Complaint alleges anti-Semitic harassment at UIUC

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WICS/WCCU) — A complaint has been filed with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

The complaint alleges that Jewish students at the university have endured "an unrelenting campaign of anti-Semitic harassment."

It also alleges that UIUC has allowed a hostile environment for Jewish students on its campus, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

According to the complaint, there has been an increase in anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism at the university over the past five years.

It references numerous swastikas that were reportedly found on campus, Jewish ritual items — like menorahs and mezuzahs — being vandalized, and windows of Jewish fraternity houses being broken by bricks.

In addition, it alleges that members and supporters of Students for Justice in Palestine at the university "publicly glorify members of U.S. government-designated terrorist organizations, harass UIUC Jewish and pro-Israel students with epithets like 'Nazi' and 'white supremacist,' advocate the expulsion of Zionists from campus, and have converted mandatory UIUC diversity training into anti-Israel indoctrination."

The complaint was prepared by Arnold and Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, who worked with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the Jewish United Fund, and Hillel International.