BREAKING: Title VI complaint against UC Berkeley dismissed

Major victory for Palestine solidarity activism 

The US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights has dismissed a Title VI complaint filed against the University of California, Berkeley, which alleged members of Students for Justice in Palestine created a hostile environment for Jewish students on campus. A coalition, including American Muslims for Palestine, has been communicating with the Department of Education regarding its misuse of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to launch investigations into student campus activism.

Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin by institutions that receive federal funds. In 2010, in response to years of lobbying by the Zionist Organization of America, the Anti-Defamation League and other Zionist groups, the Education Department re-interpreted Title VI to include the prohibition of discrimination based on “actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics and actual or perceived citizenship or residency in a country whose residents share a dominant religion or distinct religious identity.”

Since then, the ZOA and other pro-Israel groups have exploited Title VI to file spurious complaints to try to shut down pro-Palestine activities or lectures on college campuses.

Instead of constituting harassment, the pro-Palestine events “constituted expression on matters of public concern directed to the university community … [which] a reasonable student in higher education may experience,” according to the Office of Civil Rights.

The coalition consists of Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, the Council of American-Islamic Relations - San Francisco Bay Area, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild and AMP.

More details to follow. In the meantime, read UC Berkeley’s statement.