Earlier this month, the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s (“UW”) Student Judiciary stood up for the rights of Jewish students on campus. The Student Judiciary ruled in favor of five students (the “Petitioners”) who filed a complaint against the Chair and Vice Chair of the Associated Students of Madison (“ASM”) Student Council, for violating the Constitutional rights of Jewish students and the ASM’s bylaws. Jewish students at Madison were on edge this semester in the wake of proposed BDS resolutions on campus. On March 29, four ASM members introduced a highly contentious 14-page resolution, “Social Responsibility and University Divestment from Corporate Human Rights.” More than half of this resolution sought to condemn Israel. As reported by the Badger Herald, after six hours of debate, the ASM voted to table this resolution indefinitely. The next ASM meeting was scheduled for the evening of April 12, the second night of Passover. A Jewish student, and chair of the ASM’s Budget Committee, Ariela Rivkin, emailed the ASM Chair on April 7, requesting that the ASM not take up any legislation concerning “human rights mechanisms or transparency on investment policy” at the April 12 meeting. Because it fell on Passover, it precluded observant Jewish students from attending and providing input on an issue of importance to the Jewish community. Despite Chair Rivkin’s email, the ASM introduced a different piece of legislation on April 12– a “Bylaw Change for the Creation of Financial Transparency and Ethics Subcommittee” – that addressed similar issues to the March 29 BDS legislation. The ASM Vice Chair motioned to suspend the rules to allow for an initial vote on this bylaw change to occur at the introductory meeting (even though legislation requires two votes). An ASM member raised the concern that voting would exclude Jewish students. The Vice Chair said it would be a “hassle” to schedule another meeting for the vote. The legislation passed. Following the April 12 meeting, Petitioners filed a Student Judiciary complaint against the ASM Chair and Vice Chair, alleging that the vote violated Jewish student’s constitutional rights and ASM Bylaws. On May 10th, the Student Judiciary ruled in favor of the Petitioners, stating, Holding the April 12th meeting on Passover did not automatically violate the ASM Constitution. Introducing legislation that members of the Jewish community had expressed interest in, when it was known that these members would not be able to attend due to religious observance, does violate the Constitution. . . . . There can be no doubt that this vote was the product of a blatant disregard for the Constitution and Bylaws that Student Council representatives are sworn to uphold. The panel notes that the actions taken by the 23rd session may not have been malicious in intent. Nevertheless, multiple constitutional violations occurred at the April 12th meeting and Jewish students were the subject of discrimination by their elected representatives. This is unacceptable, and future sessions are warned that the Judiciary will not tolerate the hypocrisy of a student government that claims to be a voice for students, while simultaneously discriminating against and silencing their constituents. The Student Judiciary’s ruling voided the bylaw change; suggested that the former ASM Chair attend a training on religious tolerance and understanding apologize to the Jewish community for her discriminatory acts as Chair; mandated the Vice Chair (who will be next year’s Chair) to send a letter to the Student Council, explaining why her motion to waive the rules was wrong, why the nondiscrimination clause of the ASM constitution is essential, why Passover is important to the Jewish community, and apologizing to all Jewish council members for excluding them from the initial vote on the Bylaw Change, among other things. The full ruling can be found here. While this is a huge victory, the ASM passed another BDS resolution at their April 26th meeting that also seems to have violated ASM bylaws. At the April 26 meeting, Jewish students reported feeling harassed and intimidated. The ASM initially listed the resolution as, “Divestment from Private Prisons, Fossil Fuel Corporations, Border Walls, and Arms Manufacturers.” The text as introduced did not mention Israel. At the meeting itself, ASM members introduced, in an orchestrated fashion, BDS amendments. By doing so, they failed to give the Jewish community proper notice. Another Student Judiciary complaint was filed against the ASM for their actions; however, because the academic year has ended, we will have to wait until the Fall to see if this resolution, too, will be voided. The University of Wisconsin – Madison administration should be keeping a watchful eye on the discriminatory actions of its Student Council, disciplining in line with its policies, and offering education and training on bias and discrimination. Kudos to the brave students for filing these necessary complaints against hatred and bigotry, and to Madison’s Student Judiciary for ruling fairly and against discrimination.
The logo of OSCE The Brandeis Center is happy to report on upcoming opportunities to aid in widening the breadth of scholarship and educational material related to anti-Semitism. A unique opportunity in this regard was recently issued by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). This opportunity is within the framework of ODIHR’s Words into Action project. ODIHR is seeking applications for a research project to identify key classroom challenges when addressing anti-Semitism across the OSCE region, and to formulate practical reccomendations for educators to address these challenges. The reponses given to ODIHR will help with a review of their existing literature, the implementation of recommendations and changes, and the drafting of “aide–mémoires” for secondary school teachers. This offers secondary school teachers with strong backgrounds in pedagogy a chance to help change educational practices in the face of rising anti-Semitism. The deadline for applications is the 24th of May. More information can be found here: http://www.osce.org/project/wia
The Journal of Contemporary Anti-Semitism (JCA) has issued a Call for Papers for their upcoming Special Issue “Postcolonialism and Anti-Semtism” of the JCA, Vol. 1, No.2 (Spring 2018). Papers are to be submitted by July 31, 2017. The Journal of Contemporary Anti-Semitism is exclusively dedicated to the analysis of anti-Semitism and aims to cover all forms of anti-Semitism found in our contemporary world. Any inquiries may be submitted to jca@academicstudiespress.com (more…)
Earlier this month, H.R. 672 was received in the U. S. Senate after passing the House of Representatives unanimously. H.R. 672, the “Combating European Anti-Semitism Act of 2017,” is a bill which “expresses the sense of Congress that it is in the U.S. national interest to combat anti-Semitism at home and abroad.” Originally introduced by Representative Nita Lowey of New York, H.R. 672 has enjoyed widespread bipartisan support. H.R. 672 points to the need to ensure security for European Jewish communities, and states that the United States must continue to emphasize the importance of combating anti-Semitism in multilateral bodies. The biggest legislative change that H.R. 672 would stipulate would be amending the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to require the Department of State to include in its annual report on religious freedom a description of the state of each European country where threats against Jews are present. This would include assessments of how these countries are approaching the fight against anti-Semitism, how the U.S. has partnered with them to help in this fight, and whether education and public awareness of the issue is being sought within these countries. H.R. 672 is predicated upon congressional findings that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe, the security and quality of daily Jewish life is threatened, and that anti-Zionism has contributed to this rise. The bill uses the Department of State’s definition of anti-Semitism, which the Louis D. Brandeis Center has supported. This bill’s language has many parallels to the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA), even advocating the use of the same definition of anti-Semitism. The AAA bill, which passed the Senate unanimously in December of last year, did not have a chance to be voted on in the House before the legislative session ended. Several states are currently in the process of drafting their own versions of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act. H.R. 672, if adopted into law, will help contribute to the fight for a unified definition of anti-Semitism, and continue to display the federal government’s commitment to helping end the growth of this bigotry.