US settles with Johns Hopkins over alleged discrimination against Arabs, Jews

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Education Department on Wednesday noted concerns about discrimination against people of Arab and Jewish ancestry at Johns Hopkins University and reached a settlement with the institution to resolve the complaints.

The university has agreed to review its anti-harassment policies and to provide training to staff and students on addressing discrimination and harassment based on ancestry and ethnicity, according to the settlement posted online by the Education Department.

Johns Hopkins confirmed the settlement to local media.

"Discrimination of any kind, including antisemitism and anti-Arab bias, is not only at odds with university policy, but is also antithetical to our most fundamental values," a spokesperson for Johns Hopkins told the Baltimore Banner news website.

Rights advocates have noted rising antisemitic, anti-Arab and Islamophobic incidents, including during campus protests, since Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Islamist group Hamas' deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars racial discrimination in U.S. education programs that receive federal funding.

The Education Department's Office for Civil Rights said Johns Hopkins University received 99 complaints of harassment based on shared ancestry from October 2023 through May 2024.

The Education Department identified examples including complaints about university professors allegedly directing slurs toward Arab and Palestinian people, and said university records were "replete with reports" of tropes being used against Jewish people on campus.

In one such statement, a professor allegedly said: "Those brutal Arabs will, God willing, pay a price like never before," according to the Education Department. In another instance, someone at a campus protest reportedly held a sign depicting a swastika while expressing support for Hamas, the department added.

U.S. universities saw months of protests in which student demonstrators demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza and to college investments in companies that allegedly supported Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.

Some 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's 15-month-long assault on Gaza, according to health officials in the territory. About 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage in Hamas's attack on Israel, according to Israeli tallies.

Other U.S. universities, including the University of California, Rutgers University, the University of Michigan and the City University of New York have reached similar settlements with the Education Department to resolve complaints.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Don Durfee and Kate Mayberry)