Alleged Discrimination at Cornell University

“Discrimination” Prohibited by Title VI Under Sections 601 and 602

Section 601 of Title VI: Addressing Intentional Discrimination

Section 601 of Title VI requires that, as a condition for receiving federal dollars, recipients comply with the mandate that “[n]o person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”

-From the US Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VI

William A Jacobson is a law professor at Cornell University and the editor of Legal Insurrection, a blog that largely deals with anti-Semitism and leftist radicalization on campus. He is speaking out on a controversy on the Cornell campus centering around English professor Eric Cheyfitz, an anti-Israeli activist, who also happens to be of Jewish background. Currently, Cheyfitz is under investigation by the university over an allegation that he refused to allow an Israeli student to enroll in a course he will be teaching regarding the Gaza conflict, a course that Jacobson and others feel is biased to the Palestinian narrative and will only fuel more anti-Jewish feeling at Cornell. Cheyfitz is also facing possible disciplinary action by Cornell. As noted by Jacobson, Cheyfitz is not under scrutiny for his political views on Israel, nor for the course he has created, but rather because he allegedly violated the civil rights of a student based on nationality.

Jacobson’s article in Legal Insurrection can be read here.

 Ironically, almost 20 years ago, when DOE/OCR was investigating complaints of anti-Semitic discrimination at the University of California at Irvine (where I was teaching at the time), the case was eventually unsuccessful, partially because among the Jewish students who were complainants, none were Israeli. At the time, religion was not included in the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but national origin was-and still is. Thus, if a professor were to deny a student from enrolling in a course due to that student’s nationality, that would constitute a violation of the student’s rights- in plain, simple English.

At any rate, if this is accurate, it is clearly wrong and must be treated seriously by the university. This has gone on too long, and it’s time to use the law if the universities will not do what’s right.