New Report: Civil Rights Law Weaponized to Chill Speech

A new report published today by the AAUP and the Middle East Studies Association finds that the weaponization of civil rights law has been central to attacks on campus speech over the past two years.

The report, "Discriminating Against Dissent: The Weaponization of Civil Rights Law to Repress Campus Speech on Palestine," is the first systematic empirical study of government investigations and private lawsuits against US colleges and universities under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The findings in the report underscore how the Civil Rights Act of 1964-which passed in response to years of nonviolent civil disobedience against racial injustice-is being cynically used to squash political dissent and speech that advocates for the human rights of Palestinians. At the same time, the Trump administration appears to have completely halted investigations based on complaints of racial harassment.

While reprehensible acts of antisemitism have occurred on campuses over the last two years, "Discriminating Against Dissent" shows that most government investigations of antisemitism are prompted by complaints received from outside of university and college campuses, including from people and organizations who have no relationship with the schools under investigation. Of the 102 complaints filed with the Office of Civil Rights that the report analyzes, all but one focus on speech critical of Israel. Eighty percent describe speech critical of Israel or Zionism--with no reference to Jews or Judaism--as antisemitism, and 50 percent consist solely of such criticism.

The report documents the surge in investigations since October 7, 2023, with more opened in the last two months of 2023 (25) than in all previous years combined (24). Investigations broke record numbers in 2024 (39) and are on track to do so again in 2025 (with 38 as of September 30).

The explosion in antisemitism investigations has been largely driven by a handful of pro-Israel and right-wing organizations; such groups were involved in 78 percent of complaints leading to investigations.

Federal antisemitism investigations in the final year of the Biden administration pressured over twenty schools to accept deals in which they agreed to sweeping policy changes such as handing over extensive data on internal antisemitism complaints-including the names of accusers and accused.

The report also analyzes the twenty-eight Title VI antisemitism lawsuits filed to date by pro-Israel groups against universities in federal courts. Although no case has yet resulted in a final judgment for plaintiffs, some have resulted in settlements implementing even more draconian policy changes than government investigations.

Finally, the report analyzes the work of the Trump administration's multi-agency Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, including its pretextual use of antisemitism allegations to cut federal funding to universities and the coercive agreements it has extracted from Columbia and Brown Universities. It highlights the first appellate decision in a Title VI case alleging anti-Israel discrimination in which the First Circuit rejected attempts "to stifle anti-Zionist speech by labeling it inherently antisemitic."

Access the full report here.