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Reed College announced on Wednesday it will broaden its discrimination protections, particularly around antisemitism, settling two complaints its former students filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s civil rights division.
The former students, both Jewish, filed complaints with the federal office in summer and fall of 2024, detailing their experiences with antisemitic harassment on campus. The first of those incidents, in which a student was allegedly struck in the head by a rock thrown through her dorm room window, was first reported by WW.
In the wake of their complaints, the college entered into a voluntary mediation and ultimate agreement with both parties.
Some provisions of the three-year agreement include instituting an annual Title VI training for students, faculty and staff that will focus on antisemitism and Islamophobia, the appointment of a Title VI coordinator to oversee related complaints and harassment on campus, and the engagement of an independent consultant to help Reed evaluate its response to antisemitic complaints. (Reed will consult with the Anti-Defamation League and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to hire such a consultant. The two groups are behind the two complaints that were filed.)
The college will also consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism when it evaluates discrimination complaints. While the agreement does not prohibit all criticism of Israel or Zionism, targeting Jewish people or Israelis for adverse treatment based on their identity as part of a Zionist nation-state constitutes national origin discrimination and violates Reed’s discrimination policy. (That’s provided other required elements of discrimination or harassment are met.)
In a Wednesday letter to the Reed community, college president Audrey Bilger and college board of trustees chair Deborah Kamali, emphasized Reed’s intent to balance free expression with fostering a discrimination-free environment.
“Our academic culture is grounded in intellectual rigor, freedom of inquiry, and a commitment to engaging difficult questions with seriousness and care,” the two wrote. “We value disagreement, debate, and protest as essential components of education—while also holding ourselves accountable for ensuring that all members of our community are able to learn, teach, and work in an environment free from unlawful discrimination and harassment.”
The ADL and the Brandeis Center termed the settlement “historic,” noting Reed would be adopting “one of the most comprehensive sets of campus antisemitism reforms in the country.”
The settlement addresses both students who filed complaints, labeling them as Student A and B. The complaint filed on behalf of Student A said the college had failed to intervene when the student faced antisemitic harassment after Oct. 7, 2023. In spring of that year, harassment heightened when students tried to break into her dormitory and shattered Student A’s mezuzah, which contained a parchment scroll that had verses of the Torah inscribed on it. Student A’s complaint also details a middle-of-the-night “rock attack,” where she was struck in the face after demonstrators threw rocks through her open dormitory window.
Student A ultimately transferred to another university to escape the harassment she experienced at Reed.
A second complaint filed by Student B alleges he also experienced antisemitic harassment. Part of the settlement allows the student to continue their graduate studies at Reed no later than fall 2029.
“This settlement is what accountability looks like, and it shouldn’t be the exception, it should be the standard every school holds itself to before, not after, a student gets hurt,” Kenneth L. Marcus, CEO of the Brandeis Center, said in a statement. “Reed College is now bound to real reforms that show what it looks like for a college to forcefully combat antisemitism. In particular, it is crucial that Reed’s policies now acknowledge that anti-Zionist harassment is a violation of civil rights.”
Reed’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine did not immediately respond to WW’s request for comment.
