UCLA Recently, there have been disturbing developments at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Students for Justice in Palestine, or SJP, has been making moves to block pro-Israel, Jewish groups groups from getting a fair voice in campus policy-making. What is even more surprising, and maybe even sickening, is that no other groups are being targeted. That is right, folks. Student activists, for the recent past election, were asking candidates running for student positions in campus government to sign a pledge essentially saying that they have not and will not go to Israel on a trip sponsored by the following three groups: American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, and Hasbara Fellowships. Students who don’t sign the pledge are subject to ridicule, humiliation, and harassment by their peers. We here at the Brandeis Center hold the right to free speech very dear to our hearts. Therefore, we acknowledge that student groups have the right to say what they wish, so long as no harm is dealt to other students or staff members, and so long as no one else’s rights are infringed upon. The problem with this situation is that by imposing this pledge on the political process, those with pro-Israel views, or even someone has simply travelled to the great state of Israel, have their political views silenced and put down. “Freedom of speech is essential on university campuses”, says Brandeis Center President Kenneth L. Marcus, “But what we are seeing at UCLA is antithetical to healthy, civil dialogue.” (more…)
Download PDF Washington DC – The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law, a national civil rights organization, has urged Vassar College President Catherine Bond Hill to take strong disciplinary action in response to the posting of Nazi propaganda by members of the Vassar chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus commented, “It is reprehensible to see Nazi propaganda disseminated on an American university campus. We hope that Vassar College will demonstrate strong resolve in responding to this outrage.” The Brandeis Center, formed in 2011 to combat anti-Semitism on American college and university campuses, has been active monitoring harassment of Jewish college students. Earlier this month, Brandeis Center lawyers urged New York University to discipline SJP members who had violated NYU rules by shoving inflammatory anti-Israel flyers under the dormitory room doors and into the rooms of non-consenting NYU students. NYU President John Sexton has responded that his Office of Residence Life is already looking into SJP’s actions there as a “judicial matter.” Brooklyn College has also recently publicly apologized to Jewish pro-Israel students represented by the Brandeis Center for expelling the students from an SJP event. The Brandeis Center is seeking serious disciplinary for the SJP’s Vassar College Nazi propaganda. Vassar’s SJP chapter had reportedly posted a Nazi propaganda poster on their Tumblr page, which depicted a many-armed monster with a Star of David loincloth, holding a moneybag being grasped by a big-nosed man as he stomps on houses. This poster is entitled “Liberators.” Even before this latest incident, Vassar had seen other controversies this semester in which anti-Israeli activists appeared to cross the line into anti-Semitism. Brandeis Center lawyers wrote, “we urge you to take additional prompt and effective action to address this problem including taking strong disciplinary action against SJP.” Northeastern University recently suspended its chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine group for a pattern of policy violations until they agreed to adhere to a number of standards of good behavior and internal restructuring. That chapter is now in a probationary period as it replaces its prior leadership and learns how to adhere to campus and legal guidelines. Other campus presidents have also been forced to condemn SJP actions or to apologize for their own roles in working with SJP. Just last week, University of California President Janet Napolitano and University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Chancellor Gene Block issued statements criticizing efforts by the UCLA chapter of SJP urging candidates in the most recent student elections to pledge that they would not participate in Israel trips organized by Jewish groups. These statements included assertions that these students are violating the principles of civility, respect, and inclusion, are trying to eliminate selected viewpoints from the discussion and do not promote healthy debate but instead intimidates others. Earlier this semester, President Karen Gould of Brooklyn College had to publicly apologize for her employees’ role in unlawfully expelling Jewish pro-Israel students, represented by the Louis D. Brandeis Center, from a campus public event at the behest of the same organization. Brandeis Center lawyers continued, “We urge you fully and quickly investigate this troubling incident at your college and to take all appropriate measures suggested by the facts found by your investigators. At a minimum, we would expect that this would include strong disciplinary action against the perpetrators, including the responsible organization, alone the lines that we have seen at Northeastern University, as well as a firm public statement similar to what we have seen at UCLA and Brooklyn. Beyond punishing the wrong-doers, however, we hope that you will take this as a teachable moment to educate your students about the evils of anti-Semitism and racism and the need to take firm action against them.”