Published by Politico on 11/20/23; Story by Bianca Quilantan. WHAT IS THE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATING? — The Education Department last week announced seven new investigations into incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia at schools. However, the department does not comment on ongoing investigations and officials cautioned that just because a school is under investigation does not mean it has broken the law. So, little to no details are available of the specific incidents they are investigating, but the department said it would update its list of investigations weekly. — But here is what we do know: Five of the complaints filed with the Office for Civil Rights allege antisemitic harassment and two allege anti-Muslim harassment. At least two of the investigations — against the University of Pennsylvania and Wellesley College — were spurred by complaints filed by the Brandeis Center on behalf of Jewish students. — “This might be a sign that OCR just gets it,” said Kenneth Marcus, founder of the Brandeis Center and former assistant secretary for civil rights in the Trump and George W. Bush administrations. “They’re moving so quickly that it seems like they’re actually trying to send a message, whether to the Jewish community or to higher education, or to both. OCR seldom moves this quickly and to open this many cases as a batch really does send a signal.” Kenneth Marcus, founder of the Brandeis Center. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo — “In the one-month period between Oct. 7 and Nov. 7, ADL documented at least 124 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, a dramatic and shocking increase from only 12 incidents during the same period a year ago,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who lauded the Education Department’s investigations. ADL and other Jewish organizations launched the “Campus Antisemitism Legal Line,” a helpline for legal protection for students who have faced antisemitism. — Both of the complaints we know about were filed in response to campus demonstrations and rhetoric in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. The complaint against Penn alleges that the school has created a “hostile environment for its Jewish students.” The complaint cited the school’s participation in a “Palestine Writes Festival” in September, which the Brandeis Center said featured speakers who featured “antisemitic rhetoric” and spurred antisemitic graffiti and a Penn student’s “violent attack on Penn’s Hillel.” — About two weeks later — after the Oct. 7 attacks — students held rallies in support of Hamas’ actions. According to the complaint, the rallies chanted statements such as “There is only one solution: intifada resolution” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Some staff also reported getting antisemitic emails threatening violence. — Penn has responded to security threats, the group said, but President Liz Magill has not “condemned the rallies or professors’ antisemitic statements.” The Brandeis Center called Magill’s statements “inadequate” and urged the Education Department to investigate whether the school is violating civil rights law and “nurturing a hostile environment toward Jewish students.” — University officials have said they will cooperate with the investigation. Magill has also announced the formation of a task force on antisemitism to counter and combat the form of discrimination. MORE ON THE INVESTIGATIONS — At Wellesley College, a complaint from the Brandeis Center and Jewish on Campus alleges that a residential adviser sent an email saying “that there should be no space, no consideration, and no support for Zionism within the Wellesley College community.” A second email was sent with an apology, but the RA posted on social media that the apology email was sent with a “gun to my head.” — Wellesley President Paula Johnson did not call out the email, but encouraged students to attend a panel that faculty were hosting about the conflict. Jewish students, however, felt marginalized by the event that they said “minimized the atrocities committed by Hamas.” The Brandeis Center and Jewish on Campus are urging the Education Department to investigate the school and to require staff to undergo training about antisemitism. — “Wellesley responded quickly and decisively to the incident involving student leaders in a residence hall detailed in the Brandeis Center complaint and has shared its response in multiple communications to our community, while making clear antisemitism has no place at Wellesley,” the college said in a statement to the Boston Herald. — More investigations are still expected to be launched, according to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, and several advocacy groups have confirmed to your host that more complaints are in the works. Some schools, including Columbia University, say they have received their investigation notifications and will cooperate. Cornell University, however, declined to comment on the investigation announcement. — Cardona on Friday said he is willing to withhold federal funds from schools that are not willing to protect students from discrimination. “It’s our responsibility to protect them and we’re doing everything in our power to enforce that,” Cardona said. “And if we see that there are places that are not doing it, we’re gonna open up an investigation. We’re gonna provide support, but we’re gonna open up an investigation to make sure that we’re doing our job as educators.”
Published by Wall Street Journal on 11/17/23; Story by Joseph Pisani. Education Department is looking into seven complaints alleging antisemitic and anti-Muslim harassment at colleges and one K-12 school district The Education Department is investigating several schools over reports of harassment against Jewish and Muslim students in response to ongoing campus tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war. The department is investigating Columbia University, Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, Wellesley College, Lafayette College, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, and the Maize Unified School District in Kansas. The schools are under investigation for alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which protects students from, among other things, discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics. College campuses have become a hotbed for tension following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, with protests often drawing national attention. Jewish and Muslim advocacy groups have reported more harassment, intimidation and assaults around the country since the attack. The surge of threats has fueled widespread calls for schools to keep students on both sides of the conflict safe. The Education Department said five of the complaints allege antisemitic harassment and two allege harassment against Muslims. It declined to provide further details. Schools that don’t protect students from discrimination and refuse recommendations from the Education Department’s civil rights office could lose federal funding, the department said. “Hate has no place in our schools, period,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement Thursday. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a Jewish advocacy group, filed complaints to the Education Department against Penn and Wellesley last week, alleging the schools didn’t do enough to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. The Brandeis Center said schools should provide mandatory training on antisemitism to staff and update their policies on antisemitism, among other remedies. “The swift responses to our complaints reaffirm how severe the antisemitism crisis is on college campuses and sends an important signal to university leaders,” said Kenneth Marcus, the Brandeis Center’s founder and chairman. Penn and Wellesley said they have taken steps to combat antisemitism on campus. Columbia declined to comment on the investigation. Cooper Union, based in New York City, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Lafayette College, in Easton, Pa., said it doesn’t know why it was included in the department’s investigation, but that it would cooperate. Maize Unified School District, which oversees K-12 schools in Maize, Kan., also said it would cooperate. Schools have struggled to navigate the national scrutiny brought on by campus protests. Penn and other elite institutions, including Harvard University, have faced pressure from billionaire donors threatening to cut funding to schools that take actions they disagree with. Schools are also facing challenges directly from students, some of whom are taking their universities to court. The University of Florida’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group, sued the chancellor of Florida’s university system and other Florida officials this week for ordering a shutdown of the group at the state’s public universities. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the group, said in court documents that disbanding the group violated students’ rights to free speech. The chancellor, Raymond Rodrigues, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Three Jewish students sued New York University on Tuesday, saying the school didn’t do enough to stop antisemitism on campus, making them feel unsafe. An NYU spokesman said the lawsuit’s allegations were false and that it “paints a bogus picture of conditions on NYU’s campus.” NYU said this week it plans to open a center for studying antisemitism next year.
This blog was authored by Olivia Flasch and published by the Times of Israel on 11/16/23. Last year, long before the October 7 massacre, I engaged with a former colleague on social media. She claimed that as a supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself against terror attacks committed by Hamas, I was supporting child murderers, and, as a result she could never speak to me again. This accusation thrown at me by my former colleague was not new. I grew up hearing “child murderers” being yelled at anti-Israel demonstrations in Sweden, and this was not the first time I had been called one. But even beyond my personal experiences, the myth that Jews kill non-Jewish children has existed for almost as long as Jews themselves. It is known as the “blood libel” and has taken many forms over the years. Blood libel accusations became widespread in Europe in the 12th century after the First Crusade. At that time, the accusation was that Jews murdered Christian children in order to use their blood to make matzah bread for Passover. In the early 1900s, blood libel charges in Eastern Europe frequently led to pogroms, or violent anti-Jewish riots. In 1903, a newspaper in Russia published articles alleging that local Jews were behind the murder of a Christian boy, causing three days of riots during which almost 50 Jews were killed, hundreds were injured, and hundreds of Jewish homes and businesses were destroyed. From the 1920s onward, the antisemitic Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer frequently accused Jews of plotting elaborate murder plans against gentiles so they could use the blood of Christians in their rituals. We all know what these types of accusations ultimately led to in Europe, but even after the Holocaust, blood libel accusations continued to spur pogroms in the region. For example, in 1946, 42 Jews were murdered in Poland due to the false accusation that Jews had kidnapped a Polish boy and hidden him in the basement of a local Jewish Committee building. In Arab countries, too, the blood libel accusations took hold in the mid-20th century. In the 1960s, Egyptian books with titles referring to “Talmudic human sacrifices” were published, and in 1983, the Syrian Defence Minister published a book called “Matzah of Zion”, which became a very influential and frequently cited authority that Jews were perpetrating ritual murders in Damascus. The book was still being printed in the 1990s and early 2000s, with one Syrian delegate citing to it at a United Nations conference in 1991. In 2014, a former Jordanian member of the House of Senate stated in a televised interview that the Gaza Strip is dealing with enemies of Allah who believe that matzah bread must be kneaded with blood, and who used to murder children in England, Europe and America. The same accusations were made by a member of the Egyptian Freedom and Justice Party in a televised interview in 2013. The specificity of these false accusations needs to be noted. Since the beginning of time, Jews have been referred to as child murderers. And for practically as long as it has existed as a modern state, Israel, and supporters of Israel’s right to defend itself, have been referred to as child murderers. It is striking, then, that the October 7 massacre was marked, in particular, by the ruthless, horrendous atrocities Hamas carried out against children and babies specifically, with over 40 babies murdered and several of them beheaded in just one location. Many more children were tortured to death in other locations on the same day. This is not a coincidence. In the early 1990s in Rwanda, Hutu leaders repeatedly claimed that the Tutsis were conspiring to ethnically cleanse Rwanda from its Hutu population by throwing them in the Nyabaronga River. A few years later, the exact opposite happened. Between 500,000-800,000 Tutsis were murdered by the Hutus, with many of them thrown to their deaths in that very river. In international law, this is a concept known as “accusation in mirror.” Accusation in mirror is one of many techniques used by genocidaires to incite people to commit acts of genocide. Direct and public incitement to genocide is an international crime, which is separate and distinct from the crime of actually committing genocide. Incitement to commit genocide is committed when one incites, or seeks to bring about through words of encouragement, the commission of genocidal acts. And one of the most effective ways to do so is to accuse the victim group of committing those same acts against them. Hamas has, since its inception, meticulously studied this effective form of genocidal propaganda. It has, quite literally, taken notes on how to exterminate Jews in the most efficient way, as confirmed by a highly annotated copy of Mein Kampf found last week in a Gazan child’s bedroom concealing a Hamas tunnel entrance. Amongst the recent accusations made by Hamas spokespeople against Israel include that they are murderous terrorists, fascists, Nazis, occupying colonialists (or colonialist occupiers), and of course that they are committing genocide, by carrying out “the massacre of the century” against Palestinians. All this, from a Mein Kampf-reading, dictatorial, terrorist regime, that has held captive the civilian population in the Gaza Strip for twenty years, whose founding charter vows to eradicate Jews and other infidels from the face of the Earth, and who committed a massacre of unimaginable proportion against Israeli civilians just one month ago. Accusation in mirror. That Hamas is genocidal is perhaps no great secret. But what is unique about their approach is the reach and impact of their accusations. One of the reasons accusation in mirror is so effective is because it invalidates any true claims of genocide from the victim population, and thus discourages bystanders from coming to their aid. The genocidaires will say, “you are committing genocide against us!” and the victims will respond, “no, you are committing genocide against us!” leading the bystander to shrug and say, “well it sounds like you are both committing genocide against each other, so who should I believe?” In that way, the victims are isolated, and thus more easily eradicated. This is what we are seeing in the strategy of Hamas. By provoking a military operation through the October 7 massacre, ensuring the deaths of their own civilians through their exploitation as human shields, inflating the number of casualties, and mislabelling their own rocket attacks as Israeli airstrikes, Hamas has created a smoke screen which has convinced not only their own members, but also the general public, that the accusations that Israel is committing genocide are indeed true. Thus, morality is obscured, and confusion ensues. Israel is, of course, not committing genocide. The commission of genocide has very little to do with the number of casualties (inflated or not) and very much to do with possessing specific intent to eradicate a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, with the deliberate targeting of the members of such a group. Suggesting that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians by responding with military force to Hamas’s terror attacks would be tantamount to suggesting that Britain committed genocide against the Germans during the Second World War on the basis that far more German civilians died than did British. In his article Accusation in Mirror, which has informed much of this article, Kenneth Marcus quotes Coptic activist Mounir Bishai, whose community has faced false accusations and simultaneous attacks in Egypt for years: “Suddenly we have shifted from complaints [of] self-defense, from demanding [our] rights to convinc[ing] the public that we are not depriving others of their rights […] How have we suddenly turned from persecuted into persecutors, from the weak into the strong and tyrannical, from the attacked into the infamous attackers, and from the poor into the rich exploiters? How did these lies become widespread, without us gaining any ground or improving our situation one whit?” This is the effectiveness of the technique that we are seeing today. To implement it on such a large scale, help from the media, whether deliberate or not, is essential. The media has been immensely powerful throughout history in spreading genocidal propaganda. Der Stürmer’s articles calling for the extermination of the “murderous Jews” is a prime example. Another famous example comes from the Media Case, the international trial of three Rwandan nationals who founded Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (“RTLM”), a radio station that for over a year broadcasted messages to the public warning of an elaborate Tutsi plan to overthrow Rwandan democracy and claim back the “power” from the Hutus through “force and trickery” and encouraging members of the public to take up arms and kill them to prevent this. Also in this war, the media has helped spread Hamas’s message. On 17 October 2023, all major media outlets around the world, including Reuters, The Guardian, Al-Jazeera, Le Monde, CNN, NBC, the New York Times, Washington Post and others published the false accusation that Israel had struck a hospital in Gaza, killing over 500 civilians. As a direct result of that story, which remains online despite having been disproven, violent protests broke out in the West Bank, Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, Tunisia and Jordan, with dozens of protestors attempting to storm Israeli embassies, resulting in arsonists burning down a 16th century historic synagogue in Tunisia. Similar demonstrations broke out in Europe, with a Berlin synagogue, which also houses a kindergarten, attacked with firebombs. By publishing information stemming directly from Hamas, including unverified figures of casualties provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, the media has continued to perpetuate the notion that Israel is ethnically cleansing the Gaza Strip of Palestinians. As a result, hundreds of thousands have marched in major cities around the world to “Stop the Genocide in Gaza.” The slogans chanted at these marches bear a terrifying resemblance to terms and phrases used in Nazi Germany. The terms Judenfrei (free of Jews) and Judenrein (clean of Jews) were used by Nazis before and during the Holocaust to symbolise locations that had been cleansed of their Jews. With this in mind, it is not hard to imagine that there is genocidal intent behind the now famous slogan from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free alongside placards depicting the Israeli flag in a trash bin with the words keep the world clean that have shown up at every major anti-Israel rally since October 7. And just as the violent pogroms of the 20th century resulted in the murder and assault of Jews and the destruction of Jewish property, Jews in Europe in 2023 are being attacked and murdered at anti-Israel rallies, with their residences vandalized and their businesses firebombed, all in the name of justice. But it is not just the statements in the media or the slogans at the rallies that raise concerns. Governments are also adopting the frightening rhetoric used by Hamas in their official statements, such as Turkish President Erdogan’s speech this week branding Israel as a “terrorist state” and prophesying that its “end is nigh.” Voltaire once said, “those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities,” and there is nothing preventing this from applying on a geopolitical level. And that is why it matters. There appears to be a thin line between condemning and inciting to genocide. For the sake of all of us, we must make it thicker.
The Brandeis Center (LDB) signed a joint-letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) asking it to act within its mandate to locate and establish communication with Israeli hostages and prevent violations of International Humanitarian Law by Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza. Violations include murdering civilians, using human shields to cover military targets, and publicly displaying the bodies of victims. Thousands of victims continue to stem from the Hamas-Israel war, ignited by Hamas’s October 7 massacre of more than 1,200 Israelis and its abduction of hundreds more. These victims and hostages include Israelis (Jewish and Arab) as well as foreign nationals. Many are women, children, the elderly, and other individuals with special protection under International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Read the Brandeis Center’s fact sheet: International Humanitarian Law in Asymmetric Warfare The October 7 terrorist attack constitutes the “persistent violation of human rights and international humanitarian law, including customary law and Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.” Many thousands of rockets have been launched towards Israel from the Gaza Strip, which is a violation of basic IHL rules. Terrorists have tortured, dismembered, beheaded, and raped innocent civilians. Victims’ dead bodies have been desecrated and hostages have been used as human shields. These are all clear violations of human rights. While there are civilian casualties on both sides, the IDF is careful to observe IHL rules unlike Hamas. According to the Israel Law Center, the ICRC is refusing to engage on the Israeli hostage crisis even though it has members on the ground in Gaza. The Brandeis Center and partner organizations strongly urge the ICRC to “act in accordance with its mandate to prevent the ongoing breaches of International Humanitarian Law.” They request that ICRC locate and establish communication with kidnapped Israelis to ensure their treatment is in alignment with IHL. ICRC should also seek to ensure that Hamas and other terrorist organizations comply with IHL by, e.g., (i) ceasing the murder of civilians and soldiers, (ii) halting the indiscriminate launching of missiles and rockets into Israel, (iii) stopping the targeted attack on civilians and groups protected under IHL, (iv) ceasing the rape or sexual abuse of Israelis and all the hostages, (v) ending the use of human shields to cover military targets, (vi) ceasing the despicable practice of publicly displaying and mutilating the bodies of murdered victims, and (vii) returning Israeli hostages. By undertaking the following actions, ICRC will help protect the rights of individuals – civilians and soldiers – who have been targeted by Hamas.
Published 11/14/23 by The Daily Pennsylvanian. Story by Nicole Muravsky. The Brandeis Center, a Jewish legal rights advocacy group, filed a federal complaint with the Office of Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education, alleging that Penn failed to respond to the harassment of Jewish students. The 27-page discrimination complaint alleges that Penn violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects against discrimination in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. It suggests that Penn has nurtured a hostile environment against Jewish students and failed to protect them from harassment, representing a violation of the statute. The complaint refers to Penn’s campus as a “hostile environment for its Jewish students” and — citing the harassment of Jewish students on campus — alleges that Penn has failed to take measures “reasonably calculated to end the harassment, eliminate any hostile environment, and prevent the harassment from recurring.” The Center filed a similar complaint against Wellesley College on Nov. 9, and it previously has filed complaints on behalf of students at the University of Vermont and the State University of New York at New Paltz. Founder and Chairman of the Brandeis Center and former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education Kenneth L. Marcus wrote in a press release that the complaint is intended to hold the University accountable. “These colleges and universities have failed to keep Jewish students safe and are in clear violation of well-established federal civil rights law,” Marcus wrote. The complaint provides a timeline of Penn’s alleged mistreatment of its Jewish students. It focuses on circumstances surrounding the Palestine Writes Literature Festival — and the University’s response to it — as well as the changes in the campus environment following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. 1996 College graduate Deena Margolies, a staff attorney at the Brandeis Center, said she was a proud Penn alumna but was heartbroken that some Jewish students feared for their safety, showing their Jewish identity, or demonstrating their support for Israel. “That was not my experience,” she said. The complaint alleges that the Palestine Writes festival featured at least 25 antisemitic speakers, including Susan Abulhawa, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Bill V. Mullen, Marc Lamont Hill, and Roger Waters. It also critiqued the incorporation of the Festival into several courses’ curricula and Penn’s failure to quickly distance itself from the festival. Though the University informed students that they could request exemptions, the complaint says that this was insufficient. “Instead of Palestinian culture and poetry, the Festival celebrated ideologists advocating for the destruction of Israel as a Jewish State,” the complaint alleges. The complaint also cites antisemitic events that have since occurred on campus, particularly following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. It accuses Penn of delaying emphasis of the University’s stance against antisemitism until Oct. 15 — over a week after the attack. The complaint references alleged antisemitic incidents and rhetoric at events sponsored by Penn Against the Occupation. It also mentions a march participant pushing a bystander and tearing down pictures of missing Israeli civilians, and alleges that several Penn professors who participated in the Palestine Writes festival “posted vitriolic anti-Israel and pro-Hamas statements and cartoons on their X and Instagram accounts.” The Center suggested that Penn discipline these professors similarly to others who have “made derogatory remarks against minorities,” such as Penn Carey Law professor Amy Wax. “Penn students report feelings of intense distress and fears for their safety while the rallies continue and while their professors continue to show their support for Hamas,” the complaint reads. The complaint provided a list of suggested remedies for the University to better protect its Jewish community, including the appointment of an independent investigator, enforcement of the University’s moral code of conduct, increased education about antisemitism, and strict review and approval policies to ensure the University does not conduct or finance programs that deny equal protection. “I do want students to know that if they do encounter any other antisemitic incidents or if they feel frightened that they should contact us because we can always send in an add to the complaint,” Margolies said. “We don’t want students to feel like this is it.” Last week, multiple Penn staff members received antisemitic emails threatening violence against Jewish community members and naming Penn Hillel and Lauder College House. Penn Police and the FBI said at the time that they were conducting a joint investigation into a possible hate crime. A vacant Campus Apartments property next to the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi was vandalized with the phrase “The Jews R Nazis” last month. DPS has since launched an investigation. In October, Penn committed extra funding to meet Hillel’s extra security needs through the end of the 2024-25 school year, the organization said in an email addressing concerns about the safety of Jewish students. There has been heightened security for Hillel, the Katz Center, Lubavitch House, campus spaces for Muslim worship, and the Christian Association since September. On Friday, Magill committed to “vigorously pursue” violations of Penn’s conduct policies and of the law following recent acts of hate in the Penn community. Magill also recently announced a University-wide action plan to combat antisemitism on campus, emphasizing increased security and education. While many commended the plan, some students told the DP that they wanted to see follow-through from the University or a stronger commitment to combating Islamophobia on campus. The Center is now waiting for the Office of Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education to review the complaint and potentially open an investigation.
Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus will testify before Congress on November 14 — for the third time in two weeks — on campus anti-Semitism. As before, this testimony will air live on YouTube. On Tuesday, November 14 at 10:00 a.m. EST, Chairman Marcus will testify before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development in a hearing titled “Confronting the Scourge of Antisemitism on Campus.” The hearing will examine the increase of antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel. The hearing will air live on YouTube at 10:00 a.m. EST. To better understand the threats Jewish students face on campus – escalating dramatically since the Hamas massacres of October 7 and the resulting Hamas-Israel war in those atrocities’ aftermath, you’ll want to watch what Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus tells Congress.
For Immediate Release November 10, 2023 Contact: Alex Sommer, alex@tuskstrategies.com Brandeis Center Files Two Title VI Civil Rights Complaints with the U.S. Department of Education Addressing Growing Discrimination and Hostility against Jewish Students at the University of Pennsylvania and Wellesley College; Partners with Jewish on Campus on Wellesley Complaint Brandeis Center Seeks Detailed Remedies to Address Emboldened Anti-Semitism on College Campuses Washington, D.C. (November 10, 2023) – Based on well-documented pervasive incidents of discrimination against Jews at two higher education institutions, the Brandeis Center is filing separate complaints with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education. Both seek immediate and specific action to address increasing discrimination against and harassment of Jews in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Each filing includes statements from students that explain how they were harassed and/or subjected to discrimination. Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, states: “These colleges and universities have failed to keep Jewish students safe and are in clear violation of well-established federal civil rights law. There’s been a lot of talk about rooting out anti-Semitism on campuses, and it’s time to hold these colleges accountable. We want to thank the students for their courage in coming forward and collaborating with us to ensure we hold these universities accountable for letting Jewish discrimination run rampant.” The complaints allege that failure to adequately respond to these unnerving incidents puts both universities in violation of OCR guidance, which specifies that Title VI – which prohibits schools that receive federal funding from allowing harassment, bias or discrimination on campus – protects Jews on the basis of their “actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.” The complaints follow a series of recent actions taken by the Brandeis Center to address anti-Semitism after the October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians. Earlier this week, the Brandeis Center partnered with the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel International and law firm Gibson Dunn to launch the Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL), a free legal protection helpline for students who have experienced antisemitism. Brandeis Center also wrote a letter to Harvard University regarding its failure to take action against a professor that Harvard itself admitted had discriminated against Jewish Israeli students. The Brandeis Center will continue to lead the way in ensuring actual accountability and remedial action in the face of widespread displays of anti-Semitism on U.S. campuses. Overview of the Complaints University of Pennsylvania In recent months, Penn has allowed its campus to become a hostile environment for its Jewish students as well as a magnet for anti-Semites. The anti-Semitic climate on campus was ratcheted up more than a few degrees when Penn hosted the “Palestine Writes Festival,” ostensible about Palestinian literature, but actually an event to highlight anti-Semitic speakers such as musician Roger Waters and 25 others known for their aggressive stance against the Jewish State. Leading up to the event, anti-Semitic incidents increased. Penn’s Hillel was vandalized by a Penn student who broke in, damaged property, and yelled, “F*ck the Jews.” Penn responded to the criminal activity, but forged ahead with the Festival, which took place over Shabbat and during the Jewish High Holidays of Awe. Although Penn claimed it was not an “official” event, the Festival was funded by Penn, used the Penn name and logo, and took place on Penn property. Some professors included attendance as a course requirement. Two weeks after the Festival took place, student protestors gathered to celebrate Hamas’ murder and mutilation of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7th. Once again, Penn leadership failed to check the increasingly hostile environment, which leaves Jewish students effectively blocked from classrooms during rallies, fearful for their physical safety on campus, and intimidated by students and professors calling for Jewish blood. Protesters at the marches compared what is happening in Gaza with Auschwitz, tore down pictures of missing civilians and called out for the destruction of the Jewish State. Last week, the Penn Hillel received bomb threats. Wellesley College The Wellesley case is filed by the Brandeis Center and Jewish on Campus. On October 18, while Jewish students were still reeling from attacks on friends and family in Israel, the residential advisor (RA) at a Wellesley dormitory declared in an email “that there should be no space, no consideration, and no support for Zionism within the Wellesley College community.” The Jewish students were stunned. After receiving complaints about the anti-Semitic email, the RA sent a second email purporting to “regret any harm her words have caused.” However, on Instagram on October 20th, the same RA posted that the apology email was sent with a “gun to my head.” Wellesley President Paula A. Johnson advised the college community that the residential staff had learned from their mistake, but did not call out the anti-Semitic email specifically. President Johnson also encouraged students to attend a panel that faculty were hosting about the conflict. But that panel only fueled anti-Semitic ideas, further maligning and marginalizing Jewish students on the basis of their Jewish ancestral identity connected to Israel. Panelists minimized the atrocities committed by Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians on October 7, by claiming that only a small extremist faction of Hamas are terrorists, that Hamas shouldn’t be demonized, and that Hamas is not anti-Semitic because they only want to kill Zionists. Wellesley’s failure to take a stronger stance and check the hostile environment violates Title VI. Brandeis is requesting that OCR require Wellesley to take steps to bring it into compliance with Title VI, including by ensuring Jewish and all students have equal access to residential facilities and services provided by residential staff, investigating discrimination by residential staff in connection with their efforts to exclude Jewish students on the basis of shared ancestry and requiring residential staff to undergo training about anti-Semitism targeting Jewish shared ancestral identity connected to Israel. To view this press release as a PDF, click here. About the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is an independent, unaffiliated, nonprofit corporation established to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all. LDB engages in research, education, and legal advocacy to combat the resurgence of anti-Semitism on college and university campuses, in the workplace, and elsewhere. It empowers students by training them to understand their legal rights and educates administrators and employers on best practices to combat racism and anti- Semitism. The Brandeis Center is not affiliated with the Massachusetts university, the Kentucky law school, or any of the other institutions that share the name and honor the memory of the late U.S. Supreme Court justice. More at www.brandeiscenter.com. About Jewish on Campus Jewish on Campusis a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded and run by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students. Since its founding in 2020, JOC has collected stories of anti-Semitism from thousands of students around the world and has assisted in creating change on campus.
Article published by Jewish Insider on 11/14/23; Story by Gabby Deutch Top officials from the Department of Education met virtually with Jewish community leaders on Monday to discuss the agency’s actions to combat rising antisemitism on American college campuses. But several of the attendees left the meeting concerned that the department is not responding with the urgency they feel the antisemitism crisis deserves. “We’ve repeatedly communicated that this crisis is unlike anything we’ve seen before, so it requires a response that is unlike what we’ve seen before, in terms of resources, guidance and — if necessary — direct pressure on schools to ensure their students are safe,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “It is entirely possible to both protect speech and address increasingly overt antisemitism.” Monday’s meeting came two weeks after Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, met with a small group of Jewish leaders and pledged to make a plan within two weeks to address the wave of antisemitism on campuses. “They did not give us a plan to deal with an unprecedented surge in antisemitic activity,” said Ken Marcus, chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. Instead, Marcus said, the Education Department leaders on the call — Deputy Secretary Cynthia Marten and Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon — touted steps already taken by the Biden administration and expressed concern about the problem without offering many new approaches. “It’s notable when two such high officials of the Education Department are present,” Marcus continued. “But beyond that, I would say that the meeting was most notable for the absence of a significant plan for addressing this extraordinary problem.” Cardona kicked off Monday’s meeting with a brief message of support for Jewish students who have faced threats or harassment on campus. “There were a lot of broad comments about how fighting antisemitism on campuses is a priority for the department, and they’re really committed,” said a lobbyist at a Jewish advocacy organization who attended the meeting. Late last month, the White House spoke out against an “extremely disturbing pattern of antisemitic messages being conveyed on college campuses,” according to Andrew Bates, the White House deputy press secretary. “Delegitimizing the State of Israel while praising the Hamas terrorist murderers who burned innocent people alive, or targeting Jewish students, is the definition of unacceptable, and the definition of antisemitism.” The comments were followed by a series of actions meant to combat antisemitism at American universities, which have seen Jewish students assaulted and threatened in recent weeks. The Education Department updated the complaint form for students reporting civil rights violations to now make it easier to identify anti-Jewish hate, and Lhamon wrote a “Dear Colleague” letter to American universities urging them to respond to rising antisemitism and Islamophobia. But some Jewish advocates worry these actions are not enough. “I think the set of tools and the mode of thinking that they have is not matched to the moment of crisis, and they need to shift,” said the lobbyist who asked for anonymity to speak candidly about a closed-door meeting. For instance, senior Education Department officials had pledged to make visits to universities to discuss antisemitism, according to guidance in the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism that was released in May. Last week, Cardona and Emhoff visited Cornell, where an undergraduate was arrested last month for making violent threats against Jewish students. Earlier this month, Cardona and Neera Tanden, the White House’s domestic policy advisor, met with Jewish students at Towson University. “We said, ‘Hey, you should be making some high-profile site visits for universities that are doing a terrible job,’” the lobbyist said, pointing to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Jewish students reported being shut out of classes last week by pro-Palestine protesters. “Those university administrations need to be made to feel uncomfortable themselves.” An Education Department spokesperson declined to comment when asked about the Monday meeting. The Education Department officials pointed to a number of complaints recently filed with the department’s Office of Civil Rights alleging antisemitic discrimination at American universities under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But according to attendees on the call, the officials did not say whether the department will be able to expedite these complaints, which sometimes take years to resolve. Lhamon “shared her strong commitment to using Title VI to hold university administrations accountable for responding swiftly and effectively to harassment of Jewish students creating a hostile environment,” said Adam Lehman, CEO of Hillel International. But “there was general agreement that the department and others will need to invest toward additional interventions that can even more quickly guide universities toward changes in policy and practice.” Other organizations represented on the call included the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, Bend the Arc and T’ruah.
Published by the CNN.com on 11/10/23; Story by Matt Egan A Jewish legal rights advocacy group has alleged that the University of Pennsylvania and Wellesley College have violated federal civil rights law by allowing for discrimination against Jews. The Brandeis Center, a Jewish civil rights legal organization, filed civil rights complaints with the US Department of Education on Thursday, alleging both schools failed to adequately respond to harassment of Jews. “These colleges and universities have failed to keep Jewish students safe and are in clear violation of well-established federal civil rights law,” Kenneth Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center, said in a statement. “There’s been a lot of talk about rooting out anti-Semitism on campuses, and it’s time to hold these colleges accountable.” Marcus, a former assistant secretary of education, alleged the universities are “letting Jewish discrimination run rampant” and thanked students for having the “courage” to come forward by sharing their statements in the complaints. The complaints argue both schools have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects people from discrimination in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Neither UPenn nor Wellesley responded to requests for comment. Tension on campus College campuses have been hit by a spike in tension over last month’s terror attacks against Israel and the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The University of Pennsylvania recently alerted the FBI to a series of threatening antisemitic emails sent to the Ivy League school’s staff. Earlier this week, “vile” antisemitic messages were projected onto several University of Pennsylvania campus buildings. “Penn has allowed its campus to become a hostile environment for its Jewish students as well as a magnet for anti-Semites,” the Brandeis complaint said, referring to the larger community surrounding the university. The 27-page complaint alleges “Penn’s nurturing of a hostile environment toward Jewish students is a patent violation of” Title VI. It cited the recent antisemitic threats at UPenn as well as the Palestine Writes Festival, a multi-day event on campus at UPenn in September that has been the focal point of a backlash among wealthy donors. Liz Magill, the school’s president, condemned antisemitism broadly before that festival and noted that some speakers had a history of making antisemitic remarks. Facing calls for donors for her to step down, Magill announced an action plan on November 1 designed to fight antisemitism at UPenn. Magill posted an Instagram message on Thursday condemning the antisemitic messages posted on university buildings. “For generations, too many have masked antisemitism in hostile rhetoric. These reprehensible messages are an assault on our values and cause pain and fear for our Jewish community,” Magill wrote on Instagram. “Projecting hateful messages on our campus is not debate, it is cowardice, and it has no place at Penn. Allegations of a hostile environment The Brandeis complaint about Wellesley cited an email that a residential advisor (RA) at a school dormitory sent that allegedly said “there should be no space, no consideration, and no support for Zionism within the Wellesley College community.” CNN has not independently confirmed that allegation. Wellesley President Paula Johnson wrote in a message to the college community last month that it recently came to her attention that a “small number of student residence hall leaders from one dormitory sent a letter to their housemates in their capacity as resident assistants that expressed views on the Israel-Hamas conflict.” Johnson said Wellesley’s student life team met with the students and “talked about their role and responsibility to support all students,” adding that the RAs sent an apology to all students. The Brandeis complaint argued Wellesley’s “failure to take a stronger stance and check the hostile environment” violates Title VI. “This is an exceedingly challenging time on college campuses,” Johnson said. “The terrorist attacks by Hamas, the ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and the tremendous loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives have inflamed passions and sparked fierce debates around the world that go far beyond the politics and history of the region.” Johnson previously issued a statement where she condemned the Hamas terror attacks. The Department of Education sent guidance to colleges and universities this week reminding them about their legal responsibility to protect students from discrimination. In an interview with CNN’s Rene Marsh, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona acknowledged the agency could withhold federal support, but said that wouldn’t be the first action. Cardona said first the department would provide support and guidance as well as investigate egregious acts. “Ultimately, if we have to withhold dollars from a campus refusing to comply, we would,” Cardona said. Donor backlash widens Meanwhile, the backlash among wealthy donors from some Ivy League schools continues. Billionaire Henry Swieca recently stepped down from the board of trustee at Columbia Business School, the university confirmed to CNN on Friday. Swieca, a Wall Street veteran, reportedly resigned in protest to how Columbia has responded to antisemitism. “Columbia Business School received a letter from Henry Swieca on October 30 announcing his resignation from the Board, and the administration thanks him for his service to the School,” a Columbia spokesperson said in a statement. Swieca did not respond to a request for comment.
Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus featured on Fox News program ‘Life, Liberty & Levin‘ 11/11/23. FoxNews.com published an article based on the segment. A top former Trump administration official told FOX News on Saturday that the Department of Education has the power to investigate the conduct of colleges where antisemitic and/or pro-Hamas protests are occurring, and where Jewish students have felt threatened. Kenneth Marcus, the founder of the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, told “Life, Liberty & Levin” it is incumbent upon President Biden and Secretary Miguel Cardona to make sure no taxpayer funds are even indirectly facilitating the spread of hate on-campus. Host Mark Levin said the Education Department can try to ensure or force proper behavior while not suppressing free speech. Marcus noted authorities have not been shy about condemning or blocking causes of simpler “microaggressions” and said taxpayers must be comfortable in their belief that on-campus intimidation and hate is not being fueled by their own monies. “That is the whole purpose for why we have an agency called OCR [USDOE Office of Civil Rights]. That’s the agency that I formerly ran. And its sole obligation is to make sure that federal funds are not used to support discriminatory behavior,” he said. “It does this on a whole host of other issues. It needs to do it with antisemitism.” Marcus said the Biden administration has signaled it is welcoming but waiting for complaints to be filed in that respect. But, he added his organization, the Brandeis Center, are or will be filing complaints – though that Cardona doesn’t have to wait for public pressure to audit the situation himself. “Anytime he turns on the television or opens a newspaper and sees what’s going on… then he’s got to know that his Education Department funds are going to support these activities, and it has to stop,” Marcus said. Marcus called the angry protests and pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have happened at places like Columbia University and MIT “unlike anything that we have seen in the United States.” Some officials at the state level like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have taken action against such groups that hold the protests. In his case, the governor “deactivated” state chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine. “We have campuses that can deal with the tiniest of microaggressions: real or perceived,” said Marcus. “But when there are actual macroaggressions, they’re not dealing with it.” “These universities are all getting federal funds, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights — which I formerly led during the Trump administration — has an obligation to make sure that taxpayer money is not being used to subsidize this sort of gross antisemitism.” He underlined that the feds have the power to investigate the conduct of the schools, not necessarily the speech itself under First Amendment protections. But, just like with other campus groups that are antagonistic toward other groups, antisemitic entities can be treated the same way by administrators, he concluded.