The Brandeis Center and Jewish on Campus (JOC) filed a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against American University (AU) on behalf of Jewish and Israeli students who have been subjected to severe and persistent anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination on AU’s campus.  Anti-Jewish incidents include an Israeli student being spat upon by other students,  swastikas on the dormitory doors of Jewish students, a Jewish student’s recital poster being vandalized with “antisemitic language and symbols,”  posters of innocent hostages continually being torn down by anti-Israeli students without consequence, and Jewish students being shunned and marginalized in classrooms by their peers and faculty. Even worse, the University has chosen to further harass and discriminate against several Jewish students by subjecting those who recorded students removing hostage posters to baseless disciplinary proceedings while taking no steps to hold the perpetrators of the anti-Semitic vandalism accountable. As noted in the complaint, by refusing to take action against perpetrators and incidents of anti-Semitism on its campus, AU is permitting a hostile environment on its campus in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”).