Penn establishes consolidated Center for Civil Rights

After years of scrutiny over its handling of civil rights issues on campus, Penn announced the creation of a Center for Civil Rights on Tuesday.

The new office consolidates several administrative bodies that previously oversaw campus civil rights matters — many established or expanded during the second Trump administration’s sweeping higher education agenda. According to the June 3 announcement, CCR “reflects Penn’s deep commitment to fairness, respect, and institutional trust.”

The center brings together the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, the Office of the Associate Vice President for Equity & Title IX, and the Office of Religious and Ethnic Interests under a single administrative structure.

CCR will also oversee three “subject-matter areas of responsibility” — equal opportunity, sex and gender-based discrimination and harassment, and religious and ethnic interests. Each will be overseen by its own executive director.

While CCR leadership will be appointed this fall, members will report to Vice President of Human Resources Felicia Washington and “serve as special advisor to the president on civil rights issues.”

The center’s work will also “be complemented by Restorative Practices @ Penn, Student Intervention Services, Special Services, Community Standards and Accountability, and Penn Violence Prevention, the Office of the Ombuds, and other campus partners who remain valued resources for the Penn community.”

“This consolidated Center for Civil Rights will help Penn work better for every member of our community,” Penn President Larry Jameson wrote in the announcement. “Faculty, staff, and students will benefit from greater clarity around resources, reporting, prevention, and legal compliance, with our subject-matter experts aligned and working together.”

Washington added that the “new united center will advance Penn’s commitment to fostering the campus environment we all deserve — one where all community members can live, learn, work, thrive, and know that they matter and belong.”

The creation of the center is the latest in a series of measures taken by the University in response to pressure from the federal government, which has withheld funding from Penn and other universities and repeatedly pursued legal action over alleged civil rights violations.

In 2025, the Department of Education found that Penn violated Title IX by allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s intercollegiate athletes and issued three demands, with which the University eventually complied. Penn faced significant criticism as a result of its decision to settle the case, with many calling it a capitulation to the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump graduated from the Wharton School in 1968.

Penn’s response to civil rights issues has similarly garnered pushback from the campus community. 

OREI, which addresses Title VI concerns and whose work will be continued by the religious and ethnic interests department of the new office, was accused last year of overstepping its authority and violating academic freedom.

The criticism — lodged primarily by Penn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors — also alleged that OREI discriminated against Black, Arab, and Muslim faculty based on “unsubstantiated accusations of antisemitism.”

---