UNC Agrees to Color-Blind Admissions, Anti-Semitism Measures in Settlement With Feds

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has agreed to a voluntary, university-wide settlement with federal officials that requires color-blind admissions and new measures to combat anti-Semitism, resolving multiple Title VI investigations without a finding of liability or monetary penalty, the Department of Justice announced Oct. 19.

Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

Under the agreement announced this week with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, UNC must adopt race-neutral policies for admissions, scholarships, and student programming; create a Title VI coordinator; mandate anti-Semitism training for students, faculty, and staff; and provide quarterly complaint reports to federal officials.

In exchange, the Education Department will close 18 active investigations and the Justice Department will end an 18-month compliance review opened in April 2025, while UNC remains eligible for federal funding. The agreement will remain in effect through Dec. 31, 2028. 

UNC will also discipline and sanction student groups for anti-Semitic discriminatory conduct. 

UNC must adopt and maintain a color-blind admissions system, which includes refraining from using race, analyzing racial data, altering its admissions process to change the racial composition of its student body, and disfavoring applicants who decline to identify their race. 

The university will not use race in selecting admissions personnel, and may not partner with “bridge” or “pipeline” programs that consider any protected characteristic.

In line with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, UNC will adopt and maintain wholly race-blind policies regarding student benefits, scholarships, financial aid, and programming. Further, scholarship criteria will not include diversity or identification with any protected characteristic. 

Within 30 days, the university will select a “merit and civil rights administrator” who will be responsible for implementing the agreement. And on a quarterly basis, UNC will send any anti-Semitism and race discrimination complaints it has received to the Education and Justice departments.

“Title VI requires that all students—regardless of their ancestry or race—receive equal treatment under the law at federally funded colleges and universities,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

“Higher ed policies and practices that tolerate anti-Semitism or favor certain racial groups over others, frustrate our color-blind justice system. The Civil Rights Division commends UNC for its cooperation … we hope other institutions will take note and do the same.” 

In February 2025, the Department of Justice announced it was forming a multi-agency task force to counter anti-Semitism in schools and on college campuses. 

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in March 2025 sent letters to 60 universities that it says are under investigation for Title VI violations related to anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination. The universities included Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, and Yale.

In November 2025, the Trump administration announced a deal with Northwestern University to restore $790 million in federal research funding and end ongoing probes, with the school agreeing to pay $75 million. 

“Today’s settlement marks another victory in the Trump Administration’s fight to ensure that American educational institutions protect Jewish students and put merit first,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time.

The actions were part of a broader effort to address anti-Semitism on college campuses following a surge in such incidents across the country, particularly after the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.