Courtesy of WikiMedia Commons On August 1st, the Brandeis Center’s President Alyza Lewin and Director of Legal Initiatives Aviva Vogelstein sent a letter to Stanford University President, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, urging him to address a threatening, anti-Semitic Facebook post by a current Stanford student who was scheduled to be a Resident Assistant (RA) this upcoming year. After mounting pressure and extensive concern expressed for the safety of Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus, the student stepped down from his RA position on August 3rd and the university issued a public statement. On July 20th, a rising third-year student and former student senator posted on his Facebook page the following: im gonna physically fight zionists on campus next year if someone comes at me with their ‘Israel is democracy bullshit’ : ) and after i abolish your ass i’ll go ahead and work every day for the rest of my life to abolish your petty ass ethnosupremacist settler-colonial state He provided a link to a Haaretz article titled, “Jewish Nation-state Law Makes Discrimination in Israel Constitutional.” Though the student ultimately edited his posting to say that he wanted to “intellectually fight Zionists,” the Brandeis Center letter points out how “[t]his after-the-fact modification does not erase the impact of his initial conduct. Violence was threatened against other Stanford students. With his post, [this student] revealed his instinctive response when confronted with views of Israel with which he disagrees.” The letter also details how the student’s threatening message contained anti-Semitic and discriminatory tropes. According to the U.S. Department of State’s Definition of Anti-Semitism, denying Israel’s right to exist is an example of anti-Semitism. The student’s call to “abolish” Israel is, therefore, anti-Semitic. Additionally, the letter notes that the posting violates Stanford’s Fundamental Standard, which states that “Students are expected to respect and uphold the rights and dignity of others regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic status.” If students violate this policy, they may be disciplined for misconduct. The Brandeis Center letter expresses concern over the student serving as an RA, considering the fact that he would be responsible for other students, many of whom would potentially feel threatened by his violent views. According to the Stanford Resident Assistant policies, RAs are “expected to create residential environments that enhance student academic progress and success . . . to build inclusive and reflective environments in which differences of background and belief are explored . . . and to encourage student responsibility and accountability.” Additionally, RAs “are expected to: assume a primary leadership role and serve as role models for responsible behavior and personal integrity; exercise good judgment. . .” and “are responsible for creating a residential environment in which all views (popular and unpopular) can be voiced, heard respectfully, and fully explored.” The Brandeis Center letter notes that the student failed to meet those requirements and instead created an environment where Jewish and pro-Israel students will not only feel uncomfortable, but also unsafe under his supervision. In addition to violating university policy, the student’s posting potentially violated Title 11.5 of the California Penal Code, §422, “punishment for threats,” which states: Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family’s safety, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison. The Brandeis Center’s letter explains that the student’s threat “to ‘physically fight Zionists,’ and ‘abolish [their] ass’ could reasonably be understood as a threat to do ‘great bodily injury.’ It is a threat that could cause one to fear for his or her own safety.” Additionally, the letter points out that “Messages that threaten the physical safety of Israeli and Jewish students create a hostile environment for Israeli and Jewish students on campus in violation of Title VI.” The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) extended the protections of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect students from discrimination on the basis of their Jewish ethnicity or ancestry. The Brandeis Center recommended that the university “Remove [this student] from his RA teaching position and after investigating the situation thoroughly, take such other responsive disciplinary actions as are authorized by Stanford policies and applicable constitutional protections.” Additionally, the Brandeis Center urged the university to issue an official statement on the incident, condemning the posting as being anti-Semitic. The student, who claims to be a third-generation Palestinian refugee with “trans-generational trauma,” published an op-ed on August 3rd apologizing for his actions. He also said, “I will be stepping down from my job as Resident Assistant at Stanford University to focus my attentions on my studies and on processing the repercussions of my post.” The university also released a public statement on August 3rd, saying that after following “standard university procedure in cases of possible threat, the university has conducted an extensive case assessment, and concluded that the student does not pose a physical threat to other members of the community.” This comes after the university received “many expressions of concern for the safety of Jewish students at Stanford.” Interestingly, while the university acknowledged that the Jewish community was greatly affected by the post, it did not condemn it as anti-Semitic.