On Monday, March 11, the University of Massachusetts Amherst announced that they received a letter from the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Education (DOE) warning the university “of potential enforcement actions if they do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus.”
According to the DOE, the letter was sent to 60 universities “presently under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.”
A statement released on the UMass federal actions page said that, “The university condemns hatred, including antisemitism, in all forms,” and that the university “will continue to cooperate fully with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.”
The press release from the DOE mentioned “the immediate cancelation of $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University” that occurred on March 7. This was in response to what the federal government said was “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
After that happened, President Donald Trump posted the following on Truth Social, “All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” raising first amendment concerns.
The UMass federal actions page states that the University received more than $322 million in federal funding in FY24, the 2023-2024 school year. This included $179.7 million in research funding, including over 300 faculty positions and $26 million that supports graduate student tuition and stipend benefits. The funds also include $143 million in Title IV funding that provides support for Pell Grants, work-study and federal loans.
In response to Title IV and Title IX complaints against the University of Maine, the Department of Agriculture froze just under $30 million spending going to research and youth programs at UMaine on March 11, a day after the letter was sent.
UMass has three open OCR investigations open, according to a DOE database. One, alleging anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab discrimination in the form of a hostile environment, differential treatment and retaliatory action against students reporting the alleged bias, was filed by Palestine Legal in April 2024.
Another, alleging antisemitism and a hostile environment, was filed in February 2024 by Campus Reform, a right-wing internet news outlet. That complaint is mentioned by UMass in the statement posted to the federal actions page about the letter.
The last present in the database is a Title IX complaint that has been open since May 2020.
Despite common misconceptions, the OCR investigates all correctly submitted complaints that fall under their authority, are submitted in the right timeframe, and state a violation of an applicable law enforced by the OCR. An investigation does not imply anything about the “merits of the case,” and punishment is not usually doled out before a case is settled.
It is unclear what the status of the complaint filed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in April of 2024 is. The complaint alleges “deliberate indifference towards the antisemitism currently festering on its campus,” using different evidence from the February complaint.
The ADL could not be reached for comment.
Last year, after the ADL gave UMass an “F” on their Campus Antisemitism Report Card, UMass Hillel released a statement objecting to the findings.
“The scorecard risks inaccurately and irresponsibly conveying the message that UMass Amherst is not a good choice for prospective Jewish students,” the statement read. “… In this difficult year, Chancellor Reyes, the UMass Amherst administration and other campus leaders have demonstrated care for the wellbeing of Jewish students, and a commitment to working with Hillel and Jewish student leaders to address incidents of antisemitism and concerns about the campus climate.”
UMass received a “D” on the 2025 version of the report card.
Daniel Frank can be reached at [email protected]
