An attorney representing the Tulane University Arabic Club, which is no longer affiliated with Tulane, and four members of the unaffiliated Tulane chapter of Students for a Democratic Society submitted a Title VI anti-Palestinian discrimination complaint to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights on July 8. 

Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color or national origin in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. 

The 74-page complaint alleges that Tulane responded to pro-Palestinian campus protests with “unprecedented and disproportionate aggression.” Tulane SDS was suspended in April for helping to organize a protest encampment in front of Gibson Hall, which led to at least 14 arrests. 

 Protestors gathered outside Audubon Park on July 12 to announce the Title VI complaint.  

 Members of Tulane SDS and the Tulane Arabic Club began drafting the complaint over the summer, shortly after the encampment was dispersed.  

 “In the heat of the moment, it was kind of hard to think about anything else besides our reaction to being evicted and the criminal sanctions. Once things started to cool down, we started to see [the complaint] as more of a realistic option,” former Tulane, current Loyola student and SDS member Silas Gillette said.  

 The complaint lists a number of alleged on-campus Title VI violations, citing incidents of discrimination from Tulane faculty.  

One section of the complaint alleges that Tulane Arabic Club members were made to remove their keffiyehs before performing at a Tulane Language Day event, and that an administrator made a student publicly identify herself as Palestinian on stage.  

The complaint is currently being processed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and will determine if the complaint necessitates an investigation.  

“If the complaint is accepted, and we go into a legal battle with Tulane about it, that’s going to drum up a lot of press coverage and that’s going to keep people talking about Palestine,” Gillette said. 

“Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry and hate have no place at Tulane University… We will fully comply with any Department of Education’s OCR investigation that may result from this complaint and look forward to sharing with the OCR information on the matters raised in this complaint,” Tulane spokesperson Mike Strecker said in a statement. 

This is a developing story and may be updated.