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Johns Hopkins to Address Ancestry-Based Harassment After Federal Probe

Described in the settlement process, this becomes a reminder that there is need to pay attention and be guard than ever in the fight against discrimination within institutions of learning.

Johns Hopkins to Address Ancestry-Based Harassment After Federal Probe
Johns Hopkins to Address Ancestry-Based Harassment After Federal Probe. Credit | REUTERS


United States: On Wednesday, the U.S. Education Department mentioned the issue regarding discrimination of persons of Arab and Jewish origin at the Johns Hopkins University, and it decided on an agreement to settle the complaints.

As part of the settlement, the university will also retry its anti-harassment policies; additionally, it is committed to offering information to staff and students on discrimination and harassment related to ancestry and ethnicity, as stated in the document posted by the Education Department, as reported by Reuters.

Statement on Discrimination

The local media contacted the Johns Hopkins for confirmation about the settlement.

“Discrimination of any kind, including antisemitism and anti-Arab bias, is not only at odds with university policy but is also antithetical to our most fundamental values,” a spokesperson for Johns Hopkins told the Baltimore Banner news website.

Rising Tensions Amid Global Conflict

It is mentioned that activists dedicated to the rights of minorities, see a growing trend in the level of antisemitic, anti-Arab and Islamophobic incidence, including the demonstrations on campus after Israel launched an operation against Gaza after a deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the Islamist group Hamas.

Reports of Harassment

Federal data show that Johns Hopkins University had 99 reports of harassment related to ancestry from October 2023 through May 2024, according to the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.

The Education Department cited instances such as students who reported that university professors targeted Arab and Palestinian people with slurs and said that university records were “rife with reports of Jewish people being depicted with tropes” on the state educational institution premises.

“Those brutal Arabs will, God willing, pay the price like never before,” the Education Department claims, a professor remarked in one such comment. According to the department, another incident included a protester on campus who was holding a placard with a swastika on it and proclaiming support for Hamas.

Students marched through the streets of major US cities for months to condemn America’s support for the Israeli aggression in Gaza and for Colleges’ investment on companies that the protestors said supported Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.

Ongoing Impact of Middle East Conflict

Over 15 months of Israel’s campaign in Gaza, the territory’s ministry of health says, 46,000 Palestinians have been killed. More than a thousand people died and approximately 250 were taken captive to Hamas’s operation to target Israel as estimated by Israel, as reported by Reuters.

Other American universities like the University of California, Rutgers University, the University of Michigan and the City University of New York have agreed to such settlements with the Education Department concerning complaints.

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