Opinion by Kenneth L. Marcus published on The Algemeiner, on October 27, 2022. . The Jewish community has finally awakened to antisemitism on the college campus and in the streets — only to find it seeping into the corporate boardroom and, more recently, BigLaw. . Last week, White & Case LLP, a major international law firm, confirmed sponsoring a controversial conference on “Racism and the Crime of Apartheid in International Law,” featuring Omar Shakir. Shakir, a human rights activist, was once forced out of Israel by an expulsion order. The event was presented by the American Branch of the International Law Association, and was accused of promoting the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. . It was not a one-off. White & Case has also reportedly admitted — after initially denying — that it had sponsored a University of Chicago event earlier this month in which Shakir was invited to speak on Israel’s alleged “crime of apartheid.” . Historically, White & Case faced criticism for defending foreign governments and the German railway against lawsuits filed by Holocaust survivors. Allegations have also recently resurfaced that this firm once relegated its few Jewish lawyers to back-office research work, and forbade them from interacting with clients. . White & Case is the same law firm that the Morningstar financial services firm retained to review alleged anti-Israel bias within its research arm, Sustainalytics. To its credit, the firm found bias, leading Morningstar to drop one of its products and to speak with various groups, including the Brandeis Center, about cleaning up its shop. . Nevertheless, they provided Morningstar with ammunition to fend off pressure from attorneys general in over a dozen and a half states. Now, White & Case will face significant questions about whether it has any credibility as an independent reviewer of anti-Israel bias, when it has been exposed as a source of this very problem. . And the problem extends beyond this one firm. . StandWithUs has exposed several BigLaw firms for bankrolling Berkeley Law’s anti-Zionist bylaws. Four of the student groups that adopted antisemitic bylaws have publicly acknowledged their financial backers. The list includes some of the country’s leading law firms: Morrison & Foerster, where I formerly practiced, as well as Latham & Watkins, Covington & Burling, Debevoise & Plimpton, Skadden Arps, Wachtell Lipton, and Weil Gotshal. . These developments are concerning. We should not, however, overstate the problem. It is too soon, for example, to say whether these firms are underwriting anti-Zionism out of ignorance, rather than malice. . White & Case may have intended only to support international legal scholarship, in order to burnish its reputation in international law. The firm maintains that it has sponsored the American Branch of the International Law Association’s International Law Weekend for many years. The firm also claims that it would not have agreed to be associated with the University of Chicago event had they known the details in advance. . It is plausible that the firm sponsored the conference despite its anti-Israel extremism, and not because of it. Maybe White & Case’s partners have so much money that they don’t know or care where it is going. Similarly, BigLaw may have been ignorant of the Berkeley Law student groups’ anti-Jewish bias when they provided funding. . Nevertheless, these well-heeled lawyers should know the first rule of law: ignorance is no excuse. If they were not aware of the ramifications of their actions earlier, they are certainly aware of them now. . If these firms want to demonstrate that they are on the right side of these issues, they must stop underwriting antisemitism. At a minimum, they should freeze contributions to BDS, anti-Zionist, and antisemitic programming. That includes withholding contributions from any group that excludes Jewish speakers. . As employers, BigLaw should ask all law student applicants whether they have been part of any organization that excludes members, officers, or speakers based on their race, religion, or ethnicity. They should be explicit that this includes groups that have excluded Jewish speakers. Students who have been members of exclusionary groups should be asked what, if anything, they did to try to fix the problem. . Judges should do the same. Several judges have banned Yale Law students from clerkships based on lesser infractions than what we have seen at Berkeley. Judges should ask clerkship candidates whether they have been part of any exclusionary organization, including any group that bars Zionists. And if so, what actions did they take to try to eliminate the discrimination? At judicial nominations hearings, potential judges should be asked whether they will do this. If they decline, senators should weigh this declination in deciding whether to confirm. . BigLaw can do more. Where appropriate, they should apologize for their long histories of limiting or excluding Jewish applicants, much as Stanford has done. They should also apologize for mistreating the attorneys whom they have hired in the past. . Better yet, they should address current problems today. They should ensure that their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs address Jewish identity and antisemitism. If they have employees resource groups for others, they should form them for Jews. If they observe ethnic heritage months, they should observe Jewish American Heritage Month as well. . If they haven’t yet partnered with Shine a Light, firms should join that important nationwide initiative to raise awareness and take action against antisemitism. They should encourage their clients to do so, too. Whether intentionally or not, they have funded the darkness. Now they can shine some light.
The Brandeis Center is pleased to welcome our new law clerk and interns for the fall. . Civil Rights Law Clerk Samantha Crane is a first-year law student at UW-Madison, where she also received a B.A. in political science and journalism and certificate in Jewish Studies. While an undergraduate, she served as an editor on The Undergraduate Journal of Jewish Studies and was vice president of her sorority Sigma Delta Tau. Samantha also interned at the Wisconsin State Capitol and with the Brandeis Center. . Intern Bryn Schneider is a sophomore at American University in Washington, D.C., where she plans to major in Justice & Law with a minor in Public Health. She worked closely with the Leukemia Lymphoma Society throughout high school and spent this summer as an intern for Illinois State Representative Bob Morgan. Bryn is an Event Coordinator for her school’s chapter of CHAARG, a women’s empowerment workout group. . Intern Josh Feinstein is a senior at the University of Maryland double-majoring in International Business and Government & Politics. He is a returning summer intern and plans on attending law school in the future. . Intern Tzivia Lutch is an honors political science student at Touro University and a member of the Tikvah Fund’s Colligate Forum. Before joining the Brandeis Center, Tzivia interned at the U.S. Court of Federal Claims under Judge Mathew H. Solomson, the Coalition for Jewish Values, and the Endowment for Middle East Truth. Tzivia is looking forward to law school and a career in law and public policy. . The work our interns, clerks and fellows do is vital to helping the Brandeis Center pursue its work. We invite students to apply for 2023-24 academic year positions.
The Hadassah Shir Shalom event, ‘Antisemitism: On Our Campuses,’ premiered a new video featuring Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin. . In her video address, President Lewin speaks about contemporary anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses — much of which centers on denying the integral part of Jewish identity known as Zionism. Visit the Brandeis Center’s YouTube page to see more speeches from President Lewin and Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. .
From a Jewish sexual assault survivor targeted by her support group, to a pupil afraid to wear a Star of David, young Jews say they walk on campuses in fear of hate crimes. . Written by Cathryn J. Prince and published 10/24/22 in the Times of Israel. . Ofek Preis won’t walk to class by herself anymore. She’s afraid of being harassed for being Jewish. . “I’m just so burnt out from this. I just want to go to class and have a normal class. Then I remember that there is so much antisemitism here. It can be really debilitating,” said Preis, a 21-year-old senior at State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz. . “It’s shocking and triggering. You start to feel you have no control of your learning environment; you feel unsafe everywhere,” she told The Times of Israel. . Preis isn’t alone: Jewish students across the United States report being excluded from campus organizations, targeted on social media and harassed in classes by students and professors alike. Additionally, they’ve seen dormitories and sidewalks vandalized with swastikas, and buildings plastered with flyers that equate Birthright trips to Israel with genocide and call for Zionists to “fuck off.” . Yet, often lost in the coverage of these incidents is the emotional toll they take on the Jewish students. . One in three college students personally experiences antisemitic hate during the academic year, according to an October 2021 survey conducted for the Anti-defamation League (ADL) and Hillel International. The survey found that 32 percent of Jewish students experienced antisemitism directed at them, and 79% of those students reported that it happened to them on more than one occasion. . Additionally, over 350 anti-Israel incidents occurred on campuses nationwide during the academic year 2021-2022, according to the ADL’s annual Campus Report. The most common means of harassment involved excluding Zionist students, supporting anti-Israel violence and perpetuating antisemitic tropes, according to the report. . “Hate crimes, including those derived from antisemitism, can have dangerous physical, psychological and societal consequences. Research demonstrates that acts of discrimination affect the immune systems of victims and those who witness hateful acts, and the effects of hate crimes change attitudes and behaviors at a societal level for years,” says a June 2021 American Psychological Association statement. . For Preis, the ordeal began after she transferred to SUNY New Paltz from SUNY Geneseo in the fall semester of 2021. . An Israeli studying abroad, Preis was allegedly kicked out of New Paltz Accountability, a sexual-assault survivors’ support group, together with classmate Cassie Blotner, for posting about their Jewish identity on social media. Accused of white supremacy, the girls were targeted on the YikYak social media platform in the spring of 2022 with an anonymous post encouraging students to spit on “the Zionists.” . Pilloried on social media and vilified on campus, Preis said the situation became unbearable. Jittery, anxious, and unable to concentrate, she took most of her classes online for several weeks. She also moved into an off-campus apartment. The decision helped her emotionally but not academically. . Once a double major in political science and sociology, Preis said she fell behind in her studies. Forced to choose between graduating later to make up political science credits or dropping it as one of her two majors, she’s now a sociology major with a political science minor. . “It’s hard to muster up the energy to just get through my day. As a sexual assault survivor it was already a struggle, but this [antisemitism] added another layer to feeling that our safety and well-being is not protected here,” Preis said. . The US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is now investigating SUNY New Paltz for not protecting Jewish students and addressing campus antisemitism. The investigation will determine whether the university violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race and religion. . “We unequivocally condemn any attacks on SUNY students who are Jewish, and we will not tolerate anti-Semitic harassment and intimidation on campus,” says to a SUNY New Paltz statement, which adds that the university will “continue our active engagement to support our Jewish students and employees around the rise of antisemitism.” . The Department of Education is also investigating complaints against the University of Vermont (UVM), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Southern California (USC). The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a legal advocacy group, filed the complaints with Jewish on Campus, a student-run nonprofit organization. . “When someone experiences antisemitism and then feels the university won’t do anything, it makes you feel sort of stuck in that experience,” said Julia Jassey, a fourth-year at the University of Chicago and co-founder of Jewish on Campus. . Jassey said she too experienced antisemitism on campus. For example, on Instagram last February, the University of Chicago chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) told students not to take “Shitty Zionist classes” and to “Support the Palestine movement for liberation by boycotting classes on Israel or those taught by Israeli fellows.” . Hiding in plain sight . “I think people need to realize that antisemitism is incredibly painful for these students. This is not what college is supposed to be,” said Alyza D. Lewin, president of the Brandeis Center. . “The bad news is everything you’re hearing about rising antisemitism is true. The good news is, you’re hearing about it. Denying it or downplaying it only compounds the anxiety students are feeling. It makes them think maybe it’s not real, or maybe they should hide who they are, which is not an acceptable reality,” she added. . However, hiding one’s identity is the reality for many students, including Tufts University junior Micah Gritz. . The 20-year-old international security and Jewish studies major tucks his Star of David necklace under his shirt whenever he gets to class. Before university, he never thought twice about the necklace. . That changed before move-in day of his freshman year. Gritz was one of many incoming undergraduates who sought to connect with fellow classmates on the social media platform GroupMe. . “We were chatting on it and then someone happened to mention they were Jewish. ‘Israel or Palestine?’ came the response,” said Gritz. . Once on campus he heard comments like, “You’re Jewish, you must be rich,” or “So you kill Palestinian children, right?” A professor in one of Gritz’s political science classes also insinuated that the Jewish lobby controls the government, he said. . “Sometimes I’d push back, but you can become exhausted and burnt out fighting for your identity. Sometimes you just need to prioritize your mental health,” Gritz said. . Getting involved with Jewish on Campus as its chief operating officer helped Gritz cope. Refraining from social media also helps, he said, adding that he uses Instagram infrequently and keeps his Twitter account private, primarily using it to follow the news. . Anxious and angry . That around 2,000, or 20%, of UVM’s 11,626 undergraduate students are Jewish was a draw for one student, who, fearing a backlash, spoke on condition of anonymity. . “It was so important to me to go to a school with a strong Jewish presence that I wrote about it for my college application essay,” said the UVM junior. . When she arrived at the bucolic school situated a mile from Lake Champlain, she appreciated the variety of student organizations. Some were dedicated to climate change, others to books. Some to crafts, others to social justice. . Her excitement soon evaporated. . In May 2021, UVM Empowering Survivors, a sexual assault survivor support group, posted antisemitic comments on Instagram. Then a university teaching assistant reportedly targeted student supporters of Israel on Twitter. For example, on April 5, 2021, the TA wrote, “is it unethical for me, a TA, to not give zionists credit for participation??? i feel its good and funny, -5 points for going on birthright in 2018, -10 points for posting a pic with a tank in the Golan heights, -2 points just cuz i hate ur vibe in general.” . The university and its president, Suresh Garimella, declined to comment about the school’s handling of claims of antisemitism. . Instead, the president’s office referred to Garimella’s statement regarding the Title VI investigation, in which he said the media coverage of the Department of Education’s investigation “has painted our community in a patently false light.” . “UVM is home to a strong and vibrant Jewish community and is recognized as a place where — year after year — many Jewish students, faculty, and staff choose to study, teach, conduct research, practice medicine, and work,” the statement said. . The UVM junior found no solace in his statement. . “Just because a school has a big Jewish community doesn’t mean there isn’t antisemitism outside of those spaces. It got harder to be a Jew outside of those spaces,” she said. “I’m no longer comfortable sharing my Jewish identity in class. I’m scared to bring it up during discussion, even though everyone else is free to talk about their identity and not feel intimidated.” . Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, said Garimella’s email is another example of an administration’s failure to act. . “They are not protecting the mental health of Jewish students,” Rez said. “So many of these students feel tremendous insecurity. Some ultimately feel the need to hide their Jewish identity or support for Israel. On the macro level that leads to stress and many students have a tough time throughout the day.” . According to the watchdog group’s latest report, 55% of respondents answered “yes” when asked if they’ve experienced some form of antisemitism at their school. Only 28% of students said they feel their school administration takes antisemitism and the protection of Jewish students seriously. . Lingering effects . Rose Ritch graduated from USC two years ago. Her experiences there still reverberate. . It was August 2020 and Ritch, then a rising senior, was elated. She’d just been elected undergraduate student government vice president. Her joy was short-lived. . Some students launched an impeachment campaign. Multiple Instagram posts called her a racist for supporting Israel. Tweets celebrated “the zionists from usc and usg getting relentlessly cyberbullied.” . “It escalated like a tornado. I was so nauseous from anxiety. I couldn’t eat for eight days. It was hard to sleep. It definitely was not a healthy moment in my life,” said the 24-year-old Ritch. . Isolation compounded the stress. It was the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and she was living alone. A steady stream of supportive texts, phone calls and video calls helped, “but a hug would have been nice,” she said. . Although some in the administration were sympathetic, there was no public condemnation of the harassment, Ritch said. She weighed her options. . “People said if I stayed I would win, and if I left I would be letting them win. It was presented as a binary choice,” Ritch said. “I realized I wouldn’t be a successful student leader, student or person if I stayed. Winning for me was canceling out the noise. I had to take my physical and mental health into account.” . The harassment continued. . She’d be in psychology class — held on Zoom because of pandemic measures — when private messages would pop up calling her a racist, she said. . Ritch welcomes the Title VI investigation into USC as well as the university’s announcement that it is developing partnerships with national organizations including the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee. . Nevertheless, she remains troubled. . “It was a traumatic experience and impacted me mentally for a lot longer than I care to admit. I’m much more cognizant that there are people out there who don’t like that I hold this identity,” she said. . Changing the scenery . Some Jewish students like Gritz choose to stick it out. Others, such as Avi Zatz, decide enough is enough. The agroecology major transferred from UVM to the University of Florida this year, ahead of UVM’s Title VI investigation. . “I love it here. The administration is supportive. People are comfortable being who they are and bigotry is shut down quickly, where at UVM it was accepted,” Zatz, a junior, said of his new school where of the 34,881 undergraduates, 18%, or just over 6,000, are Jewish. . Zatz said he felt something was amiss at UVM when students marched down Burlington’s main street in support of BDS during the High Holy Days in 2021. . “It was uncomfortable. There were also really popular clubs on campus that I wasn’t able to join because of my background,” he said. For example, the UVM Book Club, a university-recognized student club, has a group “University of Vermont Revolutionary Socialist Union.” In May 2021 that group publicly announced it would ban Zionists. . No longer comfortable wearing anything that might identify him as Jewish, Zatz went to the administration. . “Long story short, they didn’t care. They made it clear they were not going to condemn antisemitism,” Zatz said. “I felt isolated and insecure. I thought I’m not supported and no one is being held to account. I didn’t know what to expect in college, but nobody expects to be excluded based on their background.” . While the Department of Education continues its investigations and antisemitic incidents continue unabated, SUNY New Paltz’s Preis said she hopes people will consider the emotional toll antisemitism takes on students. . “This will follow me, this feeling that our safety and well-being as a Jewish student is not considered,” Preis said. “All of it has made me question why I am here in America studying, whether I even want to stay here after I graduate. I’m not sure I see a future here anymore.”
Former Brandeis Center intern Danya Belkin, currently an Ostad Undergraduate Fellow at Duke University, has assembled the program ‘Common Ground Conference: Anti-Semitism, Zionism, and Dialogue’ as part of her research fellowship. . The free event, taking place Sunday, October 30, between 2:30-5:30 p.m., is open to the public. . Brandeis Center President Alyza Lewin will speak on ‘Antisemitism and Zionism,’ and Brandeis Center Scholar in Residence Diane Kunz will present on the ‘History of the Jews and Israel, Indigeneity and anti-Semitism.’ . The purpose of the conference is to bring together different people in order to foster a greater understanding of the richness of Jewish identity and to have a discussion about the common ground Jews share with other minority groups. More information is available.
In a new ‘Fox & Friends Weekend’ segment Brandeis Center Founder and Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus discusses the action of nine UC Berkley School of Law student groups to bar Zionist speakers. Watch the video clip below, where Mr. Marcus says: “Antisemitism on college campuses has gotten both worse and different… [T]he latest battle in anti-Semitism on campus consists of efforts to exclude, marginalize, and silence Jewish students who support Israel in any fashion.” Also in the clip, Mr. Marcus refutes Dean Erin Chemerinsky’s defense of what is now happening at that campus. Watch the Fox News interview and read Kenneth L. Marcus’s Jewish Journal op-ed.
~ Published in J Weekly on October 4, 2022 by Kenneth L. Marcus ~ .Berkeley Law professors Ron Hassner and Ethan Katz are less disturbed by what they call the “nakedly discriminatory” activities at their law school than by my article, which has put a national spotlight on their school. In their Oct. 3 op-ed in J., Hassner and Katz concede that the actions of nine Berkeley Law student groups, which have amended their bylaws to ban Zionist speakers, are “bound to make Jewish students feel excluded.” Nevertheless, they worry that I will “erode needlessly” the Jewish community’s “sense of basic safety and security in places where Jewish life is actually thriving” — by revealing the truth of what I have termed “Jewish-free zones” at Berkeley Law. . While Hassner and Katz call my claims “outlandish,” not once do they deny that they are true. That is because the facts are undisputed. The severity of Berkeley’s problems are clearly understood by the extraordinary range of people — Jews and non-Jews, liberals and conservatives, pundits and celebrities — who have shared, circulated or retweeted my article. . These people, whom Hassner and Katz presumably also dismiss as panic-mongers, range from entertainer Barbra Streisand to Sen. Ted Cruz, from CNN’s Jake Tapper to Washington Examiner editor Seth Mandel. They understand the problem at the University of California at Berkeley. The only people who fail to understand it, apparently, are on the university’s faculty. . Hassner and Katz double down on Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky’s shoddy argument that the ban on Zionists is immaterial because only nine student groups amended their bylaws to adopt it. They actually write “happily” that “fewer than 10 out of the more than 100 student groups at the law school chose to adopt such a bigoted course of action.” . One could devote an entire seminar to this use of the word “happily.” Hassner and Katz are not only academics, they are heads of research centers funded by the Jewish community, and they profess happiness — of all possible emotional responses — at the fact that only nine Berkeley Law student groups formally ban Zionist speakers in their bylaws. . It is important to understand the ramifications. Nine student organizations, including the women’s and LGBTQ organizations, are banning anyone who supports the existence of Israel as the Jewish homeland as a speaker. That describes the vast majority of Jews. According to Pew, more than 80% of Jews feel Israel is an integral part of their Jewish identity. In 2021, a University of Vermont book club, the UVM Revolutionary Socialist Union, announced, “No racism, racial chauvinism, predatory behavior, homophobia, transphobia, Zionism, or bigotry and hate speech of any kind will be tolerated.” The group’s constitution and bylaws similarly require every member to pledge no to Zionism. The U.S. Department of Education recently launched a Title VI investigation. . This is where we’re headed if we follow down the path suggested by Hassner and Katz. The Constitution and the laws of the United States do not permit the exclusion of Jewish Americans or any other ethnic or racial group from any public campus programs or activities, let alone nine of them. That these writers can observe “happily” the extent of this de jure segregation should be shocking to all readers. In fact, it is a common reaction among battle-scarred academics who have become so inured to Jew-hatred that they cease to resist it. They resemble the parable of the frog in boiling water. . Outsiders observe that the temperature is rising and know that the situation will soon become intolerable. But as the water temperature slowly rises, the frog adjusts to the discomfort until it is too late. Berkeley’s academic defenders prefer to accept the worsening campus temperature, quietly assimilating to a climate which outsiders will recognize as unsustainable. . Hassner and Katz are not wrong to boast about the centers that they head. For Jewish college students, American academia has long been a tale of two campuses. On the one hand, Jewish students at many colleges enjoy amenities and benefits, ranging from Hillel and Chabad houses to kosher food options to Jewish fraternities and sororities to Jewish faculty and administrators to falafel parties and Jewish studies classes. At the same time, Jewish students at these very campuses face increasing harassment, marginalization, vandalization and exclusion. . We should not ignore the value of the amenities, nor of the academic programs that faculty like Hassner and Katz provide. At the same time, we should not pretend that political science classes or falafel parties compensate for “nakedly discriminatory” conduct. . Hassner and Katz are absolutely correct when they say that we should not “assail the administration for decisions made by student groups.” Rather, we should hold the administration responsible for its own decisions. . These decisions include the decision to stand idly by while a great law school is brought low by what even Hassner and Katz acknowledge is a “bigoted course of action.” These decisions also include the effort to hide behind the freedom of speech, when the only speech under attack is that of the Jewish community. . It is these decisions for which public accountability is required. And it is required before the water begins to boil.
Published in World Israel News on September 29, 2022. . Nine student groups have adopted a bylaw excluding pro-Israel speakers in order to safeguard the “welfare” of Palestinian students. By Debbie Reiss, World Israel News UC Berkeley School of Law students have kicked off the academic year by barring speakers that support “Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine,” prompting charges of intentional “Judenfrei” – the Nazi term for an area that has been “cleansed” of Jews. Nine student groups adopted a bylaw, initiated by UC Berkeley’s Law Students for Justice in Palestine at the end of August, claiming that excluding pro-Israel speakers is fundamental to “the safety and welfare of Palestinian students on campus.” Kenneth Marcus, founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and former law student at the school, accused the groups of establishing Jewish-free zones. In an op-ed published in the Jewish Journal, titled “Berkeley Develops Jewish-Free Zones,” Marcus notes that the move “seems frightening and unexpected, like a bang on the door in the night.” Pointing to the San Francisco Bay Area’s dark past, where Jewish-free zones first spread 100 years ago, Marcus maintains that anti-Zionist campus groups are now directly targeting Jewish Americans. “The exclusionary bylaws operate like racially restrictive covenants, precluding minority participation into perpetuity,” he writes. “The exclusionary bylaws operate like racially restrictive covenants, precluding minority participation into perpetuity,” he writes. Marcus continues: “Anti-Zionism is flatly antisemitic. Using “Zionist” as a euphemism for Jew is nothing more than a confidence trick. Like other forms of Judeophobia, it is an ideology of hate, treating Israel as the “collective Jew” and smearing the Jewish state with defamations similar to those used for centuries to vilify individual Jews. “This ideology establishes a conspiratorial worldview, sometimes including replacement theory, which has occasionally erupted in violence, including mass-shooting, in recent months. Moreover, Zionism is an integral aspect of the identity of many Jews. Its derogation is analogous, in this way, to other forms of hate and bigotry.” Marcus has represented Jewish students at several universities, including two sexual assault victims who were kicked out of a survivor group at the State University of New York at New Paltz for being Zionist as well as a Jewish student government vice president Rose Ritch, who was driven from office at the University of Southern California with threats to “impeach [her] Zionist ass.” Free speech? Marcus dismissed claims that the exclusions were valid on the basis of free speech, claiming that the argument runs the other way too and that “anti-Zionist bylaws limit the free speech of Zionist students.” “Discriminatory conduct, including anti-Zionist exclusions, is not protected as free speech,” Marcus adds. “The students should be ashamed of themselves. As should grownups who stand quietly by or mutter meekly about free speech as university spaces go as the Nazis’ infamous call, judenfrei. Jewish-free,” Marcus concludes. Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of pro-Israel advocacy group StandWithUs, told Fox Newsearlier this month that the student organizations should “rethink their end goals.” “Misrepresenting Zionism is antisemitic and will never lead to peace. Half the world’s Jewish people are in Israel, the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, and the other half likely have friends and/or relatives who live there. “Denying Jews the right to self-determination creates a double standard against only one country in the world. Those who lead biased, anti-peace campaigns should rethink their end goals and be honest about their prejudice against the Jewish people and the only Jewish country in the world,” Rothstein said.
Op-ed authored by Kenneth L. Marcus in Jewish Journal; published September 28, 2022. If it wasn’t so frightening, one might be able to recognize the irony in the sight of campus progressives trying so hard to signal progressive virtue that they fall victim to a deeper moral shame. Nine different law student groups at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Law, my own alma mater, have begun this new academic year by amending bylaws to ensure that they will never invite any speakers that support Israel or Zionism. And these are not groups that represent only a small percentage of the student population. They include Women of Berkeley Law, Asian PacificAmerican Law Students Association, Middle Eastern and North African Law Students Association, Law Students of African Descent and the Queer Caucus. Berkeley Law’s Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, a progressive Zionist, has observed that he himself would be banned under this standard, as would 90% of his Jewish students. It is now a century since Jewish-free zones first spread to the San Francisco Bay Area (“No Dogs. No Jews”). Nevertheless, this move seems frightening and unexpected, like a bang on the door in the night. Berkeley law students are not the first to exclude Zionists. At the State University of New York at New Paltz, activists drove two sexual assault victims out of a survivor group for being Zionists. At the University of Southern California, they drove Jewish student government vice president Rose Ritch out of office, threatening to “impeach [her] Zionist ass.” At Tufts, they tried to oust student judiciary committee member Max Price from the student government judiciary committee because of his support for Israel. These exclusions reflect the changing face of campus antisemitism. The highest profile incidents are no longer just about toxic speech, which poisons the campus environment. Now anti-Zionist groups target Jewish Americans directly. Anti-Zionism is flatly antisemitic. Using “Zionist” as a euphemism for Jew is nothing more than a confidence trick. Like other forms of Judeophobia, it is an ideology of hate, treating Israel as the “collective Jew” and smearing the Jewish state with defamations similar to those used for centuries to vilify individual Jews. This ideology establishes a conspiratorial worldview, sometimes including replacement theory, which has occasionally erupted in violence, including mass-shooting, in recent months. Moreover, Zionism is an integral aspect of the identity of many Jews. Its derogation is analogous, in this way, to other forms of hate and bigotry. Some commentators defend these exclusions on speech grounds, arguing that “groups also have a right to be selective, to set their own rules for membership.” They are wrong about this. As Dean Chemerinsky explains, the free speech arguments run in the other direction: Berkeley’s anti-Zionist bylaws limit the free speech of Zionist students. Discriminatory conduct, including anti-Zionist exclusions, is not protected as free speech. While hate speech is often constitutionally protected, such conduct may violate a host of civil rights laws, such as Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It is not always the case that student groups have the right to exclude members in ways that reflect hate and bigotry. In Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of another Bay Area University of California law school, Hastings College of the Law, to require student groups to accept all students regardless of status or beliefs. Specifically, the Court blessed Hastings’ decision to require Christian groups to accept gay members. Putting legal precedents aside, major universities generally require student groups to accept “all comers,” regardless of “status of beliefs.” They also adopt rules, aligned with federal and state law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of various classifications such as race, ethnicity, heritage or religion. Those who adopt such rules may not exclude Jews from these protections. The real issue here is discrimination, not speech. By adopting anti-Jewish bylaw provisions, these groups are restricting their successors from cooperating with pro-Israel speakers and groups. In this way, the exclusionary bylaws operate like racially restrictive covenants, precluding minority participation into perpetuity. Universities should not have to be legally compelled to do what is obviously right. Anti-Zionist policies would still be monstrously immoral, even if they were not also unlawful. The students should be ashamed of themselves. As should grownups who stand quietly by or mutter meekly about free speech as university spaces go as the Nazis’ infamous call, judenfrei. Jewish-free.
Op-ed authored by Kenneth L. Marcus in Vermont Digger; published on September 25, 2022. . University of Vermont President Suresh V. Garimella recently presented a master class on how not to address civil rights violations. When the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into systemic anti-Semitism at his university, Garimella responded with a harsh public statement criticizing his accusers. Garimella’s response succeeded wildly but in only one respect. . Garimella succeeded only in uniting the organized Jewish American community against his leadership. Specifically, his ill-tempered response provoked a statement of “grave alarm” against UVM’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations. In particular, he drew condemnation for blaming whistle-blowers for his own administration’s failures. . Over twenty Jewish organizations, representing Jewish Americans from coast to coast, joined in a rare show of unity. They announced that they are “alarmed, disappointed and troubled” by UVM’s response. Spanning the A-to-Z of the Jewish world, from the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International to Jewish Federation, Simon Wiesenthal Center and Zionist Organization of America, these organizations, some of which agree on little else, agree on this: Vermont has a big problem, and Garimella is making it worse. . To understand how we got to this point, one must begin with the facts. Last year, my organization, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, joined with a student organization, Jewish on Campus, in filing a lengthy legal complaint against the University of Vermont. . What makes Vermont’s record especially notable is that it came as anti-Semitic incidents were surging nationally and worldwide. Earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League announced that anti-Jewish assault, harassment and vandalism had increased 34% in 2021 to the highest levels since the organization had begun tracking such incidents in 1979. Other organizations reported record levels of anti-Semitism worldwide. . On U.S. college campuses, anti-Semitic incidents have also surged. Catharine Lhamon, my successor as the Biden administration’s assistant secretary of education for civil rights, recently acknowledged the “distressing rise in reports of anti-Semitism on campuses across the country.” Dozens of U.S. congressmen had brought this “very serious problem” to Lhamon’s attention, earlier this year, in a joint letter urging federal officials to attend more expeditiously to campus anti-Semitism. . The federal investigation into the University of Vermont is unusual in its breadth and scope. The Brandeis Center and JOC had described an environment of harassment and intimidation that has existed at UVM for years, but which intensified last year when a teaching assistant repeatedly instigated hate against Jewish Vermont students who express support for Zionism, even threatening to lower their grades. Two student groups deliberately excluded Jewish students who expressed support for Zionism. The Hillel building was vandalized and pelted for over half an hour. . In the face of these charges, President Garimella should have taken prompt and effective action, as required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination at federally funded universities. He did not do so. Instead, Garimella blamed the Jewish whistleblowers, as well as the media, for bringing Vermont’s problem to light, claiming that the Jewish whistle-blowers, rather than their assailants, have been “harmful to UVM.” . Such victim-blaming encourages further harassment and signals that the university is abandoning its support for a portion of its student body. “Instead of summoning the courage that other university leaders across the country have shown in acknowledging the problem or offering support for Jewish students who are fearful about identifying publicly as Jewish,” the Jewish organizations explained, “the UVM president’s statement doubles down and refuses to take responsibility.” . Ironically, Garimella’s ill-fated statement reveals UVM’s bungled response. For example, when a Vermont teaching assistant announced that it would be “good and funny” to lower the grades of Jewish Zionist students, Garimella was satisfied that grades were not actually lowered and students were not harassed in class. Even if this were true, it misses the point. . The instructor had repeatedly baited Jewish students, suggesting private and public condemnation for those who admit that their families live in Tel Aviv, who have taken Birthright trips to Israel, or who want to understand “‘both sides’ of the Arab-Israeli conflict.” She even threatened to penalize them “just cuz I hate ur vibe in general.” Such threats unavoidably intimidate Jewish and non-Jewish students who wish to travel internationally, or who want to understand different viewpoints. They also encourage others to harass Jewish students, especially those for whom Israel is an integral part of their identity. . It is saddening that the University of Vermont refuses to take anti-Jewish bias as seriously as it does other forms of hate or bias. At a time of rising anti-Jewish incidents worldwide, universities must not leave any of their students unprotected. As the U.S Commission on Civil Rights announced last year, “anti-Semitic bigotry disguised as anti-Zionism is no less morally deplorable than any other form of hate.” If it is to achieve even minimal compliance with federal civil rights law, or even the requirements of basic dignity, university leaders must acknowledge the problem they face. Then, they must roll up their sleeves and get to work on solving it.