The U.S. Department of Education has launched a federal investigation into California State Polytechnic University, (Cal Poly) Humboldt, following allegations that administrators advised Jewish students to “hide their Jewish identity to avoid being targeted.” This probe, initiated by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), responds to a civil rights complaint filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.
According to the complaint, pro-Hamas activists disrupted a vigil for victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks by drawing a “Zio Corner” chalk circle around attendees and throwing red paint at Jewish students, symbolizing the “blood of martyrs.” Additionally, activists held a demonstration adjacent to a religious ceremony for the Jewish High Holiday of Sukkot and wrote chalk messages directed at the Jewish students that said, “Go Away Nazis.” After a Jewish religious object was stolen from the Sukkot celebration one night, administrators reportedly advised Jewish students to limit their religious observance to the daytime to avoid being targeted.
The complaint asserts that by advising students to conceal their Jewish identity, the university dismissed their concerns and failed to take prompt and effective action to address anti-Semitic incidents on campus. This investigation is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to address campus anti-Semitism and racial discrimination. The Department of Education’s OCR announced in March that it would also open investigations into anti-Semitism at American University, Yale University, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Brandeis Center chairman Kenneth L. Marcus, the former head of the Department of Education’s OCR, welcomed the investigation, stating, “Not only did the Cal Poly administration refuse to prosecute brazen, violent acts of anti-Semitism, but they allowed their students to be victimized over and over, offering them nothing but a callous disregard for their continued harassment.”
Representatives from Cal Poly declined to comment on requests from Washington Free Beacon reporters.
