(The Center Square) — New York colleges and universities will be required to install third-party monitors to investigate allegations of antisemitism, bigotry and racial bias on campus, under a bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The new law will require Title VI anti-discrimination “coordinators” on every campus. The monitors will work with students, faculty, and staff to confront discrimination, according to the Hochul administration.
“No one should fear for their safety while trying to get an education,” Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement. “It’s my top priority to ensure every New York student feels safe at school, and I will continue to take action against campus discrimination and use every tool at my disposal to eliminate hate and bias from our school communities.”
She said that under the new law, the New York State Division of Human Rights will develop training to ensure colleges and universities have the tools they need to uphold the protections of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.
The measure is similar to a bipartisan proposal filed in Congress by Reps. Ritchie Torres, D-NY., and Mike Lawler, R-NY, in response to demonstrations last year by thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters who disrupted college campuses in New York City and across the country in response to Israel’s war against Hamas.
The College Oversight and Legal Updates Mandating Bias Investigations and Accountability, or COLUMBIA Act, was named after the Ivy League school that was roiled last year by anti-Israel demonstrations. It would give the U.S. Department of Education authority to appoint a third-party to monitor antisemitism on campuses that receive federal funding.
The Trump administration launched an investigation of Columbia and other elite schools in February and froze $400 million in federal grants over the university’s “failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.”
Columbia agreed to make reforms to prevent the federal government from withdrawing funds. The school says it overhauled its policies around demonstrations and campus security and reorganized its Middle Eastern Studies department. The school also adopted a new campus-wide definition of antisemitism.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights also seeks to strip Columbia University of its accreditation, saying the Ivy League school violates federal civil rights laws for failing to control antisemitism on campus.
Antisemitic incidents of assault and harassment more than doubled last year to a record high as anti-Jewish sentiment spiked after the start of the war, according to a recent Anti-Defamation League report.
“Too often, students on campuses feel the need to hide parts of their identity to avoid intimidation and harassment,” Scott Richman, the Anti-Defamation League’s regional director for New York and New Jersey, said in a statement. “This legislation offers a crucial solution to ensure that colleges and universities are properly resourced to address and combat discrimination and hate on campus.”
