Drexel University agrees to bolster handling of bias complaints after probe of antisemitic incidents

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Drexel University will review the “shared ancestry” discrimination complaints it has fielded in recent years and work to improve how it handles them under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday.

The federal investigation began with a complaint about an October dormitory fire on the door of a suite where a Jewish student lived, but no sufficient evidence has surfaced indicating it was motivated by antisemitism or a hate crime, officials said.

The probe did turn up what the agency considered shortcomings in how Drexel has responded to a string of 35 other allegations of harassment over Jewish ancestry that were reported to the school over a 16-month period ending in January. Federal officials concluded a hostile environment has been in place at Drexel for about a year and a half, including anti-Jewish graffiti, social media threats and the vandalism of Drexel’s Center for Jewish life in April.

The investigation is among more than 150 similar probes launched by the U.S. Department of Education regarding campus and K-12 incidents in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that began the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

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