Trump Administration Cracking Down on Anti-Semitism at Cal Poly Humbolt

The Trump Administration crackdown on anti-Semitism at California universities continues apace, as schools that once gave pro-Hamas mobs free reign on campus come under ferocious federal scrutiny.

This March, the Justice Department launched an investigation into the University of California system over possible anti-Jewish discrimination against faculty and staff in the wake of the pro-Hamas protests last year.  And earlier this week, Justice Department senior counsel Leo Terrell promised “massive lawsuits” against the University of California system.

Now comes word that the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has launched an investigation into California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt over the complaint for egregious harassment of Jewish students at the school that the Brandeis Center filed earlier this year.  The Office for Civil Rights on May 20 notified the Brandeis Center that they would be investigating the school to determine whether they handled complaints of harassment from students in accordance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Title VI  has been interpreted by courts to prohibit discrimination based on ethnicity and therefore cover Jews. It requires federally-funded schools to take action to stop harassment that is so “pervasive” it interferes with students’ education.

Brandeis Center chairman Ken Marcus said in a statement about the investigation that, “Not only did the Cal Poly administration refuse to prosecute brazen, violent acts of anti-Semitism, but they allowed their students to be victimized over and over, offering them nothing but a callous disregard for their continued harassment. We hope this investigation will force Cal Poly to stop sweeping anti-Semitism under the rug, and it will serve as a sign to all universities: indifference to bigotry and hatred will not be tolerated.”

Brandeis Center lawyer Robin Pick told the California Globe that, “it is very encouraging [they] are opening the investigation. We feel strongly the investigation will find that Humboldt has violated Title VI and failed to protect its Jewish students. “

“We believe this is an opportunity for  [the Office for Civil Rights] to hold this university accountable–to require them to take the actions they are required to take by law to protect their Jewish students,” she explained.  “When a university is aware that students are harassed they are required to take immediate action to eliminate the hostile atmosphere.”

She hopes the investigation prompts changes at the school.

“There are many things Cal Poly Humboldt could be doing to protect their students that they are not doing. They need to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitsim. If they don’t recognize it [anti-Semitsim] they won’t take any action.”

Pick said the IHRA definition is “anything that demonizes Israel or holds Israel to a double standard is anti-Semitism. This is so much of what we are seeing on campuses.”

The hope is that if that definition is adopted Hamasniks on campus could not target Jewish students under the guise of merely criticizing Israel. In other words they could not use Zionist as a code word for Jews.

The complaint against Cal Poly Humboldt, as the school is called, was filed on March 6.  It recounted how Jewish students were pelted with fake blood, subjected to anti-Semitic slurs and forced out of parts of campus.

But the administration’s only response was to tell students to hide their Jewish identity to avoid abuse. “The message from the University to Jewish students is clear: downplay your Jewish identity on campus or hide to avoid being targeted because the University will not protect you,” the complaint says.  By telling Jewish students who complained of anti-Semitism to hide evidence of their Jewish identity, the university not only dismissed the Jewish students’ concerns, it also shirked its responsibility to take prompt and effective action to address anti-Semitic incidents on its campus.”

Other times administrators stood by idly as the abuse happened.  According to the complaint, when Jewish students held a vigil on October 7, 2024 to mark the one year anniversary of the Hamas attacks, “Some anti-Israel protestors were throwing red paint on the administrative building, as a symbol of blood, while screaming “blood of the martyrs,” and then began throwing the red paint at Jewish community members.

“A masked student threw a red substance at Student A and another Jewish student who were hit in the face and chest.”

But when the student asked for help from a top administrator he was rebuffed. “A faculty advisor was standing next to the Jewish students who were hit, but took no action. Student A and other frightened students pled with administrators including the Dean of Students, Associate Dean of Students and VP for Enrollment Management and Student Success, to call the police, but they refused. When a student called campus police for help, they refused to come.”

The complaint said that the administration’s indifference to the harassment violated federal civil rights law. “Cal Poly Humboldt has violated Title VI by allowing a hostile environment to develop on its campus and failing to address it promptly and effectively. The recurring incidents of anti-Semitism targeting Jewish students at Cal Poly – including assaultive conduct, verbal and physical intimidation, and anti-Semitic graffiti, and disruptions of Jewish events on campus – are clearly severe and pervasive, and have had a profound negative impact on Jewish students.”

On May 23, Cal Poly Humboldt Interim President Michael Spagna announced the Education Department investigation in an anodyne email to the community  that showed no contrition.  He said that, “Cal Poly Humboldt will always be a university where we support the rights of students and faculty to speak their minds freely. And in no uncertain terms: we have zero tolerance for antisemitism, discrimination, harassment, or any actions and speech that infringe on the rights, dignities, or safety of others.”

“As part of our ongoing commitment to these values, we want to provide an update on a recent development. In March, we shared that the Brandeis Center had filed a federal civil rights complaint against Cal Poly Humboldt and other universities. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has now formally opened an investigation into the complaint.”

“We are working closely with The California State University to respond to OCR’s investigation and ensure we are compliant with all federal requirements. At this stage, we are not able to share any additional information, but we remain committed to addressing the process thoughtfully and responsibly. We also recognize that this may be an especially difficult and painful time for our Jewish students, faculty, and staff, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to ensure our entire campus community can feel safe.”

Are they?

Zach Mink is the “Student A” in the complaint who had fake blood thrown at him. He is cautiously optimistic that the Cal Poly administration is no longer so insouciant about campus anti-Semitsm now the Education opened up its investigation.

He told the California Globe that, “I definitely feel excited that they have opened the investigation. I think that the situations that have happened at Humboldt are really quite obvious in terms of blatant anti-Semitism.”

Mink said the administration previously ignored his complaints about crude instances of anti-Semisim on campus. But he got a serious response after the investigation was announced when he complained about a campus group implying in an Instagram post that the two Israeli embassy employees murdered in Washington last week deserved it.

“Maybe if you stopped commiting land theft and genocide you wouldn’t face such retaliation,” the post said.

He called the posting by the CalPoly Humboldt chapter of Students for a Democratic Society “a threat to Jewish and Israeli students on campus.”

After calling the office of the dean of students about the posting Mink was told by an associate dean that she formalized a complaint about the posting. On Friday, he was told by the university office that handles harassment complaints that an investigation is underway.

Now that the Department of Education probe is underway “they [the school administration] are addressing our concerns,” he said.