GMU Is Latest School Under Feds’ Scrutiny for Campus Antisemitism

George Mason University–located in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C.–has been added to a list of dozens of institutions of higher education under federal investigation for antisemitism on campus since the Hamas massacre in Israel occurred in early October. 

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced on Dec. 22 that it had added the Fairfax County, Va.-based university to its list of institutions under Title VI for “shared ancestry investigations.” 

The National Desk, a news outlet of Sinclair Inc., first reported the probe late last week. 

Neither the Education Department nor GMU immediately responded to requests for comment from The Daily Signal on Tuesday. 

After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the university investigated an incident in which a student was seen tearing down posters on campus of Israeli children kidnapped by Hamas as hostages. The university reportedly determined ripping the posters down violated the student code of conduct, but did not appear to be criminal. 

A GMU spokesperson told The National Desk that “policies, procedures, and public statements are transparent and well-documented,” adding, the university is “confident that the Department of Education’s review will confirm that George Mason University has acted well within the letter and spirit of laws and the First Amendment.”

Also in December, the Education Department announced it was investigating the University of North Carolina, the University of Illinois, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, among other institutions, regarding antisemitic acts on campus. 

Universities that were previously under investigation by the department include the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Columbia University and Rutgers University.

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