Yesterday, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, launched an investigation into Lincoln Memorial University to determine whether the university is engaged in discrimination against its Jewish students. Among other concerns, the investigation will determine whether the university’s DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine is intentionally preventing Jewish students from completing their exams during the Spring semester.
“This Department of Justice is fiercely committed to shutting down the concerning outbreak of antisemitism that has been spreading on college campuses since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “When colleges and universities single Jewish students out for adverse treatment, they are in clear violation of our civil rights laws and of this nation’s promise of equal opportunity for all Americans.”
“All students should be free to learn and train in environments free from discrimination,” said Paula M. Stannard, Director of the Department of Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR). “Antisemitism has no place in our nation’s educational or medical training institutions, and OCR will work to ensure that federal civil rights laws are fully enforced.”
This investigation will be conducted pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Lincoln Memorial University receives substantial federal financial assistance and is therefore subject to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557. Title VI and Section 1557 prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Antisemitism can be a form of discrimination on the basis of race or national origin, according to federal precedent. Lincoln Memorial University is based in Harrogate, Tennessee, and its DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine has campuses in Knoxville, Harrogate, and Orange Park, Tennessee.
Neither the Civil Rights Division nor the Office for Civil Rights has reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigations.