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Fact Sheet: Harassment based on Race, Color, or National Origin on School Campuses

July 2, 2024

OCR’s enforcement activities have demonstrated that discriminatory harassment of students based on their race, color, or national origin continues to be a concern on school campuses. Depending on the facts and circumstances, students who are subjected to slurs or taunts, or threatened or attacked based on their race, color, or national origin – including stereotypes about their race, color, or national origin – may be limited or denied access to educational programs or activities in violation of Title VI. OCR is committed to addressing harassment based on race, color, or national origin in our nation’s schools and to supporting the efforts of schools to maintain campuses that are free from discrimination.

What is Harassing Conduct?

Harassing conduct is unwelcome conduct that may include verbal abuse, graphic or written statements, physical assault, or other conduct that may be threatening, harmful, or humiliating.

Where Can Harassing Conduct Occur?

Harassing conduct may occur in many different contexts and locations, including classrooms (including virtual classes), residence halls, hallways, cafeterias, school buses, playgrounds, athletic fields, locker rooms, bathrooms, on the internet, and on social networking sites and apps.

When Does Harassing Conduct Create a Hostile Environment that Violates Title VI?

Generally, unwelcome conduct based on race, color, or national origin creates a hostile environment under Title VI when, based on the totality of the circumstances, it is:
• subjectively and objectively offensive; and
• so severe or pervasive that it
• limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the recipient’s education program or activity.

Harassing conduct need not always be targeted at a particular person to create a hostile environment. The conduct may be directed at anyone, and the harassment may also be based on association with others of a different race, color, or national origin (e.g., the harassment might reference the race of a sibling or parent/guardian because it is different from the race of the person being harassed whose access to the school’s program is limited or denied). Additionally, a single victim may experience a hostile environment when the conduct of multiple offenders, taken together, meets the definition above.

Whether harassing conduct creates a hostile environment on the basis of race, color, or national origin must be determined based on the totality of the circumstances.

Relevant factors for consideration may include, but are not limited to, the context, nature, scope, frequency, duration, and location of the harassment, as well as the identity, number, age, and relationships of the persons involved.

Generally, the less pervasive the harassing conduct, the more severe it must be to establish a hostile environment under Title VI. For example, in most cases, a single isolated incident would not be sufficient to establish a Title VI violation. However, in some cases, a hostile environment based on race, color, or national origin may result from a single severe incident if the conduct is subjectively and objectively offensive and so severe that it limits or denies a student’s access to the education program or activity.

OCR generally assesses a school’s response to race, color, or national origin harassment using a hostile
environment legal analysis. To establish a violation of Title VI using this analysis, OCR must find that:
1) a hostile environment based on race, color, or national origin existed;
2) the school had actual or constructive notice (i.e., the school knew or should have known) of the hostile environment; and
3) the school failed to take prompt and effective steps reasonably calculated to:
i. end the harassment,
ii. eliminate any hostile environment and its effects, and
iii. prevent the harassment from recurring.

https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/Harassment-Fact-Sheet-2024.pdf