Immediate: CAIR-NJ, ADC File Title VI Complaint Against Rutgers U. Citing Hostile Anti-Palestinian Environment
From Press Release at this link: https://cair-nj.org/cair-nj-adc-file-title-vi-complaint-against-rutgers-u-citing-hostile-anti-muslim-anti-palestinian-environment/
CAIR-NJ, ADC File Title VI Complaint Against Rutgers U. Citing Hostile Anti-Palestinian Environment
(NEWARK, NJ, 04/23/2024) – The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today filed a Title VI complaint against Rutgers University for ongoing, patterned anti-Palestinian bigotry at the Newark law school and New Brunswick undergraduate campuses, since October 2023.
SEE: Title VI Complaint Against Rutgers University Concerning Anti-Palestinian Discrimination
The complaint also alleges a lack of appropriate urgency from Rutgers University administrators concerning Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students’ physical safety and overall wellbeing on university campuses.
“Rutgers has had ample notice of the ongoing pattern and practice of direct and indirect anti-Palestinian discrimination from the university and hostile on campus environment,” the complaint reads. “Nonetheless, Rutgers has failed to respond or take any meaningful steps to address it.”
In a statement, CAIR-NJ Executive Director Selaedin Maksut said:
“That college campuses across the country have become an increasingly hostile environment to Muslim and Palestinian students and their allies — especially in the wake of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza — is no secret.
“University administrations have effectively enabled this climate of hostility and unsafe environment when they repeatedly refused to act and respond with appropriate urgency to Muslim and Palestinian students’ concerns.
“We call on the Department of Education to thoroughly investigate students’ claims and to uphold and protect their civil rights.”
In a statement, ADC Staff Attorney Chris Godshall-Bennett said:
“College campuses should be a place where students feel free to be themselves and express their identities. Their power and voice should be protected and uplifted, and university administrators have a duty to ensure that the campus environment fosters that strength.
“Instead, Rutgers University has allowed a patently hostile and unsafe climate to relegate its Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students to a second-class status, denying them their right to an education free of harassment and discrimination. We expect the Department of Education to take these claims seriously and fully investigate this pattern and practice of discrimination.”
CAIR’s vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding.
CAIR’s mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR-NJ Communications Manager, Dina Sayedahmed, 551-221-5592
