The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, designates Pomona College, the University of Michigan (U-Mich), and the University of Georgia (UGA) as “institutions of particular concern” due to the reported hostile environment on campus and the threat to the safety of Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students, staff, and faculty who stand against occupation, apartheid, and genocide.
Pomona College in Claremont, California
According to Pomona College’s Speech Code, “Pomona College believes that free speech is critical to Pomona College’s mission as an educational institution, and therefore, the norm is that speech and other forms of expression are protected.” However, recent events on campus paint a starkly different picture, particularly for Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students advocating for human rights while protesting the ongoing genocide in Gaza. These students have faced both institutional resistance and seemingly violent suppression, raising serious concerns about Pomona College’s commitment to fostering free speech and protecting its students. The university also faces an investigation by the Department of Education over whether it has met its Title VI obligations to respond to alleged harassment of Palestinian, Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA), and Muslim students and whether it has itself violated Title VI by engaging in disparate treatment toward those students.
Marginalization of Anti-Genocide Students at Pomona College
Though Pomona College claims to value free speech, it is apparent that the free speech of students who overwhelmingly voted for divestment from companies involved in the genocide of Palestinians was neither protected nor heard. In February 2024, Pomona College’s student government released a referendum that saw a 59.2% turnout, with 78.29% in favor of ending academic support for Israel, 86.17% in favor of disclosing investments in companies supporting the Israeli apartheid system, and 81.67% in favor of divesting from those companies. Additionally, 90.79% voted for disclosing investments in weapons manufacturers, and 85.16% voted for divesting from them. Nonetheless, in an email to the student body, Pomona College President Gabrielle Starr reportedly expressed public opposition to the referendum. Starr wrote that while there are “many ways to help heal a broken world,” the referendum was “not one of them” and moreover claimed that the referendum, which was critical solely of the Israeli state’s policies, “raises the specter of antisemitism.” This reaction demonstrates how Pomona College administrators have sought to restrict even university-approved means for which many students have articulated their support for Palestinian human rights.
Escalation of Police Force Against Student Protesters
In addition to blatantly disregarding the calls of its elected student leadership, Pomona College administration has also opted to violently crackdown on student protesters. In April 2024, Pomona College’s President Starr reportedly deployed “25 vehicles’ worth of riot police to a Palestine solidarity demonstration,” where 20 students from the Claremont Colleges consortium were reportedly arrested. The students reportedly entered a campus building, as well as President Starr’s office, for a non-violent protest after the college removed the ‘apartheid wall’ that students had constructed in protest of Israeli state policies of apartheid and occupation. According to faculty at the Claremont Consortium, “civil disobedience and peaceful protests by students were met with tactical gear and assault rifles.” Police were reportedly seen “physically pushing student reporters out of the room and closing window blinds to prevent them from documenting the situation.” Multiple students report leaving the site with injuries: “My hands are like scarring over from the zip ties [from] bleeding,” Sinqi Chapman, one Pomona College student, said, “and I still have the knife marks on . . .the palm of my hand,” describing when police used knives to cut the zip ties at the station. One student detailed being “grabbed, kicked and having their head hit against the police van in the course of their arrest.” An attorney for the students claimed that he was not permitted to see his clients and that his clients and a police officer told him that they were not read their Miranda rights. In August, the college refused to call for criminal charges against their own students to be dropped. Prosecutors, however, agreed to drop the charges if the arrested students avoid criminal charges for six months and complete community service hours.
Institutional Bias and Intimidation Tactics
Shortly following the arrests, Palestine Legal assisted students in filing a complaint with the Department of Education over an environment of anti-Palestinian racism. In addition to its violent crackdown on protesters, Pomona College stands accused of threatening to unmask students allegedly following the request of an Israel advocacy group to identify protesters and failing to respond to a Hillel affiliate who reportedly “pressured students to dox student activists.” In August 2024, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into whether Pomona College has met its Title VI obligations to respond to alleged harassment of Palestinian, SWANA, and Muslim students and whether Pomona College violated Title VI by engaging in disparate treatment toward those students.
Silencing of Free Speech and Student Activism
In the fall of 2024, Pomona College reaffirmed its hostile culture by silencing free speech and activism with new policies that introduced a sweep of restrictions on access, hiring of new “campus safety” personnel, and new restrictions on speech and protest, including bans on encampments, which have been largely peaceful student-led sit-ins to call for Palestinian human rights. However, Pomona College administrators have opted to designate encampments as a violation of college policy, and anyone who does not comply with these restrictions may be subject to “internal disciplinary process and citation, detention and arrest by law enforcement.” Such tactics appear to be yet another attempt at silencing student activists who have sought to protest the ongoing genocide in Gaza. While Pomona College claims to be “a globally recognized institution in Southern California—a region at the forefront of diversity, openness, and innovation,” this reported environment of fear and repression contradicts such statements. Pomona College is instead reportedly creating a campus culture where Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students who oppose occupation, apartheid, and genocide are forced to choose between their personal safety and their activism.
University of Michigan (U-Mich)
The University of Michigan (U-Mich) claims that, “Expression of diverse points of view is of the highest importance, not only for those who espouse a cause or position and then defend it, but also for those who hear and pass judgment on that defense.” However, U-Mich has reportedly failed in their duty to protect its Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students who oppose the genocide in Gaza from hostile prejudice and bigotry. U-Mich administration refused to promote discourse and political dialogue when these students protested the universities’ investments in Israeli companies funding the genocide. Instead, university administrators have weaponized university policy and disciplinary procedure to deflect students’ peaceful acts of civil disobedience and have used law enforcement to punish student protesters, creating an utterly hostile environment for academic free speech and open inquiry.
Creation of a Racially Hostile Environment
Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students have been subjected to an utterly hostile campus, one seemingly perpetuated by the highest levels of university leadership. In October 2024, the Michigan chapter of CAIR filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) against U-Mich, due to credible concerns that the university is actively ignoring its obligations under Title VI. The complaint cites a seemingly leaked audio by a student coalition in which U-Mich President Santa Ono apparently said: “The government could call me tomorrow and say in a very unbalanced way, ‘The university is not doing enough to combat antisemitism.’ And I could say, ‘It’s not doing enough to combat Islamophobia,’ and that’s not what they want to hear. So, the whole situation is not balanced.”
The reported audio recording confirmed what had long been suspected: that there was a reported push to ignore the experiences of Muslims and Arabs on campus. For instance, the university allegedly refuses to remove hateful and derogatory anti-Palestinian posters that have been glued around campus in areas generally not permitted to hang public postings. One professor reportedly had been covering posters related to Palestine, another hijab wearing student was reportedly harassed and followed, and students who were calling for a ceasefire in Palestine were threatened. One U-Mich board member, Carin Ehrenberg, was recorded verbally harassing Muslim and Arab students and to one student, she asked, “Are you going to send one of your terrorists after us?” During the interaction, Ehrenberg is also seen attempting to confiscate the student’s phone and yelling “rapists and murderers” to students protesting nearby. A letter signed by over 100 faculty, staff members, and students and sent to Interim Dean Elizabeth Yakel called for the dismissal of Ehrenberg from the Advisory Board and the removal of her name from scholarships. Dean Yakel reportedly did not take any retaliatory actions against Ehrenberg.
The audio, if true, appears to strongly suggest that incidents of Islamophobia such as these are being actively ignored by U-Mich, which reportedly makes the university in violation not only of obligations under law but also of obligations under the Resolution Agreement that the university signed with the DOE earlier this year. Leading up to that resolution, the OCR reviewed 75 instances of alleged discrimination and harassment at U-Mich based on shared Jewish ancestry and shared Palestinian or Muslim ancestry and found “no evidence that the university complied with its Title VI requirements.” At the time, the university agreed that it would take measures to ensure that reported incidents of discrimination were reviewed and investigated. The recently leaked recording strongly suggests that the university is failing to take its obligations to protect all students from racial and ethnic discrimination seriously.
Arbitrary University Policy to Suppress Student Voices
In response to anti-genocide protests, the university has seemingly sought to silence all forms of student activism. Following a March 2024 protest in which students opposed the university’s investment in companies profiting from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, an email sent to the campus community contained a draft of the Disruptive Activity Policy, a new policy that would reportedly “sanction students for any policy deemed disruptive to university operations or facilities.” U-Mich faculty, students, and staff objected to the policy. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan commented that the proposed policy would impair civil liberties on campus.
During a July 18, 2024, meeting, the U-Mich Board of Regents and President Santa Ono made significant changes to the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities, bypassing traditional procedures for input from the campus community. These amendments were approved without discussion and centralized power within the administration, allowing the university to initiate complaints and disciplinary actions without student or external oversight. The changes also accelerated timelines for students to respond to accusations and drastically limited the appeals process by seemingly centering critical decision-making and placing control in the hands of a single administrator. Reportedly, student appeals to complaints are now reviewed exclusively by Martino Harmon, Vice President for Student Life, and not by an appeals board originally composed of a U-M student, faculty member, and administrative staff member. These seemingly deliberate policies outwardly diminish student civil rights, limit due process, and threaten student autonomy, creating a hostile environment of censorship and fear for all students.
Intimidation through Police Brutality
Beyond disciplinary procedures, U-Mich has also resorted to apparent intimidation through police violence and brutality. In May 2024, U-Mich administration authorized police brutality against anti-genocide voices who were peacefully protesting via a Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Students reported that officers used pepper spray and tear gas against protesters inside the encampment as well as made several arrests at the scene. One student protester recounted, “the police forcefully dragged me by the arm, threw me to the ground, kneed me in the lungs and handcuffed me.” She also said: “They slammed my forehead and chin forcefully against the ground, which caused a long-lasting and extremely debilitating concussion as well as injuries to my neck and jaw.” Despite the peaceful nature of student protests, the university reportedly pushed Michigan Attorney General, Dana Nessel, to charge student protesters. Sources with knowledge of the decision reportedly told The Guardian that U-Mich’s Board of Regents asked AG Nessel to take cases against student protesters, after they were “frustrated by local prosecutors’ unwillingness to crack down” on anti-genocide students.
On October 7, 2024, students held a walk-out protest at the Rackham building to demand that the U-Mich Board of Regents divest from companies profiting from Israel’s genocide of Gaza. During the protest, U-Mich officers arrested an individual who stated, “a single policeman just ran up to me and just snatched me and a bunch of other policemen followed suit. (During) this entire process, I felt I was targeted … they did not arrest anyone else doing the exact same thing.” Police officers evidently pushed aside, blocked off, and pepper sprayed U-Mich community members who did not move out of the vehicle’s path. “I want the people of this university to know that because the police arbitrarily use violence against us and they surveil us so extensively, this means that no student is safe,” the arrested student said.
University of Georgia (UGA)
According to the UGA’s Civil Rights and Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment statement, “The University prohibits harassment of or discrimination against any person because of race, color, sex (including sexual harassment and pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity or national origin, religion, age, genetic information, disability, or veteran status by any member of the University Community. . .on campus, in connection with a University program or activity, or in a manner that creates a hostile environment for any member of the University Community.” However, this policy appears that it does not extend to Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, or those who are perceived to be Muslim or Arab who have reported differential treatment by UGA administrators. UGA President Jere W. Morehead issued a statement supporting the Jewish community after the October 7th attacks on Israel but refused to acknowledge subsequent Palestinian lives lost and the impact on his Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students, making them feel marginalized. UGA administrators instead turned their attention to targeting anti-genocide student protesters. Principles of academic freedom were disregarded when, on April 29, anti-genocide protesters established a peaceful encampment and were brutally arrested after UGA administrators called police mere hours later.
Creation of Hostile Campus Environment
UGA has reportedly created a pervasively hostile campus for Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students. In September 2024, the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia) and UGA’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) filed a complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 against UGA, demanding an immediate investigation into UGA’s reportedly differential treatment of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students, students perceived to be Palestinian, and students associated with or advocating for Palestinians. “UGA reinforced the hostile anti-Palestinian environment, including by having students arrested and suspending SJP —a student organization that advocates for Palestinian human rights—for engaging in speech activity supporting Palestinian rights.” The complaint also details University President Jere Morehead and UGA administrators ignoring meeting requests from SJP students, as well as ignoring SJP students’ concerns when they complained of alleged threats to their physical safety.
Instead of supporting Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students, UGA administrators have reportedly vilified them. In an October 12 statement, President Morehead said that there were some in the community “choosing to leverage the events of recent days for purposes of advocacy” and later that the First Amendment “protects the right of individuals to express ideas that are offensive and even hateful,” seemingly suggesting that students who organized campus demonstrations calling for Palestinian rights were politically opportunistic and hateful. UGA allegedly exaggerated risks to the student body during student peaceful protests and engaged in “McCarthyist witch hunts” by targeting student organizations and individual students perceived to be associating with Palestinians. Students and student leaders who claimed that they were not present at the April 29th demonstration that resulted in violent arrests of anti-genocide protesters reportedly received notice that they were under investigation for violations of UGA’s Code of Conduct.
Police Brutality Against Student Protesters
On the morning of April 29, 2024, while students were peacefully setting up a breakfast table for student protestors, UGA authorized police to raid an anti-genocide encampment on the front lawn of the North Campus of UGA. Hours after it was established, UGA administrators reportedly arrived and instructed demonstrators that they were “required to move the demonstration to a designated ‘free speech zone.’” However, CAIR-Georgia attorneys note that the Georgia General Assembly outlawed ‘free speech zones’ in 2022. The CAIR-Georgia attorneys asserted that UGA was reportedly “in violation of state law,” namely the Georgia FORUM Act, when the administrators told protesters to move their demonstration by giving this instruction.
Despite this, UGA administrators called the police on their students anyway. Sixteen individuals were arrested, including nine UGA students. Police can be seen in videos grabbing a Black individual by the hood of his jacket, thereby putting pressure on his neck, tackling demonstrators, and using the force of three to four officers to pin demonstrators to the ground, all while other arrestees are heard screaming in pain and fear. Out of the first five individuals arrested, four of them were Black women, including one who was a Black Muslim woman wearing a hijab that was torn off during her arrest.
When the students were reportedly released and their belongings were returned to them, they were surprised that they had received emails from the university informing them that they were under threat of being placed under interim suspension unless they responded to the email within minutes. UGA reportedly “locked them out of their on-campus housing, terminated their on-campus employment, instructed their professors to call 911 on them should they be seen on campus, and prohibited the students from taking exams or submitting papers online.” Over 180 UGA faculty petitioned for an immediate un-suspension of the nine arrested students stating that it was “unwarranted and antithetical to our educational mission.”
Penalization and Emotional Trauma of Targeted Students
The penalization of targeted anti-genocide students was presumably the most egregious act by UGA. Following the arrests, UGA reportedly sent each arrested student a letter claiming that students “engaged in conduct that endangered the health and safety of others including but not limited to resisting arrest by making physical contact with officers and/or linking arms with others to avoid detainment.” Yet, as stated in the complaint, “it strains credulity to claim that ‘linking arms… to avoid detainment’ constitutes a serious and immediate danger in violation of the Code of Conduct.” In August 2024, the UGA’s University Judiciary found six of the April 29 anti-genocide demonstrators in violation of five Code of Conduct regulations summarized as (1) Disrupting university activities, except for protected speech, (2) violating university policies, (3) failing to comply with university officials or law enforcement, (4) disruptive campus demonstrations infringing on others’ rights, and (5) collaborating to violate university regulations. The students will be on academic probation for the remainder of their time at UGA and are not permitted to be on campus, including in classrooms, residence halls, or administrative buildings, until Jan. 1, 2025. Two UGA faculty members, Cindy Hahamovitch and Scott Nelson, expressed their criticism of the sanctions, “As former members of the anti-apartheid movement at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1980s, we were surprised by the rapid arrests in the spring semester and verdicts from early August.”
As a result of discriminatory actions by UGA, the targeted students experienced multiple forms of emotional and academic hardship. These included but were not limited to them enduring intense scrutiny, emotional trauma from their arrest, repeated safety concerns raised to university administrators being consistently dismissed, graduation postponed by a year, opportunities and job offers missed, public shaming and online harassment, eviction from campus housing without notice, and loss of scholarships. These events culminated in significant emotional distress, delayed academic and professional progress, and increased harassment.
