Court Ruling Strikes a Blow Against Civil Rights Enforcement

One of the most consequential threats to civil rights law in a generation has just emerged — and not from the political right, but from the progressive left. The First Circuit, long a champion of civil liberties, has gutted student protections under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Not only does this ruling highlight a gap in civil rights enforcement that disproportionately affects Jewish students, it also undermines the protections against discriminatory harassment that all Americans enjoy under long-standing civil rights laws.

In early 2024, Jewish and Israeli students sued the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for violating Title VI, which requires universities receiving federal funds to take action when discrimination based on protected characteristics — such as being Jewish or Israeli — creates a “hostile environment.” Their lawsuit followed years of escalating hostility toward Jewish students. First, there was the invitation several academic departments extended to Mohammad El-Kurd, an advocate of the “torturous & slow” deaths of Israeli “pigs,” to speak on campus. Then, there was a Holocaust Remembrance Day marked by an image of a defaced Holocaust memorial. After the October 7, 2023, massacre, MIT students received an email from classmates affirming Hamas’s right to “resist oppression and colonization” through violence and pledging support for such efforts “[u]ntil liberation.” Protesters shut down parts of campus and ominously promised a coming “solution: Intifada revolution!”

JB

About the Author

Jared Bauman

Jared Bauman is an associate at the law firm Holtzman Vogel. He works in Washington, D.C., and Nashville.

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About the Author

Susan Greene

Susan Greene is a litigation and appellate partner at the law firm Holtzman Vogel.

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One of the most consequential threats to civil rights law in a generation has just emerged — and not from the political right, but from the progressive left. The First Circuit, long a champion of civil liberties, has gutted student protections under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Not only does this ruling highlight a gap in civil rights enforcement that disproportionately affects Jewish students, it also undermines the protections against discriminatory harassment that all Americans enjoy under long-standing civil rights laws.

In early 2024, Jewish and Israeli students sued the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for violating Title VI, which requires universities receiving federal funds to take action when discrimination based on protected characteristics — such as being Jewish or Israeli — creates a “hostile environment.” Their lawsuit followed years of escalating hostility toward Jewish students. First, there was the invitation several academic departments extended to Mohammad El-Kurd, an advocate of the “torturous & slow” deaths of Israeli “pigs,” to speak on campus. Then, there was a Holocaust Remembrance Day marked by an image of a defaced Holocaust memorial. After the October 7, 2023, massacre, MIT students received an email from classmates affirming Hamas’s right to “resist oppression and colonization” through violence and pledging support for such efforts “[u]ntil liberation.” Protesters shut down parts of campus and ominously promised a coming “solution: Intifada revolution!”