Brandeis Center/ADL file federal complaints with U.S. Dept of Education Contact: Brandeis Center, Nicole Rosen 202-309-5724 l nicole@rosencomm.com ADL, Todd Gutnick 212-885-7755 | adlmedia@adl.org Washington, D.C., May 9, 2024: The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today announced they have filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against two California colleges — Occidental and Pomona — for permitting severe discrimination and harassment of Jewish students in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Arnold & Porter joined the Brandeis Center and ADL in the filing against Pomona College. Since 10/7, Jewish and Israeli students on both campuses have been verbally harassed and physically surrounded, followed, threatened, and intimidated by protestors. They have been shouted at, told to “go back to the gas chambers,” and called “kike,” “f**king Jew,” “f**king Zionist,” and “murderer.” Many have been obstructed from moving freely about campus and cannot carry out their jobs or partake in educational opportunities as a result of anti-Semitic bullying, and some have even been physically assaulted. Many Jewish students confine themselves to their dorm rooms or refrain from participating in certain educational and/or extracurricular activities, avoiding certain dining halls or cafés, common areas on campus, and campus events to avoid anti-Semitic harassment. Several have transferred to other schools due to persistent anti-Semitism. “Jewish students on these campuses are hiding in their dorms and avoiding their own campus rather than risk verbal and physical attacks,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights. “Pomona and Occidental know full well this is happening. But instead of enforcing the law and their own policies, they are caving to the anti-Semitic mob and letting them bully, harass, and intimidate Jewish students. Anti-Semitism left unaddressed will not go away. It will only snowball and escalate until the problem is faced head on as the law requires.” “There’s simply no excuse for the persistent and pervasive antisemitic harassment being faced by Jewish students at Occidental and Pomona colleges,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director. “No student should be forced to transfer due to continual harassment. We urge the U.S. Department of Education to investigate these schools for potential civil rights violations and to take effective measures to protect Jewish students on these campuses.” Occidental College Occidental is fully aware of the pervasive and hostile environment for Jewish students, and has ignored and enabled it. The complaint details how Jewish students were forced out of school-sponsored employment opportunities due to severe and pervasive anti-Semitic environments. Many Jewish students chose to leave their jobs rather than continue to subject themselves to anti-Semitic attacks, Holocaust inversion, and harassment while others chose to take unsafe routes home rather than continue to be harassed. At every turn, Occidental has put its Jewish students last, swiftly enforcing policies against its Jewish students while continuing to ignore the same or similar violations from the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic crowd. Jewish students are harassed and obstructed daily on campus, in their dorms, in the dining hall, and more. One particularly egregious incident occurred when anti-Semitic protests occupied and vandalized the central administrative building for nearly a week. Despite several warnings to the trespassing students and staff, Occidental forwent enforcing school policies and instead capitulated to the occupiers’ demands. Occidental sent a clear message – when the victims of violations are Jewish, the rules will not be enforced. Faculty at Occidental have also played a role in encouraging the anti-Semitic environment. One professor told her students she felt “invigorated” by the Hamas terrorist attack and encouraged students to share her excitement. Others have participated in pro-Hamas chanting and made anti-Semitic statements. More than 60 faculty members sent an email denying that Hamas’ actions were terrorism. The school has said nothing to condemn these anti-Semitic declarations, sending a green light to students that this behavior is permitted. Pomona College The already hostile environment for Jewish students at Pomona took a turn for the worse immediately following the October 7 terrorist attack with various student groups and members of the faculty loudly supporting the murderous Hamas attacks, blaming the Israeli victims, and creating a shrine honoring the Hamas terrorists. Pomona students blocked access to buildings, interfered with classes and school events, and harassed current and prospective students. At first, the Pomona administration did very little to remedy the hostile environment. But as the situation deteriorated, President G. Gabrielle Starr eventually began to respond. But despite her laudable, albeit belated efforts to address growing antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on campus, Pomona failed to eliminate the hostile environment, in part, because the opposition from pro-Hamas students and faculty had already grown too strong. Multiple incidents of physical violence and intimidation occurred during the numerous explicitly pro-Hamas protests that took place at Pomona. For example, during one demonstration, protestors surrounded Jewish students who were putting up posters of hostages, physically preventing them from hanging the posters. The protestors then followed the Jewish students and a Jewish adult staff member, obstructed their paths, verbally harassed them, and tore up at least 300 of the Jewish students’ pre-approved flyers. Later that day a protestor saw one of the Jewish students and aggressively pushed him into a wall. The Jewish student was then tailed by other protestors who threatened and intimidated him. The school has taken no action and school security has even refused to watch security footage of the protest incident. Most Jewish students sheltered in in their dorms or left campus entirely for their safety, missing classes to avoid the physically hostile demonstrators. Another protest was so disruptive, including loud antisemitic chants and the blocking of entrances, forcing President Starr to cancel her Family Weekend Address. During another protest, when a student tried to move past the demonstrators to attend the Harry Potter Dinner, an annual Pomona tradition, the demonstrators blocked and grabbed him. Protestors have also disrupted and harassed prospective student tours to such a degree that one prospective student started sobbing. The message was clear: Jewish families and Jewish students are not welcome at Pomona. During a recent protest, President Starr had to call the police to protect herself and the Pomona community at large, resulting in nineteen arrests for criminal trespass and obstruction of justice. This conduct has ensued despite President Starr’s warnings to the Pomona community, her attempts to impose order on campus, and her efforts to offer support to the victimized Jewish and Israeli students. “I have seen anti-Semitism here grow tremendously in the last 3 years,” stated Pomona student, Ayelet Kleinerman. “I have raised it with the administration many times, but even when they had the opportunity to take it seriously, they didn’t. They’ve called the police for their own safety, but they are not doing enough to protect Jewish students. From hate speech to retaliation in class and outside it to the mob that is occupying our campus and has taken over much of campus life, Jewish students are scared.” Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including discrimination against Jews on the basis of their actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, in educational institutions that receive federal funding. Under the law, harassing, marginalizing, demonizing, and excluding Jewish students based on the Zionist component of their Jewish identity is unlawful. UNESCO has cautioned that “Jew” and “Zionist” are often used interchangeably today in an attempt by anti-Semites to cloak their hate. According to President Biden’s U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, released in May 2023, “Jewish students and educators are targeted for derision and exclusion on college campuses, often because of their real or perceived views about the State of Israel. When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism. And that is unacceptable.” Earlier this week the Department of Education opened an investigation into a complaint filed by the Brandeis Center and ADL about “severe and pervasive” anti-Semitism in Berkeley K-12 public schools. 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. More at www.brandeiscenter.com ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913, its timeless mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact. A global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens, ADL works to protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all. More at www.adl.org.
Contact: Nicole Rosen 202-309-5724 May 8, 2024 — Washington, DC — A student group at Washington, DC’s largest high school, which had sued to compel the school to screen a documentary filled with antisemitic tropes and conspiracies, has agreed not to show the film. A coalition of Jewish groups and Jewish parents had supported the school’s decision to stop the film from being shown. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (the Brandeis Center), American Jewish Committee (AJC), and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRC), had filed an amicus brief in the case in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia. The brief argued that Jackson-Reed High School was within its rights to prevent a screening of The Occupation of the American Mind because it was “an unabashed piece of hate propaganda” narrated by Roger Waters, “a virulent anti-Semite.” As the groups argued, the First Amendment does not give the right to present a film rife with hate speech in a high school setting. Under its agreement with the high school, the Arab Student Union will withdraw its request for a preliminary injunction that, if granted, would have allowed it to show the film. Jackson-Reed will allow the group to show one of three other films that the school had previously determined were less objectionable and free of antisemitic rhetoric. According to the District of Columbia Public Schools’ (DCPS) filing, the Arab Student Union could have shown any of these movies even without filing suit. “Jewish students and their families have felt threatened and demonized in the seven months since the Hamas massacre in Israel,” said Edna Friedberg (who provided a declaration with the brief), the parent of a Jackson-Reed student and who is a Holocaust historian. “There is still more work to be done, but this is a victory for all of us who cherish our public schools as safe and inclusive communities.” “The school has become an intolerable place for Israeli and Jewish students, and I am thankful that at least this film will not be allowed to add flame to the fire and create an even more inhospitable place for many students,” said parent Jennifer Knoll. The film has come under attack for being replete with factual errors and antisemitism. It includes accusations that American Jewish organizations met in Jerusalem in the 1980s to discuss how to manipulate the American media. Claims of Jewish control over the media are part of a longstanding conspiracy theory of secret Jewish power, according to AJC’s Translate Hate glossary of antisemitic terms. “The school was right not to allow the screening of a film that would have further polarized a student body already divided over the Israel-Hamas war,” said AJC Chief Legal Officer Marc Stern. “High schools should be a place for constructive dialogue on important issues. This film would have prevented that.” “High schools should not be sanctioning movies, teacher lesson plans, or any ‘educational’ activities that present a one-sided, biased perspective, often laced with antisemitic tropes about Israel and Jews. That is not education,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education. “Schools have every right to exclude anti-Israel propaganda.” “We are gratified that this antisemitic film, the screening of which the JCRC has battled for years, will not be shown at Jackson-Reed. We appreciate DCPS for refusing to allow the film to be shown and defending its position in court,” said JCRC Associate Director Guila Franklin Siegel. “Most of all, we are relieved for the school’s Jewish and Israeli parents and students, who have endured persistent, searing harassment, often with little or no response from DCPS to protect them. Our goal must be to reduce conflict and increase mutual respect and empathy at Jackson-Reed, not to further inflame tensions.” BakerHostetler in Washington, led by partner Paul Levine with assistance from Ken Reisenfeld, Jason Hoffman, and Ben Janacek, represented the Jewish groups and parents in writing the amicus brief.
Published by KQED on May 7, 2024. Story by Matthew Green with contributed reporting by Holly McDede. The head of the Berkeley Unified School District is scheduled to testify before a Republican-led congressional subcommittee on Wednesday morning in response to recent allegations of antisemitism in some of the district’s schools. In a statement last month, the district confirmed that the House Education and Workforce Committee had summoned Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel to field questions from lawmakers about how she has responded to claims that some Jewish students have felt unwelcome in their classrooms since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October. “Although [Ford Morthel] did not seek this invitation, she has accepted,” Berkeley Unified spokesperson Trish McDermott said in the statement. The hearing, on “Confronting pervasive antisemitism in K–12 schools,” will be held at 10:15 a.m. EST by the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education — chaired by Republican Florida Rep. Aaron Bean — and live-streamed on the committee’s YouTube page. Ford Morthel’s appearance on Capitol Hill follows similar Republican-led congressional inquiries into antisemitism on college campuses, including a high-profile hearing in December that contributed to the subsequent resignations of the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. And the hearing comes amid a tidal wave of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the nation that have led to more than 2,000 arrests and prompted several schools to cancel their main graduation ceremonies. On Wednesday, Ford Morthel will be joined by New York City Schools Chancellor David C. Banks and Karla Silvestre, board of education president of Montgomery County, Maryland, according to reporting from the Committee on Education and the Workforce. All three administrators oversee districts that have seen heated activism over the war and reports of antisemitic and anti-Islamic incidents. Berkeley’s progressive school district came to the attention of lawmakers in March when the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Anti-Defamation League filed a federal complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. In it, the groups alleged that Jewish students in Berkeley schools had been subject to “severe and persistent” harassment and discrimination and that school leaders “knowingly allowed” a “viciously hostile” anti-Jewish environment. On Tuesday, a day before Ford Morthel’s scheduled testimony, the department’s Office for Civil Rights announced it had opened a formal investigation into the complaint. Berkeley resident Ilana Pearlman said she started alerting other Jewish parents shortly after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, when her son, a ninth-grader at Berkeley High, showed her an illustration his art teacher had presented to the class as part of a lesson on “resistance art.” “I could understand, you know, maybe resistance art if you have a ton of context behind it,” she said. But “I looked at that and I said, ‘It’s a fist punching through a star of David. No, thank you!’” As Israel launched its ensuing assault on Gaza, she said her son, who is Black and Jewish, told her that signs began appearing on the walls of the classroom, including one promoting a “walkout against genocide” and another listing the daily Palestinian death toll. Pearlman said the teacher also began speaking out against Israel in class and encouraging students to attend an upcoming student walkout. “He can feel however he wants to feel, but that stops at a public school setting,” she said. “You don’t get to go on your whole anti-Israel rant. The law says ‘No.’” Pearlman said her son then told her that during the walkout on Oct. 18, some students shouted, “Kill the Jews!” Pearlman helped mobilize dozens of parents to report alleged incidents of antisemitism, bullying and “pro-Hamas” activism and to demand the school district proactively address the issue. She said the district’s failure to respond effectively prompted the federal complaint, which was filed in February. “What I want to expose about Berkeley is this reality that Berkeley acts like it’s just so perfect. And we’re just so above racism and all of the ‘isms,’ and we’re not,” said Pearlman, who will be in Washington to attend the hearing. “We suck at it too.” In April, the district was also hit with a lawsuit from another Jewish parent alleging it had not adequately responded to his requests to share ninth-grade teaching materials about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the LA Times also reported. In its statement last month, the district said it celebrates its diversity and stands firmly against all forms of hate, including antisemitism and Islamophobia. “We strive every day to ensure that our classrooms are respectful, humanizing, and joyful places for all our students, where they are welcomed, seen, valued, and heard,” Berkeley Unified’s McDermott said. “We will continue to center our students and take care of each other during this time.” After the LA Times interviewed Pearlman about the complaint and in March published a story that named her son, she said he was viciously bullied online with hateful messages, including one that said, “Look at this dumb ass lying genocide lover” and another calling him a monkey. Those messages and other reported incidents also led the Brandeis Center and ADL on Monday to file an expanded complaint against Berkeley Unified, “sounding the alarm that the already-hostile environment for Jewish students is taking a frightening turn for the worse.” The Brandeis Center, run by a former education department official under President Trump, has filed similar complaints against several universities. It also sued the University of California and UC Berkeley officials in November over allegations of antisemitism on campus. “Essentially, what we have asked for is a statement to start with by the district denouncing antisemitism in all of its forms,” said Marci Lerner Miller, senior education counsel for the Brandeis Center. She said that means the district would interpret comments that deny Jewish people their “right to self-determination” as antisemitic. However, many pro-Palestinian parents in the district, a significant number of whom are Jewish, argue that the complaints against the district are unfairly conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism. During a school board meeting in March, Andrea Prichett, a teacher in the district, was among the majority in attendance who urged the district to uphold its progressive tradition around free speech, tolerance and human rights. “The desire to understand Palestine, the desire to understand the roots of the conflict, and the desire to speak freely are not criminal actions,” she said. During that same meeting, Ford Morthel referred to the federal complaint as “an opportunity and not an adversarial process.” Ford Morthel, who took the helm of Berkeley Unified nearly two years ago, brought years of experience as a top administrator at San Francisco Unified. When she accepted the superintendent job, she described herself as a leader focused on equity and has since garnered strong support from many parents in the district. “She leads with concern for folks that have been the most marginalized,” said Erika Weissinger, whose two kids are in Berkeley schools. Students in the district, and at Berkeley High in particular, are known for their activism against injustice, protesting in recent years for causes like abortion rights and against racism and sexual harassment. October Hertenstein, a sophomore at Berkeley High who successfully pushed for a gender-neutral bathroom on campus, said although students don’t always feel heard by the district, Ford Morthel has been willing to listen. “[When] you’re in a room with her, she’s very excited, she’s very animated. She’s very, kind of, ready to talk,” Hertenstein said. In previous interviews with KQED, Ford Morthel said the school district is committed to ensuring students and staff know their rights. Berkeley Unified declined KQED’s request to interview Ford Morthel for this story.
Contact: Brandeis Center, Nicole Rosen 202-309-5724 l nicole@rosencomm.com ADL, Todd Gutnick 212-885-7755 | adlmedia@adl.org Washington, D.C., May 7, 2024: The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced today it has opened a formal investigation into a complaint that the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) failed to address non-stop “severe and persistent” bullying and harassment of Jewish students in classrooms, hallways, schools yards, and walkouts since October 7, 2023. BUSD Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel is also being called to testify tomorrow before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce about BUSD’s anti-Semitism problem. This is the Committee’s first K-12 hearing on anti-Semitism. It has held two hearings on college anti-Semitism where Committee members questioned the heads of Harvard, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including discrimination against Jews based on their actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, in educational institutions that receive federal funding. Under the law, harassing, marginalizing, demonizing, and excluding Jewish students based on the Zionist component of their Jewish identity is unlawful. UNESCO has cautioned that “Jew” and “Zionist” are often used interchangeably today in an attempt by anti-Semites to cloak their hate. President Biden’s US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, released in May 2023, observed that “When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism. And that is unacceptable.” The Title VI complaint being investigated by the Department of Education was filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), and it documents dozens of incidents such as students shouting “f— the Jews” and “KKK,” graffiti stating “Kill Jews,” and teachers indoctrinating students with anti-Semitic tropes and biased, one-sided anti-Israel propaganda disguised as education. BUSD has not only failed to address the cascading anti-Semitism, according to the complaint, it has permitted retaliation against parents who complained. The organizations first filed the complaint in February calling on the Department of Education to intervene. They documented numerous incidents including anti-Semitic comments, such as “kill the Jews,” non-Jewish students asking Jewish students what “their number is,” referring to numbers tattooed on Jews during the Holocaust, Jewish students being told “I don’t like your people” and being derided for their physical appearance, and Jewish students being blamed and demonized. The complaint also documented how students have had to endure anti-Semitic teacher rants and class activities and teacher-promoted “walkouts” that praise Hamas. In fact, during an unauthorized teacher-promoted walkout for Palestine, no teachers intervened as students shouted, “Kill the Jews,” “KKK,” “Kill Israel,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Yesterday, the organizations expanded the complaint, advising OCR that in the last three months, anti-Jewish bigotry and harassment has only escalated and the environment has become even more hostile and threatening. Some of the new incidents described in the expanded complaint include, “Kill Jews” scrawled at Berkeley High School, “Kill all Zionists” written at the bus stop used by many Berkeley High School students to get to and from school, children on the playground saying “Jews are stupid,” a ninth-grader bullied after his parent reported anti-Semitic incidents, teachers continuing to teach one-sided anti-Israel propaganda disguised as education, and removal of posters condemning anti-Semitism and supporting Israel’s right to exist, while anti-Israel and pro-Hamas posters remain undisturbed. Parents have repeatedly reported anti-Semitic incidents to the administration, but BUSD has done nothing to address, much less curtail, the hostile environment that has plagued BUSD since October 7, and is continuing to pick up steam. Instead of addressing teachers’ anti-Semitic behavior, BUSD officials have chosen to disrupt the Jewish students’ learning by moving them into new classes, further ostracizing and marginalizing them from their peers and normalizing anti-Semitic behavior. Jewish students report being worried about mob violence, including being “jumped” at school. Many have said they remove their Stars of David and no longer wear Jewish camp t-shirts, and that they are learning to keep their heads down, hide their Judaism and move through their school days in fear. Some students have left the district due to the pervasive bullying. “Berkeley would never sit idly by and allow vicious threats, harassment, and intimidation of any other minority group, yet when it comes to Jews, seven months of crickets. Making matters even worse, they are permitting teachers, their employees, to indoctrinate students with lesson plans chock full of anti-Semitic tropes and anti-Israel propaganda,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights for George W. Bush and Donald Trump. “Reprehensible is an understatement here. It is high time BUSD enforces federal and state law to address the dangerous anti-Semitism snowballing in front of them.” “We believe there’s a disturbing and clear pattern of anti-Semitic intimidation and harassment in the Berkeley school system, and we are pleased the Office of Civil Rights has opened a formal civil rights investigation,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “Jewish grade school students — like all students — deserve the ability to attend school in a climate free of prejudice, threats or bias.” 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. More at www.brandeiscenter.com ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913, its timeless mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact. A global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens, ADL works to protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all. More at www.adl.org.
On May 3, 2024, the Brandeis Center hosted a Capitol Hill briefing titled “Fighting Antisemitism in K-12 School.” The panel discussion was moderated by Brandeis Center Director of Legal Initiatives Denise Katz-Prober and featured Senior Education Counsel Marci L. Lerner and Senior Counsel Rabbi Mark Goldfeder. The Brandeis Center experts discussed the laws governing K-12 education, as well as ongoing legal efforts across the country to protect students from discrimination. Congressional staffers had the opportunity to hear powerful words from the mother of a victim of anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination. “Some of the anti-Semitism we are seeing in elementary and secondary schools involves traditional and classic manifestations, while some of it resembles what we are seeing in higher education, with middle and high schoolers emulating their older siblings to target Jews on the basis of their shared ancestry connected to Israel,” Katz-Prober explained. “And some aspects of the problem are different – coming from teacher unions or school-generated problems with curriculum.” The Brandeis Center has filed multiple complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the last year, including against Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) and the Community School of Davidson, where a student faced daily abuse, was physically assaulted, and told to “get in a gas chamber” by his classmates. The Brandeis Center is also representing two K-12 public school employees in a complaint against the New York City Department of Education for “failing to protect public school teachers and students from vile and aggressive anti-Semitism.” “With the proliferation of anti-Semitism in K-12 schools, it’s crucial that congressional staffers understand that it’s not just college students who are suffering,” said Brandeis Center Director of Policy Education Emma Enig. “Many of their younger constituents suffer the same bigotry. They are desperate for compassion and guidance from their leaders.” Play LDB Congressional Policy Briefing: Fighting Anti-Semitism in K-12 Schools (May 3, 2024) videoTextBlockModalTitle × Your browser does not support the video tag.
Steve Gosset, American Jewish Committee, gossets@ajc.org, 917-596-3529Guila Franklin Siegel, JCRC of Greater Washington, gfsiegel@jcouncil.org, 301-651-2625Nicole Rosen, Brandeis Center, Nicole@rosencomm.com, 202-309-5724 Washington, D.C., May 7, 2024—A coalition of Jewish groups today said it backed a Washington, D.C. high school’s decision to ban the screening of a documentary that traffics in antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories, at a time when Jewish and Israeli students at the school have felt threatened since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre. Jackson-Reed High School, and its principal, Sah Brown, are being sued by the school’s Arab Student Union, with the help of the ACLU, for refusing to let the Arab Student Union show a version of The Occupation of the American Mind. The 2016 film claims that American Jewish groups and Israel are part of a conspiracy to manipulate the U.S. media and mislead the public about the conflict between Israel and Palestinians. In an amicus brief filed today in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (the Brandeis Center) and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, said Jackson-Reed was well within its rights to prevent a screening of the film. They noted the First Amendment does not give the Arab students or any group the right to present a film rife with hate speech in a high school setting. “Jewish students at the school already have safety concerns, feel isolated, and do not feel safe expressing their Jewishness. The Court need only look at the experiences ongoing in society, threats to Jews, and the espoused safety concerns made by Jackson-Reed’s Jewish students to show that these hateful messages should not be shown in school,” the brief said. The film, which is narrated by musician Roger Waters, a virulent antisemite, has come under attack for being replete with factual errors and antisemitism. It includes accusations that decades ago, leaders of American Jewish organizations met in Jerusalem to discuss how to manipulate the American media. Claims of Jewish control over the media are part of a longstanding conspiracy theory of secret Jewish power, according to AJC’s Translate Hate glossary of antisemitic terms. Cases explain that courts may limit speech in school when it will invade the rights of others. For example, courts have barred Instagram posts from students that contained racist imagery, even when made outside of school, because “vilifying people based on their race threatens the targeted students’ sense of physical, as well as emotional and psychological, security.” Another case barred the wearing of t-shirts that stated “there are only two genders” because of the impact on vulnerable students. The playing of the anti-Semitic Occupation of the American Mind is no different. Brown, the principal at Jackson-Reed, Washington’s largest high school, told students in December that the screening would not be allowed, in part because it was an unsanctioned event that would be polarizing and “cause a further divide among the student body.” That divide, the brief said, was also being widened by some Jackson-Reed teachers, including one who posted a Palestinian power fist on her wall. “One science teacher even included an assignment asking about the climate change effects of Israel’s genocide; that same teacher also stated in class that President Biden is funding genocide,” the brief notes. The brief also rejects claims from the Arab Student Union that it was being censored, pointing to an April 25 Palestinian Cultural Night at the high school, where the Israeli government was compared to white supremacists and the conflict in Gaza was likened to the Holocaust. “The most distressing part was the final performance, which includes a song that calls for crushing Zionism and shooting missiles at their enemies,” according to the brief. The Arab Student Union has asked the court for an injunction that would allow it to screen the film before the end of the school year on June 7.
CONTACT: Jim Walden, 212-335-2031 As students glorify Adolf Hitler and chant “Fuck the Jews,”DOE accused of empowering student bigots. NEW YORK (May 3, 2024) – Today, Walden Macht & Haran and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a lawsuit against Origins High School, the City of New York, the New York City Department of Education, David C. Banks, Michael Prayor, John Banks, and Dara Kammerman on behalf of a public-school teacher and a campus administrator. The suit accuses the City and other defendants of failing to address persistent antisemitism against teachers, including Plaintiff Danielle Kaminsky, at Origins High School in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, leading to a hostile workplace. When the situation got so dangerous that a campus administrator, Plaintiff Michael Beaudry, demanded action from DOE, the Defendants are accused of retaliating against him and removing him from the school. The suit describes acts of antisemitism and hate speech against Jewish people generally, and Kaminsky specifically, between October 8, 2023 and March 2024, which include students marching through the campus chanting “Fuck the Jews”, aggrandizing Adolf Hitler (including referring to him as the G.O.A.T.), drawing swastikas on a Jewish student’s property, and exclaiming to a Jewish teacher that they “want to kill all jews.” The complaint also details how school officials, especially Interim Acting Principal Dara Kammerman, sought to shield bigoted students from any disciplinary action, including against a student who brought explosives to school after engaging in other antisemitic acts. The complaint alleges that DOE’s complicity caused the antisemitism to fester, and, facing no consequences, that some of the bigoted cabal of students started attacking and assaulting LGBTQ+ members of the school community. “It is disgusting that these acts occur at all, let alone in a public school in the most progressive and enlightened city in the world. But it is simply shocking that DOE refused to protect its own people and—worse—retaliated against them to put a lid on the vile, antisemitic behavior,” said Jim Walden, the attorney for Ms. Kaminsky and Mr. Beaudry. “Sympathizing with bigots only empowered them, allowed their hate to escalate, and eventually bubble over to the LGBTQ+ community. This is a case study of how NOT to handle bigotry and antisemitism.” With antisemitism on the rise, as cited in the complaint, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) notes a 140% increase in 2023 of antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and assault in the United States. Meanwhile, public school teachers, sworn to educate the future, were met with inaction by administrators and the New York state authorities. “Above all else, safety must be a school’s #1 priority. Yet, New York City and Origins officials not only ignored violent, targeted threats, they attempted a complete cover-up. They shielded dangerous perpetrators, punished whistleblowers, and left Jewish teachers and students utterly vulnerable,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights. “Dereliction of duty is an understatement here.” The complaint was filed in the United States District Court for The Eastern District of New York by Jim Walden, Adam Cohen, Marc Armas, and Stephen Gardiner of Walden Macht & Haran.
Contact: Brandeis Center, Nicole Rosen 202-309-5724 l nicole@rosencomm.com ADL, Todd Gutnick 212-885-7755 | adlmedia@adl.org Washington, D.C. (May 6, 2024) – The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today expanded their complaint against the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD), sounding the alarm that the already-hostile environment for Jewish students is taking a frightening turn for the worse. In February, the two organizations filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against the Berkeley school district for failing to take action to end the nonstop bullying and harassment of Jewish students by peers and teachers. Incidents included calls to “kill the Jews” and “eliminate Israel” and Jewish students being asked what “their number is,” referring to Nazi concentration camps, derided for their physical appearance, or told “I don’t like your people” and “Of course it was the Jews.” During an unauthorized teacher-promoted walkout for Palestine, no teachers intervened as students shouted, “Kill the Jews,” “KKK,” “Kill Israel,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The complaint documented how BUSD teachers are weaponizing disciplines such as art and history to promote anti-Semitic tropes about Israel. At Berkeley High School, a history teacher screened an anti-Zionist video and forced students to analyze Israel as an apartheid state. This teacher sharply squelched dissent, stating that materials which oppose the apartheid narrative are “laughable.” A high school art teacher showed students violent pro-Hamas videos and displayed anti-Israel and anti-Semitic images during class, including a fist punching through a Star of David. Indoctrination attempts occur in classes for young children. In one second-grade classroom, a teacher hung a Palestinian flag in the window and encouraged students to write “Stop Bombing Babies” on sticky notes to be posted next to the classroom of the only Jewish teacher. At the time, Jewish students reported being worried about mob violence, including being “jumped” at school. Many said they removed their Stars of David and no longer wear Jewish camp t-shirts, and that they were learning to keep their heads down, hide their Judaism and move through their school days in fear. Some students left the district due to this pervasive bullying. After three additional months of silence and inaction from Berkeley authorities, according to the Brandeis Center and ADL, the environment has become even more hostile and threatening. For example, since the original complaint was filed: “Kill Jews” was scrawled in a Berkeley High School bathroom. BUSD did not issue a statement denouncing Jew hatred or expressing a zero-tolerance policy for threats of violence against Jewish members of the school community. “Kill all Zionists” was written at the bus stop used by many Berkeley High School students to get to and from school; the hateful vandalism remained for days after it was reported. Again, BUSD made no statement denouncing the violent and threatening rhetoric against the Jewish and Israeli members of the school community. A first-grader heard older children on the playground saying “Jews are stupid.” The six-year-old told his mother that he wishes he were not Jewish because people do not like Jews. Since the incident, he has not wanted to go to school. Instead of intervening, the school principal suggested the six-year-old speak with the older bullies to resolve the problem. A ninth-grader faced bullying and taunting after his parent reported anti-Semitic incidents. On a public and widely circulated social media post, an upper-level high school student targeted the Jewish ninth-grader, calling him a “dumbass” who is “blatantly lying cuz he loves genocide that much.” This message was then re-posted by other students and received countless views. BUSD took no discernable action in response. The art teacher who created a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students was finally put on leave after dozens of major media outlets, including CNN, reported on the anti-Semitism in his classroom. Since then, posters have appeared tacked on walls all over the high school building with an image of the teacher and the caption “Bring Mr. ____ Back.” Instead of addressing the inappropriate posters, the principal sent “shoutouts” to all students and faculty, praising the teacher. During a cooking lesson on Palestinian food, a seventh-grade teacher forced her students to listen to a podcast that demonized Israel and the Jews, included false information, and presented a libelous narrative about Israelis “stealing” land, appropriating recipes, and engaging in “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.” This type of propaganda not only demonizes and damages the Jewish and Israeli students in the class, it instills a hatred of Israel and Jews into all students, perpetuating the cycle of anti-Semitic hostility throughout the District. When parents complained, the school failed to respond. In March, a high school teacher posted political propaganda in her classroom including a QR code for a Gaza Genocide Action Toolkit that accuses Israel of genocide, tells readers to support the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) movement, which seeks the elimination of Israel, to “make sure everyone knows that Israel is mass murdering Palestinian families with our tax dollars,” and to tell Congress “they have blood on their hands.” It also characterizes the ADL as “a right-wing organization that uses inflammatory, racist rhetoric to mislead the public, cover up Israel’s war crimes, and smear activists for Palestinian rights.” Ethnic Studies teachers began presenting unapproved, biased, and anti-Semitic propaganda in the classroom that further marginalizes Jewish and Israeli students. A vocabulary list given to students defines “Anti-Zionist” as a person who “believe[s] in a future where all people on the land live in freedom, safety and equality;” Hamas as an “Islamic Resistance Movement;” and Hamas’ brutal acts of terror as “armed resistance.” The list includes terms like “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” “occupation,” and “settler colonialism,” which are commonly used to demonize Israel. A group of BUSD teachers wrote an inflammatory and divisive letter to the school board after the Brandeis Center/ADL complaint was filed, characterizing parents who reported incidents of anti-Semitism at BUSD as “extreme” community members and “oppressors,” and labeling their efforts to protect their children as “part of the Zionist playbook.” They also asserted that “[t]he ADL is known as ‘Israel’s attack dogs’ in the US.” A “BUSD for a Ceasefire in Palestine” walkout, promoted by teachers, took place during school hours at Berkeley High School. School resources and facilities were used to organize the walkout and staff attended along with students. While posters displaying anti-Israel propaganda and promoting anti-Semitism are left untouched, posters condemning anti-Semitism and supporting Israel’s right to exist are ripped down from the hallways of Berkeley High School without investigation or consequences. “Dereliction of duty doesn’t even come close to describing what we are seeing in Berkeley; it is disgusting and shameful,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights for the George W. Bush and Donald Trump administrations. “The Berkeley Superintendent and the School Board are either completely incompetent or they are willfully ignoring their job. If even one of these incidents was happening to any other minority group it would be promptly addressed, with consequences, not ignored and permitted to snowball out of control when it comes to the safety of Jewish students.” “The blatant disregard by BUSD of this continuing anti-Semitic harassment, bullying and rhetoric is inexcusable,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “Jewish students are hiding their identities and are afraid to go to school – this is outrageous, unacceptable, and should not be happening in 2024. The Berkeley School District must be held accountable for their inaction and seeming indifference to addressing this hostile school environment and must do more to ensure the safety of Jewish students.” Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin, including discrimination against Jews on the basis of their actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, in educational institutions that receive federal funding. Under the law, harassing, marginalizing, demonizing, and excluding Jewish students based on the Zionist component of their Jewish identity is unlawful. UNESCO has cautioned that “Jew” and “Zionist” are often used interchangeably today in an attempt by anti-Semites to cloak their hate. President Biden’s U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, released in May 2023, observed that “Jewish students and educators are targeted for derision and exclusion on college campuses, often because of their real or perceived views about the State of Israel. When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism. And that is unacceptable.” 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. More at www.brandeiscenter.com ADL is the leading anti-hate organization in the world. Founded in 1913, its timeless mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Today, ADL continues to fight all forms of antisemitism and bias, using innovation and partnerships to drive impact. A global leader in combating antisemitism, countering extremism and battling bigotry wherever and whenever it happens, ADL works to protect democracy and ensure a just and inclusive society for all. More at www.adl.org.
Published by New York Post on 5/3/24; Story by Georgia Worrell and Priscilla DeGregory A Jewish teacher who said she was terrorized by students at her Brooklyn high school — including with swastikas, death threats, Nazi salutes and Hitler-loving comments — has sued over the heinous antisemitism that school officials allegedly allowed to run rampant. Danielle Kaminsky, whose alleged ordeal was detailed in a front-page Post expose about hateful incidents at Origins High School in Sheepshead Bay, claims bigotry was “effectively promoted and encouraged” there, according to the Brooklyn federal lawsuit from Friday. Kaminsky, 33, a global history teacher, claims she was the victim of a slew of antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre — including an email she received saying, “All Jews need to be exterminated.” According to the suit, from Oct. 8 through March — when Kaminsky was finally transferred to another school — students engaged in an array of “aggressive antisemitism” at Origins including marching through campus chanting “f–k the Jews,” and “Death to Israel!” while waiving the Palestinian flags, drawing swastikas on school grounds and glorifying Adolf Hitler, the suit claims. But when Kaminsky, 33, spoke up about it, the school retaliated against her, the suit alleges. Campus manager Michael Beaudry — the other plaintiff in the suit — supported Kaminsky and made a bid for the administration to intervene, but was also allegedly punished for speaking out. “The students conducted their campaign of hate within a New York City public school, emblazoned it in graffiti on its furniture, scribbled it on blackboards, circulated it in emails and text messages, and repeated it on papers and notes foisted on, and taunts directed at, Jewish teachers and students,” the suit charges. Kaminsky and Beaudry’s alleged nightmarish experiences were part of a wave of antisemitic incidents reported at New York City schools in the wake of the terror group’s attack on the Jewish state — including one anti-Israel riot by students at a Queens school that left a teacher cowering in fear. Schools Chancellor David Banks is set to testify on Wednesday before the US House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce — the same congressional panel that has grilled presidents of elite universities about antisemitism on campus. “Students and staff deserve to be safe and respected in their school and Origins High School is no different. We will review this lawsuit,” said Department of Education spokesman Nathaniel Styer. During the hateful march at Origins on Oct. 11, students chanted “death to Israel” and other vitriol — but school officials didn’t mete out any punishments, according to the lawsuit. This only “emboldened” the student to start “directing antisemitism at Jewish teachers and students,” the documents allege. One student the day after, drew swastikas on Kaminsky’s blackboard during class, others left post-it notes on her door and bulletin board and around school saying “death to Israel,” the filing claims. But Interim Acting Principal Dara Kammerman “fueled” the bigotry by failing to punish the students and instead hosting a restorative justice circle — which the teens called the “Pro-Palestinian Circle,” the suit claims. Kaminsky and another Jewish teacher at Origins received a particularly vicious email titled “filthy Jew Kaminsky” on March 5 from someone threatening: “All Jews need to be exterminated. Their doors kicked in in the middle of the night. A bullet put in each of their heads. “Through all history, the k–es are purveyors of mass death and suffering. They will never stop until they are stopped. Kaminsky the foul whiny Jew has no place in America let alone a school system. Here’s hoping the Muslim students put an end to her, and that it’s both terrifying and very painful,” the email continued. Kaminsky and Beaudry’s lawyer Jim Walden said they don’t know who the email was from and hope to find out over the course of litigation. Roughly a year earlier, Kaminsky was forced to removed at least 10 students from class for “abhorrent behavior” in which they spewed hateful remarks during a presentation from two interns of the Museum of Jewish Heritage ahead of a school trip. One student said he would “take money out of dead Jewish people’s corpses” and another added “why would anyone want to help the Jewish people” — comments forcing Kaminsky to interrupt the presentation several times and excuse students from the class, the filing alleges. The museum’s invitation for students from Origins to visit on a school trip was rescinded after the incident, the papers claim. Beaudry had warned Kammerman against hosting the “Pro-Palestinian Circle” in the aftermath of the student march, telling her she wasn’t allowed to engage with students in political speech, but she responded “I’m doing it,” the suit claims. Shortly after on Oct. 25, 2023, a Jewish student sent Kammerman a letter saying he felt threatened and requested to be transferred to another school, according to the lawsuit. Kammerman also failed to punish a student who was one of the students who left hateful post-it notes around school and who was caught on Jan. 9, 2024 with fireworks in her jacket pocket, the suit says. “Kammerman intervened on [the student’s] behalf to forestall her arrest, as NYPD was eventually altered to the incident,” the court documents claim. And things continued to escalate with one student posting on a classroom message board with Kaminsky “f–k u” and “ima bomb this school,” the filing alleges. Students also went after a Jewish teacher they found out was gay, with one student getting arrested after threatening he would “pull you into the back of a van and rape you because you are gay,” the complaint says. When the student eventually came back to school he wore a “Hitler-style mustache drawn under his nose” and stepped into a classroom with other students and “performed the Nazi salute” — in an incident caught on school surveillance cameras, the court papers claim. In a separate incident on January 22, two students — who were caught on video posting a Palestinian flag in Kaminsky’s room — approached her when she was alone, saying “How do you feel about Hitler?” — which she took as a threat, the filing claims. Kaminsky requested to transfer schools multiple times but instead was met with retaliation including unfounded “disciplinary conferences” and threats of low performance ratings, the court papers claim. She was eventually transferred to a school in Queens in March 2024 but was told she could only stay for three months and would need to find another school after. Kaminsky was also restricted from most digital systems and processes that teachers were ordinarily given, the suit claims. Similarly, Beaudry, 48, was also retaliated against, having been given three notices for “disciplinary conferences” in January 2024 and he was forced to work from home starting March 5 until his “investigations” were resolved, the filing claims. He was removed as athletic director on March 22, which “had the effect of reducing his compensation,” the suit alleges. They pair are suing for unspecified damages. The Post first exclusively reported on Kaminsky and Beaudry’s experiences in March with Kaminsky saying at the time: “I live in fear going to work every day.” “This had been devastating for Danielle and Michael,” Walden told The Post. “Obviously, no one seeks to be an educator only to be a target of racist attacks.” “But to be belittled and disparaged by—and worse, to suffer reprisals from—those is charge has been a monumental challenge. The story of their resilience is a lesson in courage,” the lawyer said. Kaminsky and Beaudry were invited to speak at a forum in Washington DC Friday hosted by the not-for-profit Brandeis Center where they shared their experiences with congressional staff, their lawyer Jim Walden told The Post. “It seems to have been a complete abdication of responsibility, and then an attempted cover up,” said Mark Goldfeder, who serves as senior counsel at the Brandeis Center, about school officials’ alleged inaction. He urged Congress to “hold their feet to the fire” in the upcoming House hearing on “Confronting Pervasive Antisemitism in K-12 Schools.” Walden said his clients are waiting to find out whether they will be invited to testify next week at the hearings that Banks will take part in. “Every country in the world is represented in NYC Public Schools, and our schools are not insulated from global events, nor the hate, fear, or bigotry that accompanies times like these. To address the pernicious threat of antisemitism, Chancellor Banks’ ‘Meeting the Moment’ plan focuses on addressing incidents quickly with appropriate discipline, education, and engagement with our communities,” Styer said. Kammerman and reps with the city Law Department didn’t return requests for comment.