Temple University is the latest college to enter a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education over allegations of discrimination – mainly targeting Jewish students – in the wake of the war in Gaza.
As part of the agreement announced Monday, the North Philadelphia-based school will provide training to staff and students; conduct a survey to determine the extent of harassment; develop an action plan; review past discrimination case files; and report new complaints to the department.
While federal officials commended Temple for taking several proactive steps, the Department of Education said the university appears not to have considered whether 50 reported antisemitic incidents over two academic years created a hostile environment for Jewish students, which would be a violation of federal law.
Individual university offices responded to complaints and did not always communicate, hindering Temple’s ability to comply with the legal standard, according to a letter from the department’s Office for Civil Rights.
“Today’s resolution with Temple University is designed to improve university practices to ensure full compliance with federal civil rights protections against discrimination,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon said in a statement.
John Fry, who officially became the school’s president last month, noted in a message to employees and students that the investigation into Temple “includes no findings of noncompliance or wrongdoing by the university.”
“This resolution allows us to focus on our essential work in addressing all complaints of discrimination and harassment, including antisemitic, anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim and all unlawful discriminatory incidents that create a hostile environment for members of our community,” Fry said.
From August 2022 to February 2024, Temple documented 50 reports of harassment based on Jewish ancestry, according to the OCR letter. Most of the incidents concerned behavior at demonstrations, vandalism and graffiti, and social media posts, federal officials said.
OCR opened an investigation into Temple in January as part of a bevy of higher education probes following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, the war in Gaza and the upswell of pro-Palestine activism on college campuses.
Drexel University reached a similar settlement in August, and Department of Education investigations involving Swarthmore College, the School District of Philadelphia and the Central Bucks School District remain open.
