Summer has not slowed the Brandeis Center (LDB) down. In August, LDB sued the U.S. Department of Education for unlawfully dismissing LDB’s Title VI complaint against the University of Pennsylvania only weeks after opening an anti-Semitism investigation. LDB also sued the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) Union for retaliating against Jewish and Non-Jewish members opposing its anti-Semitic practices. And LDB filed a brief opposing UC Berkeley’s motion to dismiss our lawsuit against UC Berkeley over its “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism.” Read More
Summer has not slowed the Brandeis Center (LDB) down. In August, LDB sued the U.S. Department of Education for unlawfully dismissing LDB’s Title VI complaint against the University of Pennsylvania only weeks after opening an anti-Semitism investigation. LDB also sued the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA) Union for retaliating against Jewish and Non-Jewish members opposing its anti-Semitic practices. And LDB filed a brief opposing UC Berkeley’s motion to dismiss our lawsuit against UC Berkeley over its “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism.” Brandeis Center Sues the U.S. Dept. of Education The Brandeis Center and its membership organization, Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education (JAFE), filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) for failing to follow its own procedures in dismissing the Brandeis Center’s November 2023 complaint against the University of Pennsylvania for fostering an environment of anti-Semitism on its campus – an abdication of its responsibility to thoroughly investigate instances of egregious anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination that occur in potential violation of OCR’s anti-discrimination standards and the Administrative Procedure Act. “By failing to follow its own administrative procedures, in violation of its own stated mission of ‘vigorous enforcement of civil rights,’ the Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Education overall have not only shown a blatant disregard for the wellbeing of Jewish students at the University of Pennsylvania, but for the due process entitled to every American who seeks relief from discrimination in educational institutions,” declared Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “Jewish students at UPenn and many other college campuses across the country increasingly continue to face an egregious amount of anti-Semitism, particularly after the Oct. 7 massacre. OCR’s decisions have crippled these students’ ability to seek remedy from these hostilities and allows certain colleges and universities to continue ignoring or even fostering anti-Semitism on their campus.” Brandeis Center Sues Association of Legal Aid Attorneys Union The Brandeis Center and law firm Lieb at Law filed a federal District Court complaint against the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325 (“the ALAA”) and individual union officials for undertaking acts to expel and otherwise discipline two Jewish and one Non-Jewish ally from the union, in retaliation for their lawsuit opposing the ALAA’s anti-Semitic discriminatory practices manifested in the now infamous ALAA resolution attacking Israel soon after the October 7 terror attacks. The resolution opposed by the plaintiffs was so vile that several non-profit legal services providers employing ALAA’s members denounced it as anti-Semitic and unrepresentative of their values, including plaintiffs’ employer, the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, as well as The Legal Aid Society and the New York Legal Assistance Group. “Zionism is integral to Jewish identity, but plaintiffs – proud unionists who have dedicated their professional lives to serving poor and disadvantaged clients – didn’t need to be Zionists, or in one case, even Jewish, to understand that anti-Semitism is antithetical both to their obligations as lawyers and to the mission of a union responsible for representing the interests of all its members,” proclaimed Brandeis Center Director of Corporate Initiatives and Senior Counsel Rory Lancman. Brandeis Center Opposes UC Berkeley’s Motion to Dismiss Suit LDB and its membership subsidiary JAFE filed an opposition brief in response to UC Berkeley motion to dismiss LDB’s lawsuit over the university’s “longstanding, unchecked spread of anti-Semitism.” “Defendants paint the suit as one alleging a series of discrete incidents. Wrong — it is a suit alleging defendants’ failure to respond in any meaningful way to a longstanding hostile environment,” wrote LDB in its opposition brief. UC Berkeley argued in June that the case should be tossed because the university had not had time to internally address some of the incidents cited as evidence of anti-Semitism in the suit, including a tent encampment and the blockade of a gate on campus. Prior to the school’s attempt to dismiss the suit, LDB expanded its complaint to include even more anti-Semitic activity on campus, which UC Berkeley still has not addressed. “Amazingly, the UC Berkeley regents have the nerve to claim that they shouldn’t be held accountable because they haven’t had enough time to investigate the situation,” said Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “They got the facts and the law wrong,” stated LDB General Counsel L. Rachel Lerman, who added that it is “abundantly clear” the plaintiffs have valid claims and UC Berkeley is “mistaken” in its argument. With anti-Semitic activity on campus likely to escalate once classes resume next month, Lerman explained that the court cannot give the school even more time to pursue its ineffective strategies. Pointing to comments made by UC President Michael Drake in November 2023 stating that students have faced “outright violence,” Lerman said: “Usually you would expect an immediate response at that point.” Alyza Lewin Features in Touro University Webinar Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin was among the featured panelists in Touro University’s Touro Talks 2024 Distinguished Lecture Series, “Antisemitism on College Campuses and Beyond.” Play View President Lewin’s conversation with U.S. District Judge, Honorable Roy K. Altman, Touro University President Dr. Alan Kadish, and ‘Touro Talks’ Director Nahum Twersky. videoTextBlockModalTitle × Your browser does not support the video tag. LDB Holds Capitol Hill Policy Briefing on Disturbing Trend: Retaliation Against Jewish Whistleblowers Exposing Campus Anti-Semitism The Brandeis Center hosted a July 10 Capitol Hill policy briefing titled “Retaliation Against Jewish Students and Parents: How Counter-complaints and Baseless Accusations are Being Weaponized to Silence Jewish Voices on Campus.” The event highlighted disturbing accounts of anti-Semitism alongside troubling and derelict administrative responses. Brandeis Center Board Member Tevi Troy served as moderator, and Brandeis Center Senior Counsel Mark Goldfeder, Staff Attorney Deena Margolies, and Staff Attorney Ben Alkon all presented as panelists. Emory and American University students, and the parent of a child enrolled in the Berkeley Unified School District shared their personal experiences with university administrators – who were indifferent to campus anti-Semitism and allowed baseless counter-complaints against the Jewish students to proceed. In her concluding remarks, Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin explained that the experiences shared by the student and parent panelists are not isolated instances but are emblematic of a systematic effort to delegitimize and chill claims of anti-Semitism. She stressed the important responsibility universities have to recognize and dismiss such malicious complaints and highlighted the definition of anti-Semitism as a vital tool for distinguishing between good-faith political debates and anti-Semitism. Play Read more about the policy briefing from Brandeis Center Intern Nicole Hirschkorn and watch the recorded briefing here. videoTextBlockModalTitle × Your browser does not support the video tag. Brandeis Center Hires Senior Litigator Kami Z. Barker Accomplished trial attorney, disability policy advisor, and former intergovernmental lobbyist Kami Z. Barker joins the Brandeis Center as its newest senior litigator as part of its continued expansion. “The Brandeis Center is happy to welcome Kami and looks forward to seeing her contributions to fighting the onslaught of anti-Semitism in our educational systems,” said LDB Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “Kami is joining our team when the demand for our legal services is higher than ever,” said Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin. “It’s my privilege to join the Brandeis Center’s fight to ensure that no one is forced to tolerate hate speech on campus or in the workforce,” affirmed Ms. Barker. In response to the growing demand for our services, the Brandeis Center continues to expand its team, initiatives, and policy-driven work. LDB will continue to hire legal and other staff throughout 2024. Professionals with strong experience and interest in joining LDB’s efforts to combat anti-Semitism are encouraged to watch the opportunities section of LDB’s website – and subscribe to the organization’s mailing list. Kenneth Marcus to Feature in American Jewish University Webinar July 30: “Using Law to Fight Antisemitism on College Campuses” Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus will feature in an American Jewish University webinar on July 30, exploring the utility of using Title VI and other civil rights laws to fight anti-Semitism on college campuses. The event is free, and we encourage you to register for what will surely be an engrossing conversation between Chairman Marcus and AJU President Jeffrey Herbst. Brandeis Center Interns The Brandeis Center’s summer interns have been busy writing about the latest developments in the fight against anti-Semitism. Jonah Feuerstein authored two new blog posts chronicling the testimony of LDB clients before Congress. Nicole Hirschkorn authored two more posts, one detailing LDB’s latest policy briefing, and another covering the recently issued “Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism,” to which the U.S. is a party. Eli Goldstein authored the press release announcing the hiring of Kami Z. Barker. The Brandeis Center is Hiring The Brandeis Center is hiring for multiple full-time positions: New York Litigation Attorney Staff Attorney (New York; Washington, D.C.; or remote) Director of Development ( Washington, D.C.; New York; or remote) Executive Assistant (Washington, D.C. ǀ Telework) Duties, qualifications, and compensation are listed in the Opportunities section of our website. If you meet the qualifications and are passionate about our mission to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all, we want to hear from you. Interested candidates should send resumes and cover letters by electronic mail to info@brandeiscenter.com. For the attorney roles, we suggest also including a writing sample and list of references.
The Brandeis Center hosted a Capitol Hill policy briefing on July 10, 2024, titled “Retaliation Against Jewish Students and Parents: How Counter-complaints and Baseless Accusations are Being Weaponized to Silence Jewish Voices on Campus.” The event highlighted disturbing accounts of anti-Semitism alongside troubling investigations into Jewish parents and students by campus administrators. Brandeis Center Board Member Tevi Troy served as moderator, and Brandeis Center Senior Counsel Mark Goldfeder, Staff Attorney Deena Margolies, and Staff Attorney Ben Alkon all presented as panelists. Brandeis Center experts opened the briefing by explaining what retaliatory complaints look like – how they are different from genuine grievances – and gave a brief history of the recent surge in counter-complaints. Congressional staffers in attendance heard firsthand accounts from three university students and one high-school parent who experienced retaliatory complaints aimed at chilling their accusations of anti-Semitism. Emory University student Sophie Ravina shared her experience of being harassed and threatened online after posting a video showing Emory peers engaging in openly anti-Semitic behavior. Although Ms. Ravina’s post focused on the anti-Semitic activity and not at all on the identity of her peers, several perpetrators chose to frame her post as “Islamophobic.” University administrators, instead of addressing the anti-Semitism to which Sophie was responding, demanded that Ravina take down her post. Ilana Pearlman, a parent in the Berkeley Unified School District, reflected on her experience grappling with the school district’s poor handling of anti-Semitism. Rather than holding anti-Semitic students and teachers accountable for their actions, BUSD instead chose to reassign Jewish students away from classrooms where they were being harassed. BUSD parents who voiced concerns about the unaddressed anti-Semitism were accused of “using Israel Defense Force drones over classrooms for surveillance,” and faced doxing and threats by other parents. American University students Naomi Hazan and Lauren Cayle described their experience receiving retaliatory complaints after they posted flyers around campus to raise awareness about the plight of Israeli hostages in Gaza. When they were harassed by fellow students as they put up the posters, they wisely recorded the perpetrators for their own security and to provide administrators evidence of students violating the student code of conduct. Instead of addressing the anti-Semitism and policy violations captured on video, the university subjected Hazan and Cayle to baseless disciplinary proceedings, despite possessing exculpatory evidence, for lawfully recording their harassers. Ms. Cayle stated that “I have never been one to hide my Jewish identity….I have always lived loud and proud, but now…fear follows me like a shadow” due to the hostile environment fostered by American University. Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin concluded the briefing by stating that these testimonies are not isolated instances, but rather a systematic effort to delegitimize and chill claims of anti-Semitism. She stressed the importance of universities recognizing and dismissing these malicious complaints and highlighted the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism as a vital tool for distinguishing between good-faith political debates and anti-Semitism. The Brandeis Center previously filed civil rights complaints with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) and American University for severe and pervasive anti-Semitism. In May 2024, OCR opened an investigation into BUSD just days after LDB expanded its complaint with even more evidence of how hostile and threatening an environment it has become for Jewish students. If you or your child is experiencing discrimination perpetuated or unaddressed within an educational institution, the Brandeis Center is ready to provide support. Contact us to get legal help. Watch the full hearing below. Play videoTextBlockModalTitle × Your browser does not support the video tag. Authored by: Nicole Hirschkorn
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. Read the full article here.
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. Read the full article here.
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.
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. Read More
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. Click here to read the full press release.
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.
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.