Feds Open Investigation Into Antisemitism Complaints at Cal Poly Humboldt

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened a formal investigation into allegations of antisemitic harassment at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt) on May 20. The probe follows a Title VI complaint filed in March by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish on Campus.

The complaint alleges that Jewish students were physically assaulted, verbally harassed, excluded from campus spaces, and subjected to targeted intimidation while administrators failed to respond.

“We were really pleased that they moved relatively quickly — it’s been about two months since we filed,” Denise Katz-Prober, director of legal initiatives at the Brandeis Center, told The Journal. “We’re pleased to hear that OCR appears to recognize that there is a legitimate and serious problem here worth looking into. We’re hopeful that they’re going to hold the university accountable for failing to protect your students from harassment, discrimination that we documented in the complaint.”

The Brandeis Center filed the complaint on March 6 after what Katz-Prober described as months of inaction by university officials, even after students reported multiple incidents of harassment in October and November 2024. Among the alleged examples cited are fake blood thrown on Jewish students, the theft of an etrog from a Sukkah and vandalism of a campus building. It also claims  that students staffing a Jewish club table at a campus fair were harassed while administrators looked on, then allegedly instructed the Jewish students to “leave the event rather than address the harassment.”

“What we’ve explained in the complaint is that there is no political controversy or disagreement at issue here,” Katz-Prober said. “What’s at issue in our complaint as we documented is unlawful conduct and behavior that the university was obligated to address in order to make sure that Jewish students are safe and welcome on their campus. They didn’t do so, and that’s why we filed the complaint.” At least one student ultimately left campus and completed coursework remotely before graduation due to fear for their safety, she said.

“What’s at issue in our complaint as we documented is unlawful conduct and behavior that the university was obligated to address in order to make sure that Jewish students are safe and welcome on their campus.” – Denise Katz-Prober

The Brandeis Center’s chairman, Kenneth Marcus, is a former head of OCR at the Department of Education during the Bush Administration. In 2004, Marcus authored an official letter signaling that “OCR will exercise its jurisdiction to enforce the Title VI prohibition against national origin discrimination, regardless of whether the groups targeted for discrimination also exhibit religious characteristics. Thus, for example, OCR aggressively investigates alleged race or ethnic harassment against Arab Muslim, Sikh and Jewish students.” The letter was written two days after the third anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and specifically references an uptick in religion-based incidents.

Katz-Prober said that the reason Marcus’ letter was so monumental “is because prior to 2004, when this guidance was issued, groups like Jews, Arab Muslims and Sikhs who are part of religious communities and are faith-based groups but also have a shared ancestry and ethnicity, when they faced harassment and discrimination, OCR would not prosecute those cases. They would not investigate those cases because their understanding was they didn’t have jurisdiction over religious discrimination because Title VI of the Civil Rights Act only covers discrimination based on race, color, or national origin — it doesn’t include religion. And so after 9/11 in particular, when Sikhs and Muslims — especially in K-12 schools — were facing horrible harassment.

Katz-Prober said the letter is now known as “The Marcus Doctrine”, which she says establishes that OCR does have jurisdiction to investigate cases involving harassing, the discrimination against groups like Muslims, Sikhs and Jews that have both a religious (they’re part of religious communities) and a shared ancestry and ethnicity. That interpretation, the Brandeis Center believes, means these incidents are covered under the national origin provision of Title VI.

According to Katz-Prober, the complaint at Cal Poly Humboldt, located about 100 miles south of the California-Oregon border, is about situations where Jewish students are “actually mistreated and targeted by behaviors that are unlawful — not speech, but behaviors.”

“When Jewish students are tabling at an event and someone confronts them and disrupts them and actually makes them feel unsafe such that they can’t even conduct their activities, or when someone throws a red substance at Jewish students because they supposedly disagree with their position on what’s happening in Israel, that is not a legitimate political discussion,” Katz-Prober said. “That’s an assault.”

The complaint recommends the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as a tool for understanding where that line is between speech and behaviors. It states “students report being shunned, harassed, marginalized and excluded as ‘Zionists.’ As OCR recognizes, Jews share more than a common faith; they are a people with a shared history and heritage deeply rooted in the land of Israel. … For most Jews, therefore, the ancestral connection to Israel (i.e., Zionism) represents an integral component of their Jewish identity.”

The Brandeis Center is calling on Cal Poly Humboldt to adopt the IHRA definition, which includes illustrative examples to distinguish between protected political speech and antisemitic conduct. “This is where the IHRA definition is so useful because it does explain where is the line between legitimate criticism of Israel and either discourse or speech that crosses the line into antisemitism,” Katz-Prober said. “And it explains that where someone is demonizing Israel is subjecting it to a double standard or delegitimizing Israel by denying its right to exist.”

On their website, Cal Poly Humboldt lays out their policy on “helping to prevent discrimination” on campus. The policy states that “challenging ideas and debating different viewpoints are essential to intellectual development. Disagreements are natural, but they should never lead to dehumanization or hostility.” The university also lists specific learning resources about antisemitism and islamophobia on its website. As of May 28, a “coming soon” placeholder is currently on the website for homophobia and transphobia,

In the section titled “What is NOT antisemitism,” the university says, “it is important to define antisemitism as well as demonstrate what it is not, noting that context does matter. Please be mindful that though this is not considered antisemitic, it may be harmful to some members of the Jewish community. It is NOT antisemitic to:

• Critique or oppose specific policies of the government of Israel.
• Critique, oppose, support, and advocate for Israel.
• Critique, oppose, support, and advocate for Palestine or Palestinians.
• Support or advocate for Palestinian individual or collective rights.
• Express pride in one’s Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or other religious identity
• Ask respectful and genuine inquisitive questions about Jewish history, culture, or religious practices.”

Katz-Prober said that “university cannot — should not in this day and age — cannot tell any student to hide their identity and hide who they are in order to avoid mistreatment and targeting. And that goes for Jewish students and it goes for all students.”

Currently, the Cal Poly Humboldt complaint is one of 21 active investigations added to the list during the Trump administration, which has called for the dismantling of the Department of Education. There are currently 155 active civil rights investigations underway by the department, with some still being investigated after being on the list for over five years.

Screenshots of the Cal Poly Humboldt’s website on preventing discrimination are below.