Muhlenberg College, which recently fired a professor for social media activity expressing her views on the Israel-Hamas conflict, has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to settle concerns over how the college investigated complaints against her.

While Maura Finkelstein was not directly named in Monday’s announcement, a letter from the OCR in Philadelphia to Muhlenberg College President Kathleen Harring links to a change.org petition that called for Finkelstein’s firing.

Finkelstein, who is Jewish and worked for the college as a tenured professor of nine years, was fired in May for sharing on her personal Instagram account a post written by a Palestinian poet Remi Kanazi, as originally reported by The Intercept.

The post stated, “Do not cower to Zionists. Shame them. Do not welcome them in your spaces. Do not make them feel comfortable. Why should those genocide loving fascists be treated any different than any other flat out racist. Don’t normalize Zionism. Don’t normalize Zionists taking up space.”

Muhlenberg was one of a number of colleges nationwide under investigation by the Department of Education as part of “aggressive action to address the alarming nationwide rise in reports of antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and other forms of discrimination and harassment on college campuses and in K-12 schools since the Oct. 7 Israel-Hamas conflict.” Lafayette College entered into an agreement to settle its investigation in July.

The OCR said in a news release Monday that the resolution with Muhlenberg is to “ensure its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI) when responding to allegations of harassment based on shared ancestry.”

The OCR had several concerns with how Muhlenberg complied with the federal statute while handling reports about Finkelstein’s behavior, in the classroom and online, that “created a potential hostile environment for Jewish students.”

“Students had reported significant anxiety and fear resulting from the professor’s comments in class and on social media that impacted their access to education,” the OCR said.

These concerns include:

• Muhlenberg not assessing “whether the professor’s conduct had created or contributed to a hostile environment” for eight shared ancestry complaints reported to the OCR.

• Muhlenberg not evaluating “the totality of the circumstances … after having recognized the existence of a hostile environment resulting from (a) prior report.”

• Muhlenberg not taking steps “reasonably calculated to redress any hostile environment related to shared ancestry affecting the education program or activity, if one exists, even if the conduct occurs on private social media and involves political speech.”

• Muhlenberg not communicating with all affected students about the actions it took in response to the complaints.

To resolve the OCR’s concerns about Muhlenberg, the resolution will require the college to review all complaints against Finkelstein and determine if supportive services are needed; review its response to previous complaints of discrimination and harassment based on shared ancestry in the 2023-24 school year; and train all employees responsible for handling reports of discrimination and harassment.

Finally, the college will “develop and administer a climate assessment for students and staff to evaluate the campus climate with respect to shared ancestry and the extent to which students and/or staff are subjected to, or witness discrimination, including harassment, based on race, color, and/or national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry.”

Neither Finkelstein nor representatives for Muhlenberg could immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

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