June 30, 2017 North Carolina General Assembly Passes Anti-BDS Bill In late June, legislators from North Carolina’s General Assembly passed House Bill 161, an anti-BDS bill which would seek to punish companies engaged with state business who actively participate in boycott campaigns against the State of Israel. The bill will now be sent to Governor Roy Cooper for his signature. Carin Savel, CEO of the […] Anti-Zionism Blog
June 21, 2017 LDB Urges Further Action from UW Madison Today, the Brandeis Center wrote to University of Wisconsin – Madison (“UW”) Chancellor Rebecca Blank, applauding her administration for castigating the Associated Students of Madison’s controversial April 26, 2017 Student Council (“ASM”) divestment measure, and urging further action from her administration. This past semester, the ASM introduced various versions of BDS resolutions, violating the ASM […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
June 21, 2017 LDB Urges Further Action from UW Madison Today, the Brandeis Center wrote to University of Wisconsin – Madison (“UW”) Chancellor Rebecca Blank, applauding her administration for castigating the Associated Students of Madison’s controversial April 26, 2017 Student Council (“ASM”) divestment measure, and urging further action from her administration. Blog
June 21, 2017 Jewish Students Sue San Francisco State University On June 19, 2017, The Lawfare Project and Winston & Strawn LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of six students and several members of the Bay Area Jewish community against San Francisco State University (“SFSU”). The complaint alleges that the university has fostered a climate of anti-Semitism on campus, violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to free […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog Litigation
June 21, 2017 SCOTUS Decision Could Impact Freedom of Speech Debate on Campus On June 19, the Supreme Court decided in Matal v. Tam that the government cannot refuse to trademark potentially derogatory or offensive names, a decision that will likely impact the national debate about hate speech and the First Amendment for decades. This ruling means that though hate speech remains constitutionally protected as a general matter, […] Litigation
June 20, 2017 Kansas Governor Signs Anti-BDS Bill into Law On Friday, June 16, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed an anti-BDS bill barring state agencies from entering into contracts with individuals or companies that boycott Israel. The bill, HB 2409, first passed the Kansas Senate on Wednesday, June 7 in a 39 to 3 vote before passing the state’s House hours later by a vote of […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog
June 19, 2017 Victory Over BDS at Pitzer Today, the Pitzer College Trustees announced that they had rescinded the recent BDS amendment passed by the Pitzer Student Senate. The initial amendment was made to the Student Senate’s Budget Committee Bylaws. The changes, introduced in April, included a new paragraph (Paragraph IV) within Article III (student Activities Funds) which prohibited the use of Student […] Anti-Zionism Blog
June 19, 2017 Congratulations to Aviva Vogelstein The Louis D. Brandeis Center would like to congratulate its Director of Legal Initiatives, Aviva Vogelstein, on receiving the Daniel Siegel Memorial Alumni Award from her former high school last Sunday. The award is given out every year by the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School Alumni Association to an alum who maintains a connection to […] Anti-Semitism Blog
June 16, 2017 Modern Language Association Overwhelmingly Passes Anti-BDS Motion On June 14, 2017, the Modern Language Association (MLA) announced that a resolution against BDS had been ratified by their members, passing by a wide margin of 1,954 votes in favor to 885 against. Resolution 2017-1 states: “Whereas endorsing the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel contradicts the MLA’s purpose to […] Anti-Zionism Blog
June 14, 2017 50 Groups Urge Immediate Response to SJP Disruption in Framework of Principles Against Intolerance The Louis D. Brandeis Center joined the AMCHA Initiative and nearly 50 other groups in urging an immediate response from UC Irvine over a recent hostile incident in the letter below. LDB had already written to Chancellor Gilman on this matter immediately after the incident had occurred. Having a mission to address anti-Semitism in higher […] Anti-Semitism Anti-Zionism Blog