Emory University has entered an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education to ensure its compliance with federal civil rights policies, putting an end to the investigation launched by the department after an April 5 complaint alleged anti-Muslim discrimination.
The investigation criticized how Emory handled reports of discriminatory harassment and also questioned police use of force during a pro-Palestinian protest on campus that occurred weeks after the complaint was filed and resulted in nearly two dozen arrests.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights announced the agreement Thursday.
While Emory requested to resolve the matter before the office determined whether the allegations violated Title VI, which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex and gender identity, it was not before the investigation found, “concerns regarding the university’s response to campus protest activity,” according to a press release.
As part of the agreement, Emory must fulfill a list of terms, including revising its nondiscrimination and protest policies and assess its response to recent campus protests.
“OCR’s monitoring of the terms of the Resolution Agreement will ensure the University does not engage in unlawful different treatment in violation of Title VI,” reads the office’s letter to Emory President Gregory Fenves.
In a statement, university spokeswoman Laura Diamond said the Office of Civil Rights ended its investigation, “with no finding of wrongdoing.”
“In concluding this process Emory voluntarily signed a resolution agreement outlining steps that the university agreed to take to clarify and improve its policies addressing discrimination,” Diamond wrote.
The resolution requires Emory to assess its response to campus protests over the last two academic years. That would include an April 25 protest last year where the university requested the Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia State Patrol disband a pro-Palestinian encampment. Police used pepper balls, chemical irritants and at least one Taser in an episode that outraged some students, faculty and community members. Police arrested 23 people that day.
After reviewing video footage of the arrests, the civil rights office wrote that it “is concerned that the gratuitous violence of the law enforcement activity…may have created a hostile environment within the campus community for Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim University members.”
Based on its video review, investigators said it appeared the protesters were engaging in nonviolent conduct before the police took action.
“One video clip shows law enforcement officers repeatedly using a taser on a Black man while he was restrained by multiple law enforcement officers with his hands zip-tied and showing no signs of resistance,” reads the letter. “Other video clips show students being thrown to the ground and restrained by multiple officers at the same time.”
Some faculty groups later passed no-confidence votes against Fenves for the university’s handling of the protests. DeKalb County prosecutors dropped the charges against some of those who were arrested and allowed other defendants to have their criminal record cleared after completing community service or classes designed to prevent further offending.
The federal complaint was filed by the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Palestine Legal on behalf of Emory Students for Justice in Palestine. They said students had been followed on campus and filmed; called terrorists or fake Muslims; and been individually targeted and doxed on social media. The students said they filed more than a dozen complaints with the university since October 2023, when protests began at Emory in response to the war in Gaza.
The university’s response to the protest helped land it on the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ list of “Hostile Campuses.” Emory, along with the University of Georgia, are among the list of 14 schools nationally.
The advocacy group’s website accuses Emory of authorizing police violence against student protesters and enabling an environment, “where their own students and community members were free to discriminate against Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab students with impunity.”
Emory insisted it does not discriminate against any students.
“Emory does not tolerate any action that discriminates against groups or individuals because of their race, color, national origin, or any other protected class,” said Diamond in her statement. “This agreement with OCR solidifies important steps, many of which were already underway, to advance the support we provide to our students, faculty, and staff.”
While the investigation is over, by the time the university entered the agreement, the investigation had already, “identified concerns based on its initial review of the complaint materials.”
“At a minimum [Emory] appears to have failed to respond promptly or effectively to a hostile environment based on race and national origin, including shared Palestinian, Muslim, and/or Arab ancestry,” reads the letter to Fenves.
Additionally, the office found that Emory’s procedures regarding reports of discriminatory harassment, “may impede its ability to provide a prompt and effective response.” More specifically, the university’s harassment policy, undergraduate code of conduct and bias incident reporting system “lack clear guidance” that may confuse students about where to file complaints and possibly result in reports not being referred to the appropriate office for investigation.
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