The Brandeis Center hosted a Capitol Hill policy briefing on July 10, 2024, titled “Retaliation Against Jewish Students and Parents: How Counter-complaints and Baseless Accusations are Being Weaponized to Silence Jewish Voices on Campus.” The event highlighted disturbing accounts of anti-Semitism alongside troubling investigations into Jewish parents and students by campus administrators. Brandeis Center Board Member Tevi Troy served as moderator, and Brandeis Center Senior Counsel Mark Goldfeder, Staff Attorney Deena Margolies, and Staff Attorney Ben Alkon all presented as panelists. Brandeis Center experts opened the briefing by explaining what retaliatory complaints look like – how they are different from genuine grievances – and gave a brief history of the recent surge in counter-complaints. Congressional staffers in attendance heard firsthand accounts from three university students and one high-school parent who experienced retaliatory complaints aimed at chilling their accusations of anti-Semitism. Emory University student Sophie Ravina shared her experience of being harassed and threatened online after posting a video showing Emory peers engaging in openly anti-Semitic behavior. Although Ms. Ravina’s post focused on the anti-Semitic activity and not at all on the identity of her peers, several perpetrators chose to frame her post as “Islamophobic.” University administrators, instead of addressing the anti-Semitism to which Sophie was responding, demanded that Ravina take down her post. Ilana Pearlman, a parent in the Berkeley Unified School District, reflected on her experience grappling with the school district’s poor handling of anti-Semitism. Rather than holding anti-Semitic students and teachers accountable for their actions, BUSD instead chose to reassign Jewish students away from classrooms where they were being harassed. BUSD parents who voiced concerns about the unaddressed anti-Semitism were accused of “using Israel Defense Force drones over classrooms for surveillance,” and faced doxing and threats by other parents. American University students Naomi Hazan and Lauren Cayle described their experience receiving retaliatory complaints after they posted flyers around campus to raise awareness about the plight of Israeli hostages in Gaza. When they were harassed by fellow students as they put up the posters, they wisely recorded the perpetrators for their own security and to provide administrators evidence of students violating the student code of conduct. Instead of addressing the anti-Semitism and policy violations captured on video, the university subjected Hazan and Cayle to baseless disciplinary proceedings, despite possessing exculpatory evidence, for lawfully recording their harassers. Ms. Cayle stated that “I have never been one to hide my Jewish identity….I have always lived loud and proud, but now…fear follows me like a shadow” due to the hostile environment fostered by American University. Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin concluded the briefing by stating that these testimonies are not isolated instances, but rather a systematic effort to delegitimize and chill claims of anti-Semitism. She stressed the importance of universities recognizing and dismissing these malicious complaints and highlighted the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism as a vital tool for distinguishing between good-faith political debates and anti-Semitism. The Brandeis Center previously filed civil rights complaints with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) and American University for severe and pervasive anti-Semitism. In May 2024, OCR opened an investigation into BUSD just days after LDB expanded its complaint with even more evidence of how hostile and threatening an environment it has become for Jewish students. If you or your child is experiencing discrimination perpetuated or unaddressed within an educational institution, the Brandeis Center is ready to provide support. Contact us to get legal help. Watch the full hearing below. Play videoTextBlockModalTitle × Your browser does not support the video tag. Authored by: Nicole Hirschkorn