DETROIT — The Michigan chapter of Council on American Islamic Relations filed a complaint and asked the federal government for an investigation Wednesday after a leaked audio showed University of Michigan President Santa Ono saying the U.S. House Republicans' inquiry into how the UM has handled antisemitism is one-sided.

"The government could call me tomorrow and say in a very unbalanced way that the university is not doing enough to combat antisemitism, and I could say it's not doing enough to combat Islamophobia and that's not what they want to hear," Ono said in the audio that was posted on X. "So the whole situation is not balanced."

The audio was posted on X over the weekend by the UM's TAHRIR Coalition, a group of more than 100 student organizations supporting Palestinians and advocating that UM divest from its portfolio any holdings in the university's $17.9 billion endowment linked to Israel amid the year-long Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

In response to Ono's statements in the video, CAIR-MI announced that it filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights asking for an investigation into whether the UM is in compliance with its Title VI obligations under the Civil Rights Act. It also asked the federal government to probe whether UM is complying with a consent resolution the university entered in June with the Office of Civil Rights after the university was found to be out of compliance with its obligations “to assess whether incidents individually or cumulatively created a hostile environment for students, faculty, or staff, and if so, to take steps reasonably calculated to end the hostile environment, remedy its effects, and prevent its recurrence."

“We urge President Ono to do what is right and ensure that the University of Michigan is in compliance with its obligations under federal and state law to ensure that no students, staff or faculty experience a hostile environment on campus due to Islamophobia or anti-Arab bias," CAIR-MI Staff Attorney Amy Doukoure said in a statement.

“There can be no excuse or exceptions for the University of Michigan’s failure to address Islamophobia on campus simply because of pressure from powerful groups or politicians with political agendas," Doukoure said. “CAIR-MI has repeatedly called on the University of Michigan and President Santa Ono to take action to quell Islamophobia on campus since the incidents on October 7 last year. However, all of our requests have gone unanswered, and instead we witnessed a growing hostility toward Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians, South Asians and allied students in the form of unfair discipline and targeting of peaceful protestors by University’s law enforcement officers and security personnel.”

UM officials did not confirm that Ono had made the statements on the audio. They also did not respond to whether Ono was the person speaking on the audio them when asked.

UM officials said they are committed to ensuring a safe environment for all.

"The University of Michigan is steadfastly committed to ensuring our community remains a safe and supportive environment, where all students — regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or other identities – have the opportunity to learn and thrive," UM spokeswoman Colleen Mastony said. "President Santa J. Ono has spoken out repeatedly against antisemitism and Islamophobia, and he will continue to do so, as any form of discrimination or hate is an affront to our community."

Ono was called to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding the school's response to antisemitism on Aug. 9 after turmoil erupted on UM's campus, and campuses across the country, following Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7 — killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians — and a subsequent counterattack on Hamas in Gaza.

Prior to his testimony, the House committee held three nationally televised hearings where members questioned other college presidents about how they handled antisemitism on campuses. University of Pennsylvania President M. Elizabeth Magill and Harvard University President Claudine Gay both resigned soon after their testimony partly because of the backlash against their responses.

The call for Ono to testify came after protests on UM's campus by pro-Palestinian students who have pressured UM to divest from their endowment portfolio any investments in Israel because they say the war is resulting in genocide. Dozens of complaints about antisemitism and Islamophobia have been filed at the UM through June, most of them related to antisemitism. UM officials have said they will not make an divestments, and its endowment has no direct Israeli investments, only indirect, which are a small fraction of the amount student activists have claimed.

Ono was originally supposed to testify during a live hearing, but instead appeared in Washington, D.C., for "transcribed interviews," which weren't open to the public or press. A transcription of the interview was not released.

The leaked audio showed Ono's saying the inquiry was biased, and included suggestions that lawmakers could withhold billions of dollars if lawmakers feel the institution is not doing enough to combat antisemitism.

"The question from Congress is not balanced," Ono said. "It's focused almost entirely on antisemitism, which I think is an issue. But there is also Islamophobia as well. "

"And so you can see are a very powerful group who are not shy to say that they will hold the whole institution accountable for not addressing antisemitism and to have the government say something like we will withhold (from) you the whole $2 billion in funding if you don't address antisemitism...," Ono said.

Zaynah Jadallah, CAIR-MI director of safe spaces, said it's time for UM "to do what is right and make a full commitment that all students, regardless of religion, ethnicity or national origin, have a safe and equitable environment to learn and live.

“...Public universities owe it to their students to be brave in the face of pressure while modeling good citizenship by doing what is right, even when it is hard.”

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