Drexel University joins other schools under federal investigation for alleged discrimination

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating Drexel University for alleged discrimination — the latest local school to face a federal probe into reported harassment on campus amid the war between Israel and Hamas.

The department’s Office of Civil Rights opened the investigation into Drexel on Monday. While it didn’t release any details about the case, Drexel President John Fry sent an email to the Drexel community Wednesday afternoon noting the investigation was looking into the school’s response to reported harassment of students on the basis of shared Jewish ancestry, specifically “the arson of a door of a suite at Race Street Residence Hall on Oct. 10, 2023.”

At the time of the incident, Fry’s message to Drexel students and faculty noted, “We are investigating to determine if bias, discrimination, or hate, which we do not tolerate at Drexel, was the motivation behind this incident.” It was not clear the results of Drexel’s own investigation, or whether it had even concluded.

Earlier Wednesday, a Department of Education spokesperson pointed to its announcement in November that it was investigating a number of schools over allegations of antisemitism and Islamophobia — pledging “aggressive action to address the alarming nationwide rise in reports of antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and other forms of discrimination and harassment on college campuses and in K-12 schools since the Oct. 7 Israel-Hamas conflict.”

Drexel said in a statement that it was “committed to ensuring a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment for all of our students, faculty and professional staff.”

“Drexel does not tolerate acts of bias, discrimination and harassment and will fully cooperate with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in its investigation,” a university spokesperson said.

Drexel is among the latest schools nationally to be added to a list of education department investigations into discrimination “based on shared ancestry.” Other area schools on the list include Rutgers University, Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., and the University of Pennsylvania — the latter of which has been at the center of national debate around free speech and antisemitism.

University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill resigned earlier this month after testifying before Congress that calls for the genocide of Jews wouldn’t necessarily violate Penn’s code of conduct — answering U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik that it was a “context-dependent decision.”

Magill had previously announced a plan to combat antisemitism at Penn, which has been the site of protests this semester by groups calling for more support for both Jewish and Palestinian students.

Other university presidents facing criticism following their testimony at the same Dec. 5 congressional hearing were Harvard’s Claudine Gay and MIT’s Sally Kornbluth. The education department opened an investigation into Harvard on Nov. 28, and MIT, Dec. 13.

Penn and Lafayette were among the first investigations announced, on Nov. 16 — part of a group of seven schools named by the department. Of those investigations, five are related to alleged antisemitic harassment, and two, alleged anti-Muslim harassment, the department said.