Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2026

Abstract

This Piece examines the deployment of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a mechanism for regulating campus conflict following the 2023 to 2024 campus protests and seeks to reset the discourse in light of the statute’s history, doctrine, and role in higher education. Title VI is an important tool for addressing identity-based harassment, epithets, and violence between students, but it is neither designed nor effective as a tool for negotiating clashes between universities’ cornerstone commitments to robust debate and an optimal learning environment for all students. In converting the statute from a source of protection against discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including shared ancestry, to a punitive instrument for disciplining and controlling campuses around the country, the current Administration is unprecedented in its use of Title VI, which is not only ahistorical and in defiance of the statute’s terms but also unworkable under hostile environment doctrine. For universities tempted to turn to Title VI for managing campus conflicts, this Piece shows that Title VI’s compliance regime is ill-suited for producing flourishing and sustainable campus environments for several reasons, including the First Amendment limits on universities’ ability to restrict harmful speech. Against this backdrop, the Piece argues that schools have a responsibility to carry out Title VI compliance within broader efforts to build community citizenship, including conflict de-escalation and informal conflict-resolution processes. In short, the inclusionary aims of Title VI will be achieved best not by enforcement alone but as part of a broader commitment to a thriving campus.

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Education Law | Law

Comments

This article originally appeared in 126 Colum. L. Rev. Forum 1 (2026). Reprinted by permission.

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