Education Department Dismisses Complaint That Anti-Israel Incidents Subjected Jewish Students To Hostile Environment

The University of California Berkeley announced yesterday that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has dismissed a complaint contending that three incidents involving criticism of Israel created a hostile environment for Jewish students that the University had an obligation to curtail.  In its Aug. 19 letter (full text) informing the University that its investigation of the complaint is being closed, the DOE said in part that the events:

constituted expression on matters of public concern directed to the University community.  In the university environment, exposure to such robust and discordant expressions, even when personally offensive and hurtful, is a circumstance that a reasonable student in higher education may experience. In this context, the events ... do not constitute actionable harassment.

In 2011, a federal district court had reached a similar conclusion. (See prior posting.)