Princeton University joins fellow Ivy League schools being investigated for alleged antisemitism

JTA – While fellow Ivy League institutions landed in hot water over their handling of campus antisemitism since the Israel-Hamas war began six months ago with the October 7 Hamas massacre, Princeton University has largely evaded the spotlight.

That changed this week, as the US Department of Education opened a Title VI investigation into antisemitism allegations at the elite New Jersey private university based on a Jewish conservative activist’s complaint. The complainant cited reports of campus pro-Palestinian protesters chanting “Intifada” and “Brick by brick, wall by wall, apartheid has got to fall” a few weeks after October 7.

A Princeton spokesperson told the student newspaper that it is “confident we are in full compliance with the requirements of Title VI.”

Princeton will now join six other Ivy League schools in having at least one Title VI investigation opened since the October 7 Hamas attacks. They include Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, whose presidents resigned following criticism of their handling of tensions around the war and a December congressional hearing at which they both testified. An investigation can compel a university to make changes to protect its Jewish students.

The complaint that yielded the investigation into Princeton was filed by Zachary Marschall, editor of the conservative website Campus Reform, who is not a member of the university.

Some of Princeton’s Jewish leaders also criticized the investigation, saying that they were not consulted by Marschall. They dispute his characterization of the school as a hotbed of antisemitism.