By Guy Page

Middlebury College, a private, pricey ($90,000/year comprehensive for undergrads)  ‘Little Ivy’ college that has graduated civil rights leaders, famous entertainers, and Vermont governors, is among 60 U.S. colleges and universities under investigation for anti-semitism by the U.S. Department of Education, DOE announced March 10.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters to 60 institutions of higher education warning them 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, including uninterrupted access to campus facilities and educational opportunities, the statement said. The letters are addressed to all U.S. universities that are presently under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.

“The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their safety amid the relentless antisemitic eruptions that have severely disrupted campus life for more than a year. University leaders must do better,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “U.S. colleges and universities benefit from enormous public investments funded by U.S. taxpayers. That support is a privilege and it is contingent on scrupulous adherence to federal antidiscrimination laws.” 

The investigation stems from a 2024 complaint to the DOE filed by StandWithUs, a Jewish justice group, in response to student behaviors and administration reactions in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

The complaint alleges that:

“The Middlebury administration displayed discriminatory and disparate treatment toward Jewish students seeking to host a campus vigil for the victims of Hamas terrorism…..When Jewish students attempted to organize a vigil on October 11, 2023, in response to Hamas’ recent atrocities, Middlebury administrators immediately attempted to hamper their efforts. 

The complaint explains: “Despite the burgeoning and apparent security threat to Jewish students on campus in the wake of the Hamas attacks and those students’ legitimate fear for their safety, Middlebury administrators repeatedly attempted to prevent and then to limit the Jewish students’ request for a police presence, citing concerns about upsetting other students and pushing to only have a single public safety officer attend, out of sight.” 

It was only after several meetings during which Jewish students insisted—for their own safety—on a visible police presence despite the administrators’ objections, and only after the intervention of the local Chabad rabbi who contacted the police himself, that a small police presence attended the vigil, the complain alleges According to the Addison County Independent’s Middlebury police log, “Police said students requested their presence” (emphasis added), not administrators.

“Then, rather than focus their energies on the physical safety of their Jewish students, Middlebury’s administrators instead directed those energies toward marginalizing and discriminating against those same students by asking them to hide their religious, ethnic and national identities in connection with the vigil.”

Jewish and Israeli students were asked by administrators to not display any Israeli flags during the event and to remove the word “Jewish” from all literature for the event, the complaint alleges.

In response to a proposed poster design from a Jewish student to advertise for the vigil, Middlebury’s Associate Vice President and Dean of Students, Derek Doucet, even attempted to change the scope of the event entirely so that it would not exclusively focus on Israeli or Jewish victims.

Also, no administrators were willing to speak at the vigil organized by Jewish students. The college’s diversity and inclusion director however spoke at a similar, but pro-Palestine rally.

Furthermore, the Middlebury administration failed to respond adequately to reports about Students for Justice in Palestine harassing Jewish students, showing deliberate indifference to Jewish student safety, the SWU complaint claims. 

VDC has not found any Middlebury College response on its website or social media. A request for comment was sent this morning and will be published as soon as received.