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CASE STUDY
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Complaint
In October 2020 , several Jewish students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign filed a complaint with the Department of Education ’ s Office for Civil Rights alleging that the university had permitted a discriminatory , hostile environment for Jewish students . The complaint pointed to a series of antisemitic incidents over the course of several years , including : a car with a swastika parked near the campus Hillel , the vandalism of a menorah at the campus Chabad , a sign in the center of campus declaring the Holocaust to be a hoax , rocks thrown through the window of a Jewish fraternity , and apparent student government discrimination against students involved in pro-Israel activities . The complaint alleged that , collectively , these incidents amounted to a severe and pervasive discriminatory environment . The complaint also alleged that the university administration failed to respond meaningfully to these incidents .
Several weeks after the complaint was filed , the Department of Education announced it would investigate the complaint . In response , the university issued a joint statement with several Jewish organizations deploring acts of antisemitism and committing to investing resources and expanding efforts to combat antisemitism .