Wellesley responds to federal antisemitism probe

Wellesley College, an all-women’s higher education institution, is one of seven organizations under federal investigation after complaints of antisemitism and a lack of protection for Jewish students during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, according to officials from the U.S. Department of Education.

The college has responded to these claims. 

“Wellesley has been committed to addressing issues of antisemitism on our campus and will continue to work to create an environment that supports free expression and rejects all forms of hate and discrimination,” the college said in a statement. 

Wellesley President Paula A. Johnson also released a statement. 

“We embrace freedom of expression for everyone in our community, which is critical to a liberal arts education and to a democracy. And, I want to be clear: Wellesley College condemns antisemitism, along with anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discrimination, and any other form of hate,” she said. 

The investigation follows complaints from two Jewish organizations on campus regarding an email sent out by resident advisors, or RAs, from a campus dormitory and a separate panel by Wellesley faculty, according to MassLive. 

The email, sent on Oct. 19, read “that there should be no space, no consideration, and no support for Zionism within the Wellesley College community.” 

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Jewish organizations wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Education concerning this email and the panel. 

It reads, “Wellesley is permitting a hostile environment to develop and persist … by allowing students to marginalize and exclude Jewish students for whom Zionism is integral to their Jewish identity.”

Some time later there was a panel from Wellesley faculty on the Israel-Hamas war which, according to the letter, only fueled anti-Jewish hostility.  

“Panelists minimized the atrocities committed by Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, by claiming that only a small extremist faction of Hamas are terrorists, that Hamas shouldn’t be demonized, and that Hamas is not antisemitic because they only want to kill Zionists,” read the letter about the panel. 

A spokesperson for Wellesley College disputed the claims about the panel, according to MassLive.

“Wellesley has been committed to addressing issues of antisemitism on our campus and will continue to work to create an environment that supports free expression and rejects all forms of hate and discrimination,” the spokesperson said, according to MassLive. 

Also under investigation are the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Columbia University, Lafayette College and the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, in New York City as well as a K-12 school district in Kansas called the Maize Unified School District.