Dozens of students from across the city voiced their experiences with anti-Muslim rhetoric and discrimination.
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Outside Governor Kathy Hochul's office in Midtown, college students called for change.
"I don't want my school to be neutral when we are talking about genocide," said one student.
Al-awda New York, the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition organized the protest. Students from several colleges including CUNY Law and Hunter Collage shared recent stories of discrimination.
They called out specific professors and school administrators who they deemed complicit in Islamophobia.
As tensions run, the US Department of Education says so does its commitment to ending discrimination. It launched an investigation into possible reports of anti-Muslim harassment and antisemitic discrimination at seven schools since the Oct. 7 attack.
One of the schools under scrutiny is Columbia University. The university group of students supporting Israel says they hope the investigation will improve the quality of life on campus. Right now they feel like the school isn't doing enough.
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Columbia University had no comment on the investigation but it referenced university initiatives like Task Force on Antisemitism as well as a Doxing Resource Group.
The seven complaints the Department of Education received are five alleged antisemitic harassment charges and two alleged anti-Muslim harassment charges.
The Department of Education was not able to comment on which complaints corresponded to which school.
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