Feds conducting civil rights investigation of SUNY New Paltz

A spokesperson at the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has confirmed to the Business Journals that the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is conducting an investigation into alleged civil rights violations on the campus of the State University of New York at New Paltz. The spokesperson added that the department does not comment on ongoing investigations. A list of currently open investigations reveals that the one looking into allegations at SUNY New Paltz is but one of dozens of investigations currently in progress around the country.

A spokesperson for SUNY told the Business Journals, “We unequivocally condemn any attacks on SUNY students who are Jewish, and we will not tolerate anti-Semitic harassment and intimidation on campus. We do not comment on pending investigations.”

The investigation apparently is a result of a complaint that had been filed on June 10, 2022, by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law based in Washington, D.C. The complaint was addressed to OCR Regional Director Rachael Pomerantz at its New York office and DOE Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon in Washington. It was signed by Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin and its Director of Legal Initiatives Denise Katz-Prober.

The complaint alleged that Jewish and Israeli students at SUNY New Paltz “have been vilified, marginalized, harassed, and excluded from the New Paltz Accountability (NPA) student group, which was formed to support survivors of sexual assault. NPA provides valuable educational programs and activities for these survivors and their allies on campus.”

The complaint said that the exclusion of Jewish and Israeli students from NPA on the basis of their ethnic and national origin identities left survivors of sexual assault without a place at SUNY New Paltz to receive the programs and services while openly expressing their Jewish identify. The complaint said that the university had failed to provide the same services to all survivors of sexual assault and that constitutes a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The complaint was filed on behalf of two students at SUNY New Paltz, both of whom were victims of sexual assault. They were identified as Cassandra Blotner, who is Jewish and Ofek Preis, who is Jewish and Israeli.

“Both were excluded from NPA and publicly vilified by its leadership, then were subjected  to further sustained harassment, including threats and intimidation on social media,” the complaint alleged.

The complaint contained additional allegations about SUNY New Paltz.

“Although the university knew about and publicly acknowledged the exclusion and harassment, it failed to intervene, either to discipline NPA or the organization’s leaders or to ensure opportunities for all victims of sexual assault on campus,” the complaint said. “It also failed to address the complainants’ safety concems arising from the harassment; as a result, both students were unable to attend classes and Ms. Blotner was afraid to spend  time on campus.”

The complaint said that Blotner and Preis were founders of NPA and had been activists in calling for better treatment of sexual assault victims. The complaint alleges that they were eventually forced out of NPA leadership and criticized for holding Zionist views.

According to the complaint, the SUNY New Paltz president at the time, Donald Christian put out a statement on Feb. 17, 2022, acknowledging that what the NPA had done was exclusionary, discriminatory and motivated by anti-Semitism but claimed the university could not respond because NPA was not a “recognized student organization.”