Federal authorities added several more colleges to a growing list of schools under investigation for alleged ethnic discrimination on campus.

NBC News reports that the U.S. Education Department announced Tuesday (Dec. 12) that it launched Title VI violation probes of Stanford University, UCLA and four other colleges.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. DOE declined to disclose specifics of its investigation.

Authorities launched many of these probes in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas conflict.  

The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy group, reported that 73 percent of Jewish college students have either experienced or witnessed antisemitic incidents on campus since the conflict began.

At the same time, the Biden administration has urged schools to address the rise in campus Islamophobia and antisemitism.

Several colleges the DOE added to its list released statements saying they would cooperate with the probe and noted that they have policies against campus harassment and discrimination.  

Congress has also taken up this issue. 

The House Education Committee held a public hearing on Dec. 5 to question the presidents of Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology about whether school policies ban calling for the genocide of Jews.

When asked direct questions, the university presidents equivocated in some of their responses, prompting widespread calls for their resignations.

University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill stepped down on Dec. 9 under pressure.

Claudine Gay, the first Black president at Harvard, apologized for her remarks, which failed to quiet her critics. However, she received a groundswell of support from many in Harvard’s community, and the Harvard Corporation, Harvard’s top governing board, voted unanimously on Tuesday (Dec. 12) not to fire her.