Justice Department Investigating Lincoln Memorial U. for Allegedly Discriminating Against Jewish Students
“All students should be free to learn and train in environments free from discrimination”
It’s so stunning that this kind of discrimination exists in 2026.
From the DOJ:
Justice Department Opens Investigation into Lincoln Memorial University for Discrimination Against Jewish Students
Yesterday, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, launched an investigation into Lincoln Memorial University to determine whether the university is engaged in discrimination against its Jewish students. Among other concerns, the investigation will determine whether the university’s DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine is intentionally preventing Jewish students from completing their exams during the Spring semester.
“This Department of Justice is fiercely committed to shutting down the concerning outbreak of antisemitism that has been spreading on college campuses since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “When colleges and universities single Jewish students out for adverse treatment, they are in clear violation of our civil rights laws and of this nation’s promise of equal opportunity for all Americans.”
“All students should be free to learn and train in environments free from discrimination,” said Paula M. Stannard, Director of the Department of Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR). “Antisemitism has no place in our nation’s educational or medical training institutions, and OCR will work to ensure that federal civil rights laws are fully enforced.”
This investigation will be conducted pursuant to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Lincoln Memorial University receives substantial federal financial assistance and is therefore subject to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557. Title VI and Section 1557 prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Antisemitism can be a form of discrimination on the basis of race or national origin, according to federal precedent. Lincoln Memorial University is based in Harrogate, Tennessee, and its DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine has campuses in Knoxville, Harrogate, and Orange Park, Tennessee.
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Comments
“…intentionally preventing Jewish students from completing their exams during the Spring semester.”
It would be interesting to know exactly how the DeBusk College is accomplishing this. The original DOJ release does not say.
Given the wording, and the fact that it’s limited to the one college in the one semester, my first guess is that they had scheduled one or more exams for the first or last days of Passover (April 2-3 and 8-9), and refuse to make reasonable accommodations for those observing the holiday and thus unable to sit these exams.
And indeed that appears to be the problem. I haven’t seen anything specifying the exam dates, but the student handbook was changed. On page 17 of the new handbook it specifically states: “Religious holidays and holy days do not qualify for an excused absence from examinations.” The fall semester handbook did not say that, and Jewish students reported that they had no problems; then they came back from the winter break, were given the new handbook, and suddenly came across this new policy.
In addition, when the local rabbi reached out to the dean about it, the dean seemed completely unaware that every other university in the USA and in most of the world does make such accommodations, and that there are thousands of observant Jewish doctors who observe the sabbath and festivals, and only work on them when someone’s life is in danger. He refused to change the policy, hence the DOJ investigation, and likely lawsuit unless the university goes over this dean’s head.
Seems like a reasonable explanation, in that it correlates with the kind of underhanded behavior that liberals in positions of authority typically display.
Although the handbook states that “Religious holidays and holy days do not qualify for an excused absence from examinations,” I am sure that no college at the University would schedule exams on Christmas or Good Friday.
Or Ramadan…
No, I’m sure they would have no problem scheduling exams during Ramadan, considering that it lasts a whole month. This year Ramadan will be over by mid-March, and that’s not usually a time when exams are held; but if Ramadan falls during exam season I can’t imagine any university would suspend them for a month.
However, Moslem students shouldn’t have that much problem sitting exams during Ramadan. They may ask for accommodation such as sitting them at night after dinner, or early in the morning when they’re not so hungry and thirsty and sleepy, but they have no prohibition on writing or traveling, or anything else that it would involve.
No US university would schedule exams for Xmas, because most students would not be there. But Good Friday is not a public holiday in the USA, so I can see a secular university scheduling exams then, without even realizing the date. Students for whom that is a problem would seek an accommodation, and if enough of them did so then they might reschedule the exam. But again, I’m not aware of any Xian denomination that forbids sitting exams on Good Friday, and very few that forbid eating and drinking, which would make sitting them difficult.
In case you’re curious, this University is in Eastern Tennessee.