This article about LDB’s National Law Student Leadership Conference was published in the Spring 2015 Edition of the “Decalogue Tablet,” a publication of the Decalogue Society of Lawyers. The Decalogue Society is a Chicago-based organization founded in 1934 to promote justice in society and to advance and improve the law, administration of justice and legal profession. It is re-printed here with permission of the author. With the help of the Decalogue Society and the students who attended the National Conference, we have now opened four law student chapters in the Chicago area. “Decalogue Student Leaders Invited to National Law Student Leadership Conference” By Michael Strom, Board Member & Past President, Decalogue Society of Lawyers At Decalogue, we are ever vigilant to fight anti-Semitism. We also look for opportunities to help our attorney and law student members develop their skills and careers. The recent National Law Student Leadership Conference hosted by The Louis D Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law (LDB) gave us the chance to do both. LDB picked up the tab to fly, house, and feed ten of our best and brightest from seven Decalogue student chapters (University of Illinois, University of Chicago, Chicago-Kent, Loyola, DePaul, SIU, and John Marshall) to Washington, DC for a two day conference on human rights advocacy, fighting campus anti-Semitism, and the legal tools available to defend their rights on campus. For those unfamiliar with LDB, the organization was founded by Kenneth L. Marcus, previously Staff Director at the US Commission on Civil Rights, and Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights. LDB’s Vision Statement states in part: “[LDB] … secures the rights of the Jewish people as a means for advocating justice for all. In the 21st century, the leading civil and human rights challenge facing North American Jewry is the resurgent problem of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism on university campuses.” Many organizations are devoted to fighting anti-Semitism and discrimination of all kinds. LDB is unique in its singular devotion to providing attorneys, experts, legal advice, intervention with school administrators, and if necessary, filing suits based on state and federal law to combat an increasingly hostile environment at many US schools. Decalogue leadership has heard more over the last few years from Jewish students feeling intimidated to speak out or fight back. LDB’s website invites students, faculty, and administrators concerned about anti-Semitism on campus contact them for help. A “HELP!” link on virtually every page of the website allows anyone to provide information to LDB as the first step to seeking assistance in eliminating such problems. The LDB Conference brought student leaders together nationally to learn from a distinguished faculty and from each other about the issues facing them through lectures, panels, roundtable discussions, and a breakout session splitting students into groups to decide how to best address examples based on real-life incidents of on-campus discrimination. LDB leaders were very impressed with the Decalogue student representatives. What did our students think of the event? Here are remarks (edited for space) from two Decalogue attendees: “Attending the [LDB] National Law Student Leadership Conference was an extremely valuable experience for me. I met student leaders from Chicago and around the country. As a result of the opportunities to work with other Decalogue student leaders at the LDB Conference, I am working with other student leaders to plan joint events with other Decalogue chapters. Additionally, I found the LDB Conference extremely valuable because it provided us with a wide-ranging toolkit for addressing the anti-Semitism that many Jewish students face. We learned about everything from potential legal remedies, to the best ways to approach school administrators.” — Max Looper (University of Chicago) “The LDB Conference offered informative lectures and passionate speakers discussing the spread of anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism and the legal means to combat these issues. In two days, we discussed topics like the BDS movement, legal careers aimed at fighting Jewish civil and human rights violations, and using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to combat campus anti-Semitism. It was fascinating and inspiring listening to these professionals discuss their career paths, their experiences combating civil and human rights violations against the Jewish people, and the legal arguments and tools available…” — Maria Zyskind (Chicago-Kent) Personally, after hearing Ken Marcus speak on the subject, speaking with him at length, and reading copious material available through LDB’s website, I have urged Decalogue’s leadership and our law student chapters to work with LDB to address campus problems early, before they turn as ugly as what we unfortunately see nationally and internationally. We are currently looking at ways to incorporate LDB chapters or committees within our Decalogue law school chapters. Depending on many differences from school to school on student funding, administration authorization needed to allow independent LDB chapters on campus, etc., we will work with our student chapters to find the best fit for a healthy alliance with LDB. Providing our students with the career development and networking resources of Decalogue plus the expertise of LDB fighting campus anti-Semitism will be mutually beneficial for both organizations.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center joined the AMHCA Initiative and twenty-four other groups in writing a letter on anti-Semitism at Stanford University to its President, John Leroy Hennessy. President John LeRoy Hennessy Office of the President Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-2061 Dear President Hennessy, We are 26 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of people who are very concerned about the safety and well-being of Jewish students at Stanford University. We understand from several on-line reports that the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house was spray-painted with swastikas on Saturday night. We commend you for issuing a statement the next day in which you affirmed that the university “will not tolerate hate crimes” and that the incident will be fully investigated, both by campus police and by the university under Stanford’s Acts of Intolerance Protocol. However, we strongly encourage you to publicly acknowledge that a swastika is an antisemitic symbol associated with genocide perpetrated against the Jewish people, and that although it affects the entire campus community, it particularly targets Stanford’s Jewish members for hatred and discrimination. Campus antisemitism is a serious and growing problem. A recent study published by Trinity College and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law reveals that 54% of Jewish American college and university students report experiencing or witnessing antisemitism on campus in the recent school year. The research reveals that this is a much more widespread problem than most realized. In the last year, more than 20 college and university campuses around the country have been defaced with swastikas, in each case causing particular distress to Jewish students. There have also been multiple reports of antisemitic name-calling, threats, assaults and other acts of hate and discrimination. These acts are often linked to anti-Israel activity on campus, particularly boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaigns, such as the extremely divisive anti-Israel divestment vote in the Stanford student senate last quarter. (more…)