The Department of Education has opened a Title VI antisemitism investigation into Yale University, the school’s student newspaper reported on Friday. The investigation relates to a November 6 incident on campus when Jewish students were barred from a lecture series featuring a series of anti-Israel speakers. 

As the Jewish students tried to listen through the door, they were “rushed” by a far-left professor, Lisa Lowe, who allegedly “forcibly grabbed” a student phone.  One of the Jewish students filed a police report accusing Ms. Lowe of assault, although the professor was investigated and not charged.

The complaint that led to the DOE investigation was filed by the Defense of Freedom Institute, a conservative civil liberties organization. It alleges that several Jewish students were “denied entry to the event, despite attendees leaving the lecture before its conclusion. Some of the Jewish students who were denied access to the event were handing out flyers to provide historical context surrounding the Israel-Hamas war just prior to the commencement of the panel, while others who were excluded were wearing Jewish paraphernalia.”

The event, they state, breaches the Title VI discrimination clauses on “(i) shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics; and (ii) citizenship or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity1 in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.” 

The DFI adds in their complaint that, “The incident at Yale University reflects a worrisome trend: Antisemitic discrimination at colleges and universities has risen over the past decade.”

Neither Yale’s Office of Public Affairs nor one of the Jewish students subject to the alleged discrimination immediately responded to the Sun’s emails requesting comment. 

In a statement to the Yale Daily News, a university spokeswoman confirmed that the school had received a letter from the Department of Education regarding the event in response to the complaints. 

“We take student concerns seriously.  We carefully evaluate each complaint under our policies and the law, and determine whether or not allegations are supported by the facts” the spokeswoman wrote. 

The spokeswoman added that, “In recent months, Yale’s leaders, faculty, and staff have worked diligently to support our students; to apply our policies in a manner that is fair, compassionate and supports the educational environment; and to treat each student with the care and respect we would expect for ourselves.”

The event in question was billed to Yale students as an opportunity for dialogue between students of all backgrounds regarding events in Israel and Gaza. However, the speakers were all strongly anti-Israel. One professor on the panel, Erica Edwards, the author of “The Other Side of Terror: Black Women and the Culture of U.S. Empire,” responded to the October 7 attack on X, formerly Twitter, by reposting a statement by a “black feminist organization” which read “We @citeblackwomen stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people as they fight against the Israeli occupation ad the ongoing attacks by the IDF in Gaza and the West bank. We support their resistance efforts as they struggle against genocide and apartheid.”

The two other professors on the panel, Barnard College professor of anthropology, Nadia Abu el-Haj, and Tufts University Professor of Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora, Amahl Bishara, share similar hostility to Israel on their public social media pages. So did Ms. Lowe, Samuel Knight Professor of American Studies and Professor of Ethnicity Race and Migration, who was acting as the event moderator. She is the professor reported to the police for assault after she “rushed up” to student Netanel Crispe and “forcibly grabbed” his phone as he tried to film the event. Mr. Crispe shared a video of the incident with the Sun. 

A statement by Yale shortly after the event took place noted that “There was strong interest in the panel held on Nov. 6, and the room reached capacity before it began.”

In an opinion piece written in the Wall Street Journal after the incident, Mr. Crispe wrote that he was refused entry to the event and resorted to “sitting outside and pressing our ears against the door to listen.” He was told by organizers that he could not enter because he did not register for the event. However, he claims, the organizers “waved others through who also weren’t on the list.”

He also added that the heads of Yale’s residential colleges — grandiose dormitories — were advised not to advertise Shabbat dinner invitations because the events were too “controversial.”  However, there seemed to be no qualms about the “Gaza Under Siege event.” The head of Jonathan Edwards College, one of the residential colleges, promoted the event in a weekly email, Mr. Crispe stated. 

From outside the door, Mr. Crispe recalled, he could hear speakers justifying the October 7 attacks as necessary resistance to a colonial occupier.

“They called the terrorist group ‘militant,’ and one observed that ‘violent resistance movements often emerge in colonized spaces,’” Mr. Crispe said, adding that another speaker stated, “No matter what the solution is — a two-state solution or a one-state solution — the Israeli state cannot remain the state of the Jewish people.”