UW students, staff required to take civil rights trainings
All University of Washington students will have to take a civil rights training within the next couple of months, as part of a 2025 federal agreement made after an investigation into student allegations of antisemitism.
Under the agreement with the U.S. Department of Education, all UW employees and students will need to complete “Understanding Civil Rights,” a 30-minute online training focused on civil rights protections based on “race, color or national origin (including shared ancestry and ethnicity),” according to the university.
The training went to employees first; their deadline to complete the course was Tuesday. As of Monday, 70% of staff had done so, according to UW spokesperson Victor Balta. The university will follow up with anyone who has not completed the training by the deadline.
The training for students will launch around the end of March, Balta said, and must be finished by May 31.
The trainings were developed within the UW Civil Rights Compliance Office. They are similar for students and staff and teach how to recognize discrimination and harassment that is prohibited under UW policies, identify ways to support “inclusive and nondiscriminatory learning, living and working environments” at the university, how to make a civil rights and Title IX report, and how to access available support and resources.
“The University is committed to ensuring an environment free from discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct,” Valery Richardson, UW assistant vice president for civil rights compliance, wrote in a letter to staff. “This course provides necessary information for every employee to do their part in building a culture of respect and belonging for all.”
The training’s rollout comes more than two years after the federal education department’s Office of Civil Rights began an investigation in response to a student complaint that UW failed to respond to alleged harassment of Jewish students and other antisemitic incidents. Jewish students felt targeted, the complainant wrote, during campus protests against the war in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
The civil rights office reviewed about 140 discrimination reports, including allegations of harassment of Jewish and Muslim students, as well as racist, sexist and antisemitic graffiti on campus, received by the university, according to a civil rights office letter. Many instances occurred after the war in Gaza began, amid tensions on campus with protests and encampments.
The resolution also included a complaint filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law on behalf of Jewish students, and noted a September 2024 UW Board of Regents meeting that was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters.
A Brandeis Center director said the center is encouraged that the university has implemented a civil rights training and would like to see more institutions provide training programs addressing antisemitism.
“Training is one important facet that should be part of a comprehensive approach by UW and all universities to addressing and preventing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination on campus against Jewish and Israeli students,” Brandeis legal initiatives director Denise Katz-Prober said in a statement.
An October 2024 joint report filed by task forces focused on antisemitism and Islamophobia found UW community members who identified as Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Palestinian or Middle Eastern/North African reported feeling unwelcome on campus.
UW did not admit to any wrongdoing, noncompliance or liability as part of the January 2025 resolution, which was finalized during the Biden administration. Other steps UW has taken to meet its agreed requirements include installing a coordinator to oversee compliance with Title VI, which prohibits discrimination in programs or activities receiving federal money “on the basis of race, color or national origin,” as well as creating a consolidated Civil Rights Compliance Office and providing regular training for employees who are responsible for investigating discrimination claims.
The agreement did not include any fines or other financial penalties.
The Trump administration has targeted dozens of higher education institutions, including UW, with threats of funding cuts and other enforcement action, saying the schools have not done enough to combat antisemitism on campuses.
Multiple universities have reached agreements with federal agencies to resolve discrimination investigations and restore federal research funding. Columbia University, for example, in July agreed to pay $221 million to the federal government. In November, Northwestern University agreed to pay $75 million, and Cornell agreed to pay $30 million to the federal government and invest $30 million for agricultural research programs.