While in the Twin Cities for the launch of University of Minnesota LDB law student chapter on September 30th, LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus sat down with American Jewish World’s Community News Editor, Erin Elliot Bryan, to discuss the trend of rising anti-Semitic incidents across college campuses. LDB’s joint ‘Anti-Semitism Report’ with Trinity College, released earlier this year, revealed that over 50% of 1,157 self-identified Jewish students at 55 campuses nationwide reported experiencing or witnessing anti-Semitism on their campuses in the Spring semester of the 2013-2014 academic year alone. In light of this issue, Marcus explained the importance of LDB law student chapters as well as the importance of supporting students as they take a stand against anti-Semitism. It is often the case that students feel afraid to speak out against their schools, and administrative officials feel unsure of where the boundary between legitimate criticism of Israel and hate filled anti-Semitism lies, an issue which Marcus discusses in his new book, The Definition of Anti-Semitism:

American Jewish World on Defining anti-Semitism

Erin Elliot Bryan

More than half of 1,157 self-identified Jewish college students at 55 campuses around the United States reported having been subjected to or having witnessed anti-Semitism on their campuses. This is according to the National Demographic Survey of American Jewish College Students, which was released in February by Trinity College and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB).

The survey was conducted in the spring of 2014, before the conflict in Gaza.

In 2015, several incidents of anti-Semitism have been reported at campuses in the University of California system: “Zionists should be sent to the gas chamber” was found written on a bathroom wall at UC Berkeley; a Jewish applicant for a student union position found her suitability questioned on the basis of her religion at UCLA; and swastikas were painted on a Jewish fraternity house at UC Davis.

And the Anti-Defamation League noted other incidences of campus anti-Semitism that have been reported so far this year: a student at Drexel University in Philadelphia found a swastika and the word “JEW” taped next to his Israeli flag; vandalism at the University of Missouri included a swastika, the Illuminati symbol, the word “heil,” and later, another swastika and the words, “You’ve been warned”; and anti-Semitic posts on a Facebook page called UChicago Secrets included “People are hypocrites. This is a fact. One example? The Jews at UChicago…” and “As a Person of Palestinian descent, I don’t think it is unreasonable or horrific for me to hate Jews…”

“What we’re finding is that campus anti-Semitism is no longer a California problem nor is it just a bicoastal problem,” said Kenneth Marcus, president and general counsel of LDB (which has no connection to Brandeis University), in a recent visit to the AJW office. “It has penetrated to the heartland of the United States and we’re seeing it at places that seemed completely peaceful and harmonious just a few years ago.”

Marcus was in the Twin Cities to launch the newest LDB chapter at the University of Minnesota, which marks the continued expansion of the Brandeis Center Law Student Chapter Initiative. Chapters already exist at William Mitchell College of Law in Minneapolis and St. Thomas School of Law in St. Paul (11-21-14 AJW); 16 chapters exist around the country.

Marcus said LDB chapters provide educational opportunities, such as speakers and events, so that law students understand the problem of anti-Semitism, and how anti-Israel hate often crosses the line into anti-Semitism. Chapters will also offer education and training on civil rights law and human rights law.

“If all they did was to provide education, that would be enough, but these students usually want to do more,” Marcus said. “They want to use their legal skills to fight against campus anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, including the BDS (boycott, divest, sanction) movement. In many cases, they serve as mentors and advisors to the undergraduates using their legal tools and training.”

In a video posted on the LDB Web site, Marcus explains the organization’s three-step approach to combatting anti-Semitism on campus: research, such as the study conducted with Trinity College; education, such as public events, scholarly articles and blogs; and advocacy, such as legal action brought against an institution.

LDB’s expertise is in law and public policy, and Marcus wrote some of the federal policies that deal with issues of anti-Semitism. LDB staff educates university administrators about the line between political criticism and anti-Semitism, and helps them develop effective practices to address anti-Semitism and racism on their campuses.

“Law schools turn out some of the most influential people in society,” Marcus said. “Some law students will become state legislators and other policy makers within just a few years of graduating. So we can’t be in a position where anti-Israel activists have taken over the law schools, and the Jewish community is playing catch-up.” (more…)