An Update on Office for Civil Rights Complaint
A Message from President Harring to the Muhlenberg CommunityTuesday, October 1, 2024 11:47 AM
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,
On January 16, 2024, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) notified Muhlenberg College that it had received a complaint stemming from events alleged to violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, adding the College to the long list of institutions receiving such notices over the past year. Since then, we have worked with OCR, providing documentation relating to the complaint, including copies of relevant policies, protocols, and actions.
In consultation with OCR, the College agreed to enter into a voluntary resolution prior to the conclusion of their investigation. The agreement is not an admission of liability, non-compliance, or wrongdoing by the College. Rather, it sets forth a variety of measures to ensure that we continually strengthen the knowledge, training, and tools we have to fulfill our mission and to support our community. As OCR noted in their press release, “Muhlenberg College has committed to taking additional actions to build on its already strong policies to ensure that its practices responsive to concerns from students and other college community members fulfill its Title VI obligations as already described in its campus policies.”
Simultaneously fulfilling our liberal arts mission and providing for the safety and well-being of our campus community members makes us who we are: a community of care and trust where every member, no matter their viewpoint, is treated with respect and fairness. We must be steadfast in living our values and continue to apply our policies in a consistent manner.
Our voluntary agreement with OCR includes a number of actions that have been long-standing College practices and additional ones already underway. Muhlenberg has a robust policy structure, which outlines clear rules, guidelines and processes to address allegations of discriminatory behavior. In implementing this agreement, we will build on our current practices. Specifically, we have agreed to do the following:
- Continue our annual ATIXA-certified investigator training, an ongoing practice at Muhlenberg, and provide documentation on the training and its effectiveness to OCR.
- Conduct a new climate assessment “to evaluate the climate with respect to shared ancestry” and provide OCR a report of the findings and subsequent College responses. Muhlenberg’s annual student surveys assess campus climate for all students; this will evaluate climate for all students, faculty and staff.
- Submit information about the College’s response to the conduct of a professor. The College will provide documentation and information about the thorough review of every reported incident, the totality of the circumstances and, per our policies, the responsive actions that were taken.
- Review the College’s responses to reports of discrimination and/or harassment on the basis of shared ancestry for 2023-2024 to ensure consistency of response and report these findings to OCR. Provide documentation to OCR of the College’s response to complaints and reports of discrimination and/or harassment for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 academic years.
Muhlenberg College remains committed to providing a safe, equitable, bias-free environment for all students, faculty and staff. The College does not tolerate antisemitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia or any other form of harassment, bigotry or abuse, nor any incitement to violence or calls for genocide. More information about our Title VI training and compliance is available here.
In this context we remain steadfastly devoted to principles of free expression and inquiry in alignment with the American Association of University Professors’ (AAUP) 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure. This is fundamental to who we are. Our liberal arts mission calls on us to embrace ambiguity and discomfort, develop a growth mindset, and show others grace. We can achieve these goals only if we are willing to actively work together.
I want to express gratitude to the members of our community who have spent many hours responding to this issue and to our entire community for all that you do in support of one another.
Sincerely,
Kathleen E. Harring, Ph.D.
President
