AMCHA Initiate co-founder Tammi-Rossman-Benjamin addrssing UC Board of Regents

AMCHA Initiate co-founder Tammi-Rossman-Benjamin addrssing UC Board of Regents

2016 is unfolding as another unsettling year for Jewish students across U.S. college campuses. According to a report released this week by the AMCHA Initiative, anti-Semitic activities have surged over the past six months. The AMCHA Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to the investigation, documentation and contestation of anti-Semitism, investigated 113 schools with the largest Jewish populations across the United States. Defining anti-Semitic instances by three criteria: (1) anti-Semitic expression – which following State Department sanctioned guidelines includes anti-Zionist expression, (2) Targeting of Jewish students, and (3) BDS activity. The findings were definitive:

There were a recorded 287 anti-Semitic incidents at 64 of these institutions – an alarming 57% of the total colleges surveyed.

This number is up by 45% from the 198 occurrences documented by the AMCHA in 2015. The AMCHA research also found that suppression of the speech of Jewish students approximately doubled from 2015 to 2016, whilst calls denying Israel’s right to exist nearly tripled.

Moreover, the study provided “ample empirical evidence showing that the presence of anti-Zionist student groups, faculty boycotters and anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) activity are each strong predictors of anti-Jewish hostility.”[1]

According to these findings anti-Semitic instances was twice as likely to transpire on campuses where BDS was present, six times more likely to occur on campuses with one or more faculty boycotters, and eight times more likely to happen on campuses with at least one active anti-Zionist student group such as SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine). (more…)

Daniella Hovsha
Brandeis Blog
July 29, 2016

2016 is unfolding as another unsettling year for Jewish students across U.S. college campuses. According to a report released this week by the AMCHA Initiative, anti-Semitic activities have surged over the past six months. The AMCHA Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to the investigation, documentation and contestation of anti-Semitism, investigated 113 schools with the largest Jewish populations across the United States. Defining anti-Semitic instances by three criteria: (1) anti-Semitic expression – which following State Department sanctioned guidelines includes anti-Zionist expression, (2) Targeting of Jewish students, and (3) BDS activity. The findings were definitive:

There were a recorded 287 anti-Semitic incidents at 64 of these institutions – an alarming 57% of the total colleges surveyed.

This number is up by 45% from the 198 occurrences documented by the AMCHA in 2015. The AMCHA research also found that suppression of the speech of Jewish students approximately doubled from 2015 to 2016, whilst calls denying Israel’s right to exist nearly tripled.

Moreover, the study provided “ample empirical evidence showing that the presence of anti-Zionist student groups, faculty boycotters and anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) activity are each strong predictors of anti-Jewish hostility.”[1]

According to these findings anti-Semitic instances was twice as likely to transpire on campuses where BDS was present, six times more likely to occur on campuses with one or more faculty boycotters, and eight times more likely to happen on campuses with at least one active anti-Zionist student group such as SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine).

Certainly “the link between anti-Semitic activity and anti-Zionism has become abundantly clear and is openly acknowledged with ever greater frequency by the perpetrators of these activities.”[2]

The new information from this study comports with 2015 LDB-Trinity Anti-Semitism report of 2015, which demonstrated “the startling fact that more than half of Jewish American college students personally experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism during the 2013-2014 academic year.”[3] Indeed, in a survey of 1,157 self-identifying Jewish students from 55 universities and 4 college campuses, 54% admitted to having been a victim of or a witness to anti-Semitic attack. Two years later, these numbers are on the rise.

Yet, as Jennifer Rubin commented in a Washington Post article this week, there is “a piece of good news.” This past spring, the University of California Board of Regents released a acknowledging that anti-Zionism is akin to anti-Semitism and incites hatred against Jews. This was a positive step, especially for a university where these instances seem endemic, and serves as an example for other institutions. The Louis D. Brandeis Center and the AMCHA Initiative both played important roles in working with the Regents on that statement. LDB’s Kenneth L. Marcus had served as one of the Regents two national experts on anti-Semitism.

The Brandeis Center has been constantly engaged in combating this resurgence of anti-Semitism, especially through its legal advocacy initiative. Most recently, for example, together with Hillel International, the Center has been pushing for a response to an incident at UC Irvine, at which protesters chanted anti-Israel, anti-American, and anti-Semitic statements, including calls for an “Intifada” [a call for violence against Jewish Israeli civilians], “All white people must die,” and “F*** the police.” The Brandeis Center is also addressing anti-Semitism in academic associations, as for example in its lawsuit against the American Studies Association.

Original Article

Emma Dillon
Brandeis Blog
July 29, 2016

LDB welcomes Daniella Hovsha, who will be joining the organization as a Civil Rights Communications & Development Intern for Fall 2016.

Daniella graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand, a public research university in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is currently completing her post-graduate studies—called an “honors” in South Africa—in International Relations and English Literature. She serves as the National Chairperson of the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS), the only official representative body for Jewish and Zionist students in South Africa. SAUJS is active on every South African university campus, and engages in political, social, educational, and religious work. Daniella is also an executive member of the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS). She looks forward to becoming further involved in the fight against campus anti-Semitism through this internship.

The new addition to the LDB team brings a wide range of unique experiences and skills to the organization and will assist LDB as it continues its mission to combat campus anti- Semitism. LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus welcomed Daniella, saying, “We are very excited to have an international perspective that can provide new insight to the issue of campus anti-Semitism. Daniella brings great talent, strong educational credentials, and considerable enthusiasm to the tasks at hand. We feel confident that she will help contribute to our campaign against campus anti-Semitism and in our work to promote justice for all.”

Daniella’s early arrival is much welcomed in light of LDB’s busy docket, including its landmark lawsuit against the American Studies Association (ASA) for the ASA’s unlawful boycott of Israeli academic institutions, legal advocacy work—including representing Eliana Kopley, a UC Irvine student aggressively confronted and threatened by anti-Israel protesters, and efforts to expand its law student chapter initiative network. Daniella will be joining fellow interns Emma Dillon and Juan Pablo Rivera Garza, who have been with LDB since early June, and Michelle Yabes, who has been with LDB since Fall 2015.

Original Article

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB) submitted a statement to several federal agencies as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Civil Society Consultation process, urging officials to more effectively address campus anti-Semitism. This is a key component of LDB’s participation in the upcoming series of Civil Society Consultations, which are hosted on behalf of various federal agencies to ensure the implementation of recommendations from the United States’ 2015 Universal Periodic Review before the United Nations Human Rights Council. Anne Crowell, an LDB Civil Rights Legal Fellow, is scheduled to speak at three of the consultations. LDB, a national civil rights organization, is best known for its work fighting anti-Semitism in higher education.

The UPR, created in 2006 by the U.N. General Assembly, is a process in which the human rights records of all U.N. Member States are examined and reviewed. This process provides an opportunity for all Member States to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their respective countries, as well as to overcome challenges to human rights. During the process, the country under review receives recommendations to improve its human rights record from other U.N. Member States. After receiving recommendations through the UPR process, the United States is now calling on major civil society organizations like the Brandeis Center to provide advice to the federal government on how to implement key recommendations.

LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus commented, “It is important that federal agencies including the State Department, Justice Department, and Department of Homeland Security are listening to the feedback that civil society organizations like the Brandeis Center have to offer when it comes to implementing the UPR recommendations. We are pleased to have been invited to participate in this process and delighted that Civil Rights Legal Fellow Anne Crowell will lead LDB’s engagement with this process and draw the government’s attention to the ongoing problem of campus anti-Semitism.”

In addition to yesterday’s statement, LDB also issued a statement last week for another upcoming Civil Society Consultation on the topic of religious accommodations for prisoners. Although LDB’s primary focus is campus anti-Semitism, Mr. Marcus has previously testified on the subject of religious discrimination against Muslim prisoners.

LDB’s full statement on campus anti-Semitism can be found below.

Statement in Advance of the UPR Consultation on August 4, 2016
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
July 28, 2016

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB) is an independent, unaffiliated, nonprofit corporation established to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all. LDB is principally focused on fighting anti-Semitism on American college and university campuses. Our work includes combating the spread of hate crimes motivated by anti-Semitism and other forms of religious or ethnic discrimination, especially on the college campus. In the upcoming UPR Consultation on civil rights and discrimination related to law enforcement, we would like to bring particular attention to the issue of religiously and ethnically motivated discrimination and hate crimes.

A 2014 report by LDB and Trinity College found that 54% of Jewish students had experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism on their college campuses during the last academic year. This overall prevalence of campus anti-Semitism puts Jewish students at risk of discrimination and anti-Semitic hate crimes. We believe that, in addition to action at the university level, the federal government has a vital role to play in preventing discrimination and hate crimes and ensuring accountability when they do occur. To this end, we have encouraged the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to take a more active role in investigating and protecting against anti-Semitic and other religiously and ethnically motivated hate crimes on campus. In addition, we have called for the Department of Education, along with other federal agencies, to adopt the State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism, which clarifies when anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism cross the line into anti-Semitism.

UPR Recommendation 131 calls for the United States to “Continue to take strong actions, including appropriate judicial measures, to counter all forms of discrimination and hate crimes, in particular those based on religion and ethnicity.” Additional UPR recommendations call for similar action. We believe that continuing to take strong action is essential to the federal government’s approach in combating anti-Semitic discrimination and hate crimes.

We look forward to discussing this important issue in greater detail at the consultation.