在考虑了一名前学生的主张的优点后，联邦民权办公室发起了一项调查，以确定纽约大学是否允许校园成为犹太学生的敌对环境。
代表学生的律师尼尔·舍尔告诉记者:“大学现在知道官方政府中有人在小心翼翼地监视他们。”新闻周刊。“他们会知道，当学生们在校园里抱怨时，光学字符识别系统会认真对待他们，这是他们一直在做的事情。”
阿德拉·科贾布是NYU大学的一名大四学生，她于4月向光学字符识别委员会提出投诉，此前该大学曾于当月授予巴勒斯坦正义学生总统服务奖。周三，光学字符识别系统通知她，它将进行调查，以确定SJP的行为是否造成了敌对环境，以及学校是否做出了适当的回应。
随着全国反犹太仇恨犯罪的上升，一些人说大学校园里反以色列情绪也在上升。
如果在调查结束后，光学字符识别系统确定NYU违反了民权法律，它将有机会根据决议协议进行修改。如果大学不能就如何解决这个问题达成一致或者不遵守，光学字符识别委员会可以扣留联邦财政援助。
“我希望这不仅能给NYU带来积极的变化，也能为其他大学树立榜样。学生应该在校园里安全，他们不应该四处走动，担心他们的身份和身份表达会成为身体暴力或骚扰和歧视的理由，”科贾布说新闻周刊。
科贾布的转折点是大学授予SJP总统服务奖，该奖授予对NYU社区有“非凡和积极影响”的学生或学生组织。
“这完全不公平，这是他们应该负责的事情，”科贾布说。“它强化了消极行为。该奖项授予每个团体都应该努力成为的团体。”
2018年5月3日，耶路撒冷，以色列国旗。周三，民权办公室宣布，在一名前学生声称该大学为犹太学生营造了一个敌对的环境后，该办公室对NYU展开了调查。盖蒂/蒂姆·德韦勒
尽管这被称为总统服务奖，但在人们对这一决定表示愤慨后，NYU总统安德鲁·汉密尔顿声称是一个委员会选择了获奖者，而不是他。NYU发言人约翰·贝克曼告诉记者新闻周刊如果由汉密尔顿决定，他就不会选择SJP。他还说总统没有出席仪式。
科贾布说，适当的回应应该是撤销裁决，并发表公开声明称裁决有误。那么总统应该参加仪式来庆祝其他获胜学生的成就。
新闻周刊我联系了NYU和SJP，但没有及时收到发表的回复。
科贾布说，亲巴勒斯坦和亲以色列的学生在大一和大二时在校园里共存，但在过去两年里，她看到了这两个群体之间互动方式的转变。
2018年，SJP在华盛顿广场公园抗议一年一度的庆祝以色列独立日的锐舞，据称在此期间，一名学生焚烧了一面以色列国旗，另一名学生拿走了一名正在唱以色列国歌的学生的麦克风。两个学生都被捕了。
“我们不会让他们袖手旁观，支持犹太复国主义，”SJP总统哈立德·阿布·达瓦斯告诉记者华盛顿广场新闻，当时是NYU的独立学生报纸。“我们的目的是让犹太复国主义者在NYU校园里不舒服。他们不应该感到舒服，因为犹太复国主义的意识形态与其核心的巴勒斯坦解放和巴勒斯坦主权是对立的。”
虽然SJP成员认为他们的示威是政治抗议，但科贾布说，她认为这是对一群具有犹太文化身份的人的歧视。
2018年12月，NYU学生政府通过了一项决议，要求该大学从与以色列有业务往来的公司中撤资，包括波音、通用电气和洛克希德·马丁公司。支持这项决议的学生声称这是为了维护巴勒斯坦人的人权，但是那些反对者声称一项符合抵制、撤资和制裁运动的决议让他们在校园里感到不安全。
科贾布说，在开始调查之前，OCR就她的说法采访了她。他们的讨论主要集中在事件的时间表和她与大学的通信上，以确定管理员对情况的知识水平。
她告诉我新闻周刊她在不同场合向多名大学官员提出了自己的担忧，并在意识到外交无效后才决定提出索赔。
“我这样做不是因为我讨厌NYU。我哥哥去了NYU，这是我早期的决定。我爱NYU，他们应该为学生的安全做得更好，”科贾布说。
科贾布和谢尔没有即将到来的过程的确切时间表。光学字符识别系统指出，调查并不意味着该机构已经确定NYU做错了什么。
在解决投诉的过程中，Cojab希望大学能修改其关于社区程序和行为的政策。她说，关于学生行为的标准措辞含糊不清，因此难以实施。
“我确实认为他们有良好的意图，他们希望改变以改善学生的体验，”科贾布说。“我认为NYU一直是并将永远是我的第一，但我希望他们认真对待我们的关切。”
不管调查结果如何，也不管NYU面临什么样的后果，她称这种情况“非常严重”他说，如果他是一名大学管理人员，他会积极主动地发现和解决校园问题，这样他的学校就不会成为下一个被调查的对象。
CIVIL RIGHTS OFFICE INVESTIGATING NYU OVER CLAIM IT ALLOWED HOSTILE ATMOSPHERE FOR JEWISH STUDENTS
After considering the merits of a former student's claim, the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched an investigation to determine if New York University allowed the campus to become a hostile environment for Jewish students.
"Universities now know that there's somebody in the official government world looking over their shoulders carefully," Neal Scher, a lawyer representing the student, told Newsweek. "They'll know when students make complaints, which they do all the time, on campuses all over, that the OCR will take them seriously."
Adela Cojab was a senior at NYU when she filed a complaint with the OCR in April, after the university honored Students for Justice in Palestine with the President's Service Award that month. On Wednesday, the OCR informed Sher that it would conduct an investigation to determine if SJP's actions created a hostile environment and whether the school responded appropriately.
Amid a rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes across the nation, some say there is also an increasing anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses.
If, after the investigation concludes, the OCR determines NYU violated civil rights laws, it will have the opportunity to make changes in compliance with a resolution agreement. If the university is unable to come to an agreement on how to resolve the problem or doesn't comply, the OCR can withhold federal financial aid.
"I hope this causes not only positive change for NYU but is an example to other universities. Students deserve to be safe on their campus, and they shouldn't be walking around in fear that their identity and expression of identity will be grounds for physical violence or harassment and discrimination," Cojab told Newsweek.
The breaking point for Cojab was when the university honored SJP with the President's Service Award, which is given to students or student organizations that have an "extraordinary and positive impact" on NYU's community.
"It was entirely unfair, and it's something they should answer for," Cojab said. "It reinforces negative behavior. This award goes to groups that every group should strive to be."
The Israeli flag on May 3, 2018, in Jerusalem. On Wednesday, the Office for Civil Rights announced it had launched an investigation into NYU after a former student claimed the university fostered a hostile environment for Jewish students.GETTY/TIM DE WAELE
Although it's called the President's Service Award, after people expressed outrage over the decision, NYU President Andrew Hamilton claimed a committee chose the recipients, not him. NYU spokesman John Beckman told Newsweek that had it been up to Hamilton, he would not have selected SJP. He also said the president didn't attend the ceremony.
The appropriate response, Cojab said, would have been to rescind the award and make a public statement saying it was awarded in error. Then the president should have attended the ceremony to celebrate the accomplishments of the other students who won.
Newsweek reached out to NYU and SJP but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Cojab said pro-Palestine and pro-Israel students co-existed on campus during her freshman and sophomore years, but she saw a shift in how the groups interacted with each other during her last two years.
In 2018, SJP protested an annual rave in Washington Square Park to celebrate Israeli Independence Day, during which a student allegedly burned an Israeli flag and another took a microphone away from a student who was singing the Israeli national anthem. Both students were arrested.
"We're not going to let them stand by and support Zionism," SJP President Khalid Abu Dawas told Washington Square News, NYU's independent student newspaper, at the time. "Our point is to make being Zionists uncomfortable on the NYU campus. They shouldn't be comfortable, because the ideology of Zionism is antithetical to Palestinian liberation and Palestinian sovereignty at its core."
Whereas SJP members considered their demonstration a political protest, Cojab said she sees it as discrimination against a group of people who share the cultural identity of being Jewish.
In December 2018, NYU's student government passed a resolution to have the university divest from companies, including Boeing, GE and Lockheed Martin, that do business with Israel. Students in favor of the resolution claimed it was about standing up for Palestinians' human rights, but those opposed claimed a resolution conforming to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement made them feel unsafe on campus.
Before launching its investigation, Cojab said, the OCR interviewed her about her claim. Their discussion predominantly focused on the timeline of events and her correspondence with the university to determine the level of knowledge administrators had about the situation.
She told Newsweek she raised her concerns with multiple university officials on different occasions and decided to file the claim only after she realized diplomacy wasn't effective.
"I'm not doing this because I hate NYU. My brother went to NYU, and it was my early-decision choice. I love NYU, and they should be doing better for students' safety," Cojab said.
Cojab and Sher don't have an exact timeline for the upcoming process. The OCR noted that an investigation doesn't imply the agency has determined that NYU did anything wrong.
In resolving the complaint, Cojab hopes the university will amend its policies regarding community procedures and conduct. The standard wording about student behavior, she said, was vague and therefore difficult to enforce.
"I do think they have good intentions and they want change to better the experience of students," Cojab said. "I think NYU has always been and will always be my number one, but I do hope they take our concerns seriously."
Regardless of how the investigation plays out—and what, if any, consequences NYU faces—Sher called the situation "very serious." If he was a university administrator, he said, he would be proactive in identifying and addressing problems on campus so his school wouldn't be the next to come under investigation.
