allegations regarding different treatment without making a determination as to whether those allegations raise Title VI compliance concerns, given the scope of remedy already confirmed to date in this investigation. 

OCR recognizes Emory’s efforts during the pendency of this investigation to address a climate that the university characterized as marked by anxiety, tension, and fear for Palestinian, Arab, and/or Muslim university students. The university acknowledged “shocking” and “deeply distressing” scenes from the law enforcement response to the April 24 protests and expressed willingness to launch a thorough review, including of how Emory engages external law enforcement. In conjunction with the commitments made today in signing this resolution agreement, Emory has committed to ensuring a safe and non-discriminatory educational environment for all students. 

OCR determined that monitoring the university’s fulfillment of the following terms of the resolution agreement announced today will effectively ensure the university’s compliance with the requirements of Title VI not to discriminate based on national origin, including shared ancestry: 

•	Revising its nondiscrimination policies and procedures to ensure all university offices consistently and effectively comply with Title VI, including a definition of harassment that includes harassment based on actual or perceived shared ancestry. 

•	Revising its policies and procedures pertaining to campus protests, demonstrations, and related forms of expression, to ensure that they provide safeguards for non- discriminatory application and enforcement, including with regard to granting requests for approval of planned protest or demonstration, and its response to these activities including whether to contact outside law enforcement. 

•	Assessing its response to campus protests, and its decisions regarding student requests for approval to conduct protests, during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years.
 
•	Providing OCR copies of all complaints and reports concerning alleged national origin discrimination, including shared ancestry, or race, and the university’s response to those reports or complaints during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years, and taking remedial actions if required; and  

•	Conducting annual training on nondiscrimination and harassment for all students and employees, Title VI investigators and law enforcement utilized at the university;
 
•	Developing and administering a climate survey to students and employees (survey subjects) at the university to identify whether the survey subjects feel they have been or are currently subjected to or have witnessed discrimination, including harassment, on campus or during university related activities, based on race and national origin, specifically including shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics. 

“Emory University’s commitments today promise to bring it into compliance with federal civil rights law, as its full school community deserves,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon.
 
The resolution letter to the Emory University and the resolution agreement are available on the Office for Civil Rights’ website. 

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Page Last Reviewed:
January 16, 2025

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