The US Education Department is probing Williams College located in Massachusetts for rejecting to offer official status to a pro-Israel group.
The federal agency’s Office for Civil Rights in Boston is investigating a complaint which has alleged that the student government of the school breached the VI of the Civil Rights Act, as per a report by College Fix. The Title VI forbids discrimination in terms of national origin, color or race, including ethnic characteristics or shared ancestry.
David Bernstein, a law professor from the George Mason University, who had lodged the complaint, received a notification of Friday about the opening of the probe.
As per the complaint, previously this year, the Jewish students at the college decided to have a new Williams Initiative meant for Israel. On 23 April, the College Council passed 13-8 votes, with 1 abstention, against the initiative, notes the complaint.
The College Council earlier had recognized Students for Justice in Palestine which implies that it has no formal or informal policy against recognizing the student groups which take stand for foreign affairs or on incidents related to Israel-Palestinian dispute or Israel.
Notably, this is the first-time in almost 10 years that the College Council rejected any student group which compiled with the council by-laws.
