It is that point in the summer when temperatures rise to almost unbearable extremes—one of my colleagues found out the hard way on Sunday; yes, he is ok. This trend is matched by the news out of higher education, where the heat is rising on colleges and universities to comply with federal education mandates or suffer financial consequences—specificially in areas such as anti-Semitism, Title IX, and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI).

After years of problems and months of intense investigations, Columbia University has come to a civil rights settlement, agreeing to pay $221 million to restore federal funding to the institution, including unfreezing research grants and reviving some terminated contracts, as well as making the university eligible for future grants, contracts, and awards once again. The university will pay $200 million over the next three years to the federal government, and the remaining $21 million to settle the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s investigation that began in March into claims of workplace harassment based on religion. As part of the settlement, Columbia has not admitted fault or wrongdoing, specifically in reference to allegations of Title VI violations regarding anti-Semitism. 
 

Instances of anti-Semitism at Columbia spiked after the October 7, 2023 attacks. While the administrators sat on their hands, students and even some professors engaged in unacceptable forms of protest—blocking students from class, harassing Jewish students, barricading buildings, calling for the death of the Jews, and more. While chaos reigned, Columbia’s leadership perfected the art of looking away. Their “no admission of wrongdoing” clause only formalizes what they’d been doing all along: nothing. The institution has changed leadership hands multiple times as a result.
 

Samuel J. Abrams, in an article for Minding the Campus, writes that while the federal reforms are necessary to kick higher education into gear, they will not do much to sufficiently eradicate anti-Semitic culture on campuses. He explains,
 

But the real reckoning is moral. It cannot be satisfied with press releases, task forces, or vague commitments to ‘learning and listening.’ It requires repentance, reform, and the reestablishment of principles that have long been neglected: academic integrity, moral clarity, and the equal dignity of all.

Now that Columbia has come to a settlement agreement, it remains to be seen if Harvard and other major institutions embroiled in battles with the federal government over anti-Semitism will follow suit—the White House certainly thinks this settlement will serve as a good precedent. As I’ve said before, it is a good start by the government in holding higher education accountable, but there is more to be done, and as Abrams says, it has to come from inside academia’s culture to last.  
 

Title IX violations seem to plague all levels of academia. The Department of Education (ED) announced last week that five northern Virginia school districts (the Divisions) were found to be in violation of Title IX after its investigation into allegations of discrimination on the basis of sex. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has issued the Divisions a proposed Resolution Agreement to resolve the Title IX violations to be voluntarily agreed to within ten days of notice or “risk imminent enforcement action including referral to the U.S. Department of Justice.” The allegations which led to the initial investigation stemmed from anti-discrimination policies that pertained to “transgender-identifying” students. More troubling is the OCR found that students were allowed access to intimate, sex-segregated facilities—i.e., locker rooms and bathrooms—“based on the students’ subjective ‘gender identity.’”
 

The United States Supreme Court is set to hear two cases this year concerning transgender participation in women's sports—which could directly influence Title IX application in education. Some speculate that two international cases on whether women and girls have a legal right to female-only spaces may influence the Supreme Court rulings. Something to keep an eye on.
 

Regarding Title IX in higher education, a City Tech CUNY biology professor has been accused of sexual misconduct by a student and is now facing investigation by CUNY’s Title IX and Diversity Offices. However, the allegations appear to be retaliatory by the student after she approached Biology Professor Mosaab Elshaer asking to improve her grades by changing the grading curve and he refused. Though the offense is considered “non-Title IX,” CUNY’s Title IX coordinator appears to be the sole investigator, which puts the school in Title IX violation by imposing a single investigator model and circumventing due process for Professor Elshaer—a kangaroo court indeed. 
 

Though some colleges and universities are publicly turning their backs on their former paramour DEI in the wake of ED mandates and Trump administration oversight, others have hidden DEI practices away for another day. But it is clear that schools cannot hide it away forever.
 

Duke University and the Duke Law Journal are being investigated by the Trump administration for alleged racial discrimination. The Duke Law Journal, in its 2024 application process for potential editors, 
 

sent a memo to minority applicants encouraging them to highlight their race and gender in personal statements for its competition to select the next batch of editors. The memo was distributed only to minority affinity groups, and they were instructed not to share it. 

Now, the university is facing alleged instances of racial discrimination in hiring, admissions, and scholarships. While Title VI makes it illegal for federally funded institutions to discriminate on the basis of race or other characteristics, and the Supreme Court affirmed that race-based admissions policies are illegal under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection clause in its 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decision, it seems that higher education has not quite gotten the memo. 
 

As the summer heat scorches on, colleges and universities are learning what happens when you ignore the smoke for too long: eventually, the fire marshal shows up. Higher ed is proving not to be all that fire proof.
 

Until next week.

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