BRANDEIS CENTER PRESS RELEASE Contact: Nicole Rosen 202-309-5724 Brandeis Center Commends Duke’s Decision to Reinstate SSI Washington, D.C., February 24: President of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Alyza D. Lewin, issued the following statement today in response to Duke University’s student government’s unanimous decision, late last night, to officially reinstate the Duke Students Supporting Israel (SSI) chapter: “I commend the university for finally correcting the injustice that was done when SSI was singled out for discriminatory treatment and its recognition was revoked. It’s important to note that SSI was treated differently from the start. They were subjected to intense questioning in the application process unlike any other groups. They were asked to appear, in-person, at their application hearing to answer questions, when other groups are approved without any in-person appearance. And then, and most egregiously, they were singled out and their recognition was revoked, all because they support Israel. These behaviors directly violated the SSI students’ right to free speech, and discriminated against them on the basis of the Zionist component of their Jewish identity. We are pleased the university finally did the right thing and righted this egregious wrong without our needing to take legal action. But this type of discrimination must not happen at Duke or any other university. We were honored to support the Duke SSI students who exhibited remarkable strength and conviction, standing up for themselves and what’s right. At the Brandeis Center, that is our role. We educate students of their rights under the law, and stand ready to use the law when necessary to ensure Jewish students are not discriminated against.” The Brandeis Center provided strategic and legal guidance to the students throughout this situation and was prepared to take legal action on behalf of the students against the university if it had not taken appropriate corrective action. The Brandeis Center also warned Duke President Vincent Price that formally recognizing the Duke chapter of SSI was the “only way to ensure the University’s compliance” with federal law. “The DSG’s action were discriminatory, and require action by the University,” the Brandeis Center alerted Price back in December and again in January. “A university violates Title VI when its student government rejects a Jewish student organization’s request for recognition based on standards that are not applied to non-Jewish groups.” In November, only days after the Duke University Student Government (DSG) voted to recognize campus group SSI, DSG president Christina Wang vetoed the recognition. Wang claimed SSI inappropriately “singled out an individual student on their organization’s social media account.” The incident in question involves SSI’s response to a Duke student’s tweet that read, “My school promotes settler colonialism.” SSI retweeted the student’s post with the following response, “To Yana and others like her, please allow us to educate you on what ‘settler colonialism’ actually is and why Israel does not fall under this category whatsoever,” and they invited the Duke community to an “SSI 101” event to discuss. According to the Brandeis Center, Duke’s behavior violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin and shared ethnicity. The Brandeis Center explained how from the moment Duke SSI applied for recognition, it was subjected to special scrutiny not applied to other non-Jewish groups. First, student representatives from Duke SSI were forced to endure extensive questioning before the student government vote. Second, once a prospective student group fulfills all application requirements, as Duke SSI did, the student government usually approves the group’s recognition unanimously. In the case of SSI, however, student senators voiced opposition when a formal vote was held on the question of recognition. Third, up until this incident, the presidential veto had never been used to revoke a formal recognition. In fact, when Duke’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) posted a photograph of students affiliated with another pro-Israel group on campus (DIPAC) with the antagonizing caption, “Because y’all are a bunch of racist clowns,” and tweeted, “So I’m going to repeat myself again, f**k DIPAC and every Zionist on campus,” SJP’s recognition was not even challenged, let alone revoked.