A report shared exclusively with the Guardian documents how a civil rights law has become a tool to impose ideological priorities on US schools
US government investigations into universities over antisemitism allegations surged following the 7 October 2023 attacks and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza, with more investigations open in the last two months of that year than in the two decades prior, according to a report published on Monday that was shared exclusively with the Guardian.
The data, compiled by the Middle East Studies Association and the American Association of University Professors and relying on publicly available records, offers a detailed account of how landmark civil rights legislation – and particularly Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act – has become a primary tool to restrict speech on campus.
The provision, intended to prevent discrimination in educational institutions, was used by the Biden administration to target pro-Palestinian activism and later became the preferred weapon of the Trump administration to threaten universities with billions in funding cuts and impose its ideological priorities on issues that go well beyond antisemitism.
“In effect, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is no longer being used to address racial discrimination in higher education,” said Aslı Bâli, president of the Middle East Studies Association. “Instead, Title VI has been repurposed as part of the administration’s broader effort to remake higher education in line with its rightwing political and cultural agenda.”
