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Cooper Union Settles Title VI Suit With Jewish Students, Agrees to Campus Reforms

The agreement responds to a 2023 library incident, establishing new oversight, training requirements, clearer antisemitism standards.

Overview

  • Ten Jewish students settled their federal civil-rights case over being trapped during an Oct. 25, 2023 protest at the campus library.
  • Cooper Union will pay undisclosed compensation and create a Title VI coordinator to manage discrimination and harassment complaints.
  • The coordinator will apply Education Department OCR guidance, consider the IHRA working definition, and publish policies recognizing Zionism as part of many Jews’ identity.
  • Updated protest rules ban masks that conceal identities, require student ID checks at demonstrations, and mandate pre-approval of posters and fliers.
  • Judge John Cronan previously refused to dismiss the suit, and the Education Department separately opened a Title VI investigation into the school.