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Tracking Religious Harassment
October 2016
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As the Jewish new year begins, the Brandeis Center continues its campaign against campus anti-Semitism. The U.S Department of Education is finally acting on LDB recommendations for monitoring harassment of religious minorities, an important step in the right direction. Now the question is whether the Department will try to solve the problem, rather than just studying it. Beyond Washington, Brandeis Center attorneys have been fighting campus anti-Semitism campuses in places including Knoxville, Oberlin, and San Francisco. Fortunately, the Brandeis Center is joined in our nationwide efforts by a growing network of law students and lawyers. This Fall we are making rapid strides forward across the country.
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e thank you for your tax deductible
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ithout you our work could not be done.
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U.S Department of Education to Track Religious Harassment
Rachel Leach, Brandeis Blog
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Source_ us department of education |
After several years of
urging, the U.S Department of Education (ED), has announced their intent to implement the Brandeis Center's recommendations to protect religious youth. ED will expand the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) to include information on religious intimidation and harassment. As Kenneth L. Marcus commented "We commend ED for adopting this new policy, in line with the Brandeis Center's recommendations, of collecting data on religious-based harassment and discrimination in public schools. The next step is to bring enforcement into line with the new data and ensure that students of all faiths receive the full protection of the law."
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The Brandeis Center has begun this academic year with law student events across the country. LDB began its law student chapter initiative in 2014, aiming to train the next generation of lawyers to use their legal tools to combat anti-Semitism, anti-Israelism, and other forms of discrimination. At present, LDB has 18 chapters at law schools nationwide. These chapters will be hosting events throughout the next months, with speakers from LDB as well as other experts in Israel, Civil rights and anti-Semitism.
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Brandeis Center Urges Action from Tennessee Legislature
Last month, following reports of anti-Semitic, racist, and hateful social media postings at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB) called on the Tennessee State Legislature to address whether the series of anti-Semitic incidents violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. LDB joins the call of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN) to protect Jewish and Christian Zionist Students.
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Equal treatment before United States law and government. That is a foundational American principle. Its aspirational neutrality, usually achieved, is one reason why people from so many nations with different ethnicities and differing religious beliefs have thrived in this country. Now J Street would challenge this basic principle in the purported service of helping to bring about a two state solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict. This discriminatory and wrong-headed idea must be opposed by anyone who supports an objective government of laws not ideology.
J Street calls "on its supporters and all who support a just Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement to urge the US Treasury to review the tax-deductibility status of contributions to groups working to entrench or expand Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank."[1] The rationale is that because the U.S. government has expressed opposition to Jewish settlements in the contested territories, charitable contributions that concretely aid such settlements should not be tax deductible under the U.S. tax code.
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Brandeis Center Urges Stronger Action from San Francisco State University
Last month, San Francisco State University released a 24-page investigative report, compiled by the Van Dermyden Maddux Law Corporation, detailing the disruption by anti-Israel student activists of an April 6, 2016, event featuring Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB) expressed concern that the San Francisco State response demonstrates a lack of understanding about anti-Semitism on SFSU's campus - and an apparent unwillingness to address it. As Kenneth L. Marcus noted, "San Francisco State needs to take anti-Semitism, including anti-Semitic forms of anti-Zionism, as seriously as it takes the other issues described in the Van Dermyden report." Whilst, as Marcus commented, it is important to give the university credit for acknowledging their failures in this regard, much still needs to be done to address anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism on campus.
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Oberlin Student Senate Condemns Symposium Promoting Self-Respect and Civil Rights for Jews
Andrew Pessin, Algemeiner
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| Source: http://www.slu.edu |
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As the Algemeiner reported, the Oberlin Student Senate has issued a striking condemnation of the Oberlin chapter of Alums for Campus Fairness (ACF), arguing that the alumni are driving a message of "rampant anti-Semitism" at the college. This report was issued after the announcement by ACF that they were sponsoring a symposium on self-respect and civil rights for Jews. Written in consultation with current and former members of ABUSUA [a Black student organization], Oberlin J Street U and Students for a Free Palestine, this report echoes the conflation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism which has been so prominent a problem for the college.
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Embattled Oberlin President Announces Resignation After String of Scandals
The Tower
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Following a string of scandals which erupted after The Tower reported that an Oberlin College professor had posted anti-Semitic material on Facebook, Oberlin President Marvin Krislov, has announced his resignation from the private liberal arts school at the end of the 2017 academic year.
In February assistant professor Joy Karega, called the Islamic State "a CIA and Mossad operation," endorsed claims that "Israeli and Zionist Jews" were behind the 9/11 attacks, and accused Jewish banker Jacob Rothschild of controlling "your news, the media, your oil, and your government." Despite national coverage and outrage, Krislov's first response to the postings was hesitant, writing a day after the news broke that "Oberlin College respects the rights of its faculty, students, staff and alumni to express their personal views." A second statement released by Krislov the following week distanced the school from Karega's comments, but did not explicitly condemn them. Since then, Karega has been put on paid leave and banned from campus.
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Our World: The American Inquisition
Caroline Glick, Jerusalem Post
On June 24, Syracuse professor Gail Hamner disinvited Israeli filmmaker Shimon Dotan from screening his film at the university's film festival, scheduled for March 2017. As explained in the email, which has recently become public, Hamner's decision had "nothing to do" with Dotan or his work. Indeed, what caused Hamner to disinvite the talented young filmmaker was his nationality as an Israeli and because the title of his film, "The Settlers," does not make it immediately apparent whether he reviles the half million Israeli Jews who live in Judea and Samaria sufficiently.
As boycott, disinvestment and sanctions (BDS) activists have become more immersed in the fabric of campus life, universities, students and film makers suffer.
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LDB Welcomes Intern Kailee Jordan
Press Release
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law (LDB) is pleased to welcome their newest member, Kailee Jordan, who will be joining the LDB team as a Communications and Development Intern. Kailee graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from San Francisco State University. She completed part of her undergraduate degree studying abroad in Israel for a year. Part of Kailee's work at San Francisco State included serving as a fellow with CAMERA, [The Center of Accuracy for Middle East Reporting in America] where she was a media activist for bias against Israel as well as a visible activist on campus. Kailee has written articles pertaining to anti-Israel activity on campus.
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Support LDB
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The Louis D. Brandeis Center is a nonprofit organization supported by individuals, groups and foundations that share our concern about Jewish college students. Contributions are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. To support our efforts to combat campus anti-Semitism, please contact us at [email protected].
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Kenneth L. Marcus
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Can We Help You? |
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The Louis D. Brandeis Center stands ready if we can help you to combat anti-Semitism in higher education.
Please contact us if you are a student or professor who needs our help. We are also available to provide technical assistance to university administrators who are interested in achieving legal compliance and best practices for eliminating campus anti-Semitism.
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