LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus, Harvard Law School On Thursday, November 3, LDB President & General Counsel Kenneth L. Marcus will address the LDB Law Student Chapter at Harvard Law School on the topic of, “Making Dollars or Making Change: Big Law, Human Rights, and Becoming a Purposeful Lawyer.” Marcus will describe his career path and discuss his current work in the area of civil rights law. Marcus is the author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism (Oxford University Press: 2015) and Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America (Cambridge University Press: 2010). Marcus founded the Brandeis Center in 2011 to combat the resurgence of anti-Semitism in American higher education. The following year, Marcus was named to the Forward 50, the Jewish Daily Forward’s listing of the “American Jews who made the most significant impact on the news in the past year.” The Forward described its 50 honorees as “the new faces of Jewish power,” predicting that “if Marcus has any say in it, we may witness a new era of Jewish advocacy.” During his public service career, Marcus served as Staff Director at the United States Commission on Civil Rights and was delegated the authority of Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights and Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. Shortly before his departure from the Civil Rights Commission, the Wall Street Journal observed that “the Commission has rarely been better managed,” and that it “deserves a medal for good governance.” Marcus also serves as Associate Editor of the Journal for the Study of Antisemitism. Marcus previously held the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair in Equality and Justice in America at the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College School of Public Affairs (2008-2011). Before entering public service, Mr. Marcus was a litigation partner in two major law firms, where he conducted complex commercial and constitutional litigation. He has published widely in academic journals as well as in more popular venues such as The Jerusalem Post, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, and The Christian Science Monitor. Mr. Marcus is a graduate of Williams College, magna cum laude, and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
Brianne Garrett USA Today November 3, 2016 Kat Kolin, a Boston University freshman, wants to set the record straight: “I am Jewish. I am not a Zionist.” Some think “Jewish” and “Zionist” are synonyms, but there’s a difference. People who identify as Jewish practice or adhere to the Jewish religion — some primarily or only culturally as opposed to practicing the faith. According to the World Zionist Organization, “Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a legally assured home” in the land of Israel. In other words, the basic difference is that Judaism is a religion and a culture, and Zionism is a nationalist movement. According to Kolin, people often assume that being Jewish means being a Zionist, which she says is definitely not the case. Why does it matter? Because of this assumption, Kolin recalls various instances of being harassed by pro-Palestinian students on BU’s campus, who automatically assume she is the enemy. But Kolin says she actually agrees with some of the opinions of the Students for Justice in Palestine. “I was even interested in joining their organization, but it really seemed like they didn’t want me,” she added. Kolin is among the high number of students experiencing hostile behavior and backlash on their campuses for being Jewish. A 2014 study by Trinity College found that over half of Jewish college students have experienced anti-Semitism on their campus. The Jewish community ushered in the new year in October, and many Jewish students across the country have a common resolution: Fighting swelling anti-Semitism. ANTI-SEMITISM ON CAMPUS IS ON THE RISE Anti-Semitic activity on U.S. campuses continues to be on the rise. A 2016 study conducted by the AMCHA Initiative, an organization that seeks to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses, found the number of incidents involving “the suppression of Jewish students’ freedom of speech and assembly” doubled from last year. “We’re really concerned for this new year,” said Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, AMCHA’s cofounder and director. “(Anti-Semitic behavior) really tends to completely shut down and obliterate the presence, the opinion and the safe space for one particular group. It’s not a matter of incivility, it’s a matter of intolerance.” As reported by Newsweek, more than a dozen Jewish student events were violently disrupted this year at schools coast to coast, including Boston University, University of Maryland and University of Florida. And on the University of California campuses, anti-Semitic graffiti reading, “Zionists should be sent to the gas chamber” has appeared on the walls of buildings, and a UCLA student’s impartiality on a judicial board was questioned due to her involvement in the Jewish community. Original Article