Since Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, there have been record levels of anti-Semitism and Jewish hatred on college campuses across the nation. In a November 14 letter to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR), U.S. Representatives Kevin Kiley and Burgess Owens urged the office to take a more proactive approach is combatting anti-Semitism. Owens’ involvement is significant, because he chairs the key House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees American higher education. During the House Judiciary Committee hearing “Free Speech on College Campuses” on November 8, Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus was asked about OCR’s actions, or lack thereof, and offered the following recommendations: “There’s more that the Department can be doing, and it can do it tomorrow. The Department has sent out links for Jewish students to file complaints It has added language to its compliant forms. That’s fine. But there is no reason why the Department needs to wait for Jewish students to come to them. The Department has the authority to initiate self-directed investigations. Anytime it opens the newspaper and sees that there is a problem at an institution that received Federal funds, and that’s every single day if they are reading the papers… These are things that can be done quickly that don’t require significant infusions of funds. They can be done with the current resources and that can be done with the authority that the Secretary of Education already has.” Marcus first pioneered the use of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to combat anti-Semitism in 2004, when he served as the U.S. Dept. of Education OCR Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. Since then, ten executive agencies, including the Department of Education, have adopted this framework – now known as the Marcus Doctrine. However, even with Title VI protections recently applied to Jewish students, college administrators lag behind in the promptness and enforcement of actions to keep Jewish students safe. Threats to Jewish students on college campuses are at an all-time high and need to be addressed with decisive action by OCR. The need for new regulations that explicitly enforce the combination of the Marcus Doctrine and IHRA Definition – as done in 2019’s Executive Order 13899 on Combating Antisemitism – and not weaker instruments, such as Dear Colleague letters or acknowledgement of lesser anti-Semitism definitions, could not be more urgent. Download
Published by Politico on 11/20/23; Story by Bianca Quilantan. WHAT IS THE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATING? — The Education Department last week announced seven new investigations into incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia at schools. However, the department does not comment on ongoing investigations and officials cautioned that just because a school is under investigation does not mean it has broken the law. So, little to no details are available of the specific incidents they are investigating, but the department said it would update its list of investigations weekly. — But here is what we do know: Five of the complaints filed with the Office for Civil Rights allege antisemitic harassment and two allege anti-Muslim harassment. At least two of the investigations — against the University of Pennsylvania and Wellesley College — were spurred by complaints filed by the Brandeis Center on behalf of Jewish students. — “This might be a sign that OCR just gets it,” said Kenneth Marcus, founder of the Brandeis Center and former assistant secretary for civil rights in the Trump and George W. Bush administrations. “They’re moving so quickly that it seems like they’re actually trying to send a message, whether to the Jewish community or to higher education, or to both. OCR seldom moves this quickly and to open this many cases as a batch really does send a signal.” Kenneth Marcus, founder of the Brandeis Center. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo — “In the one-month period between Oct. 7 and Nov. 7, ADL documented at least 124 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, a dramatic and shocking increase from only 12 incidents during the same period a year ago,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, who lauded the Education Department’s investigations. ADL and other Jewish organizations launched the “Campus Antisemitism Legal Line,” a helpline for legal protection for students who have faced antisemitism. — Both of the complaints we know about were filed in response to campus demonstrations and rhetoric in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. The complaint against Penn alleges that the school has created a “hostile environment for its Jewish students.” The complaint cited the school’s participation in a “Palestine Writes Festival” in September, which the Brandeis Center said featured speakers who featured “antisemitic rhetoric” and spurred antisemitic graffiti and a Penn student’s “violent attack on Penn’s Hillel.” — About two weeks later — after the Oct. 7 attacks — students held rallies in support of Hamas’ actions. According to the complaint, the rallies chanted statements such as “There is only one solution: intifada resolution” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Some staff also reported getting antisemitic emails threatening violence. — Penn has responded to security threats, the group said, but President Liz Magill has not “condemned the rallies or professors’ antisemitic statements.” The Brandeis Center called Magill’s statements “inadequate” and urged the Education Department to investigate whether the school is violating civil rights law and “nurturing a hostile environment toward Jewish students.” — University officials have said they will cooperate with the investigation. Magill has also announced the formation of a task force on antisemitism to counter and combat the form of discrimination. MORE ON THE INVESTIGATIONS — At Wellesley College, a complaint from the Brandeis Center and Jewish on Campus alleges that a residential adviser sent an email saying “that there should be no space, no consideration, and no support for Zionism within the Wellesley College community.” A second email was sent with an apology, but the RA posted on social media that the apology email was sent with a “gun to my head.” — Wellesley President Paula Johnson did not call out the email, but encouraged students to attend a panel that faculty were hosting about the conflict. Jewish students, however, felt marginalized by the event that they said “minimized the atrocities committed by Hamas.” The Brandeis Center and Jewish on Campus are urging the Education Department to investigate the school and to require staff to undergo training about antisemitism. — “Wellesley responded quickly and decisively to the incident involving student leaders in a residence hall detailed in the Brandeis Center complaint and has shared its response in multiple communications to our community, while making clear antisemitism has no place at Wellesley,” the college said in a statement to the Boston Herald. — More investigations are still expected to be launched, according to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, and several advocacy groups have confirmed to your host that more complaints are in the works. Some schools, including Columbia University, say they have received their investigation notifications and will cooperate. Cornell University, however, declined to comment on the investigation announcement. — Cardona on Friday said he is willing to withhold federal funds from schools that are not willing to protect students from discrimination. “It’s our responsibility to protect them and we’re doing everything in our power to enforce that,” Cardona said. “And if we see that there are places that are not doing it, we’re gonna open up an investigation. We’re gonna provide support, but we’re gonna open up an investigation to make sure that we’re doing our job as educators.”
Published by Wall Street Journal on 11/17/23; Story by Joseph Pisani. Education Department is looking into seven complaints alleging antisemitic and anti-Muslim harassment at colleges and one K-12 school district The Education Department is investigating several schools over reports of harassment against Jewish and Muslim students in response to ongoing campus tensions related to the Israel-Hamas war. The department is investigating Columbia University, Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, Wellesley College, Lafayette College, the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, and the Maize Unified School District in Kansas. The schools are under investigation for alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which protects students from, among other things, discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics. College campuses have become a hotbed for tension following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, with protests often drawing national attention. Jewish and Muslim advocacy groups have reported more harassment, intimidation and assaults around the country since the attack. The surge of threats has fueled widespread calls for schools to keep students on both sides of the conflict safe. The Education Department said five of the complaints allege antisemitic harassment and two allege harassment against Muslims. It declined to provide further details. Schools that don’t protect students from discrimination and refuse recommendations from the Education Department’s civil rights office could lose federal funding, the department said. “Hate has no place in our schools, period,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement Thursday. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a Jewish advocacy group, filed complaints to the Education Department against Penn and Wellesley last week, alleging the schools didn’t do enough to protect Jewish students from antisemitism. The Brandeis Center said schools should provide mandatory training on antisemitism to staff and update their policies on antisemitism, among other remedies. “The swift responses to our complaints reaffirm how severe the antisemitism crisis is on college campuses and sends an important signal to university leaders,” said Kenneth Marcus, the Brandeis Center’s founder and chairman. Penn and Wellesley said they have taken steps to combat antisemitism on campus. Columbia declined to comment on the investigation. Cooper Union, based in New York City, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Lafayette College, in Easton, Pa., said it doesn’t know why it was included in the department’s investigation, but that it would cooperate. Maize Unified School District, which oversees K-12 schools in Maize, Kan., also said it would cooperate. Schools have struggled to navigate the national scrutiny brought on by campus protests. Penn and other elite institutions, including Harvard University, have faced pressure from billionaire donors threatening to cut funding to schools that take actions they disagree with. Schools are also facing challenges directly from students, some of whom are taking their universities to court. The University of Florida’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a pro-Palestinian group, sued the chancellor of Florida’s university system and other Florida officials this week for ordering a shutdown of the group at the state’s public universities. The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the group, said in court documents that disbanding the group violated students’ rights to free speech. The chancellor, Raymond Rodrigues, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Three Jewish students sued New York University on Tuesday, saying the school didn’t do enough to stop antisemitism on campus, making them feel unsafe. An NYU spokesman said the lawsuit’s allegations were false and that it “paints a bogus picture of conditions on NYU’s campus.” NYU said this week it plans to open a center for studying antisemitism next year.
For Immediate Release November 10, 2023 Contact: Alex Sommer, alex@tuskstrategies.com Brandeis Center Files Two Title VI Civil Rights Complaints with the U.S. Department of Education Addressing Growing Discrimination and Hostility against Jewish Students at the University of Pennsylvania and Wellesley College; Partners with Jewish on Campus on Wellesley Complaint Brandeis Center Seeks Detailed Remedies to Address Emboldened Anti-Semitism on College Campuses Washington, D.C. (November 10, 2023) – Based on well-documented pervasive incidents of discrimination against Jews at two higher education institutions, the Brandeis Center is filing separate complaints with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education. Both seek immediate and specific action to address increasing discrimination against and harassment of Jews in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Each filing includes statements from students that explain how they were harassed and/or subjected to discrimination. Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, states: “These colleges and universities have failed to keep Jewish students safe and are in clear violation of well-established federal civil rights law. There’s been a lot of talk about rooting out anti-Semitism on campuses, and it’s time to hold these colleges accountable. We want to thank the students for their courage in coming forward and collaborating with us to ensure we hold these universities accountable for letting Jewish discrimination run rampant.” The complaints allege that failure to adequately respond to these unnerving incidents puts both universities in violation of OCR guidance, which specifies that Title VI – which prohibits schools that receive federal funding from allowing harassment, bias or discrimination on campus – protects Jews on the basis of their “actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.” The complaints follow a series of recent actions taken by the Brandeis Center to address anti-Semitism after the October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians. Earlier this week, the Brandeis Center partnered with the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel International and law firm Gibson Dunn to launch the Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL), a free legal protection helpline for students who have experienced antisemitism. Brandeis Center also wrote a letter to Harvard University regarding its failure to take action against a professor that Harvard itself admitted had discriminated against Jewish Israeli students. The Brandeis Center will continue to lead the way in ensuring actual accountability and remedial action in the face of widespread displays of anti-Semitism on U.S. campuses. Overview of the Complaints University of Pennsylvania In recent months, Penn has allowed its campus to become a hostile environment for its Jewish students as well as a magnet for anti-Semites. The anti-Semitic climate on campus was ratcheted up more than a few degrees when Penn hosted the “Palestine Writes Festival,” ostensible about Palestinian literature, but actually an event to highlight anti-Semitic speakers such as musician Roger Waters and 25 others known for their aggressive stance against the Jewish State. Leading up to the event, anti-Semitic incidents increased. Penn’s Hillel was vandalized by a Penn student who broke in, damaged property, and yelled, “F*ck the Jews.” Penn responded to the criminal activity, but forged ahead with the Festival, which took place over Shabbat and during the Jewish High Holidays of Awe. Although Penn claimed it was not an “official” event, the Festival was funded by Penn, used the Penn name and logo, and took place on Penn property. Some professors included attendance as a course requirement. Two weeks after the Festival took place, student protestors gathered to celebrate Hamas’ murder and mutilation of Israeli civilians on Oct. 7th. Once again, Penn leadership failed to check the increasingly hostile environment, which leaves Jewish students effectively blocked from classrooms during rallies, fearful for their physical safety on campus, and intimidated by students and professors calling for Jewish blood. Protesters at the marches compared what is happening in Gaza with Auschwitz, tore down pictures of missing civilians and called out for the destruction of the Jewish State. Last week, the Penn Hillel received bomb threats. Wellesley College The Wellesley case is filed by the Brandeis Center and Jewish on Campus. On October 18, while Jewish students were still reeling from attacks on friends and family in Israel, the residential advisor (RA) at a Wellesley dormitory declared in an email “that there should be no space, no consideration, and no support for Zionism within the Wellesley College community.” The Jewish students were stunned. After receiving complaints about the anti-Semitic email, the RA sent a second email purporting to “regret any harm her words have caused.” However, on Instagram on October 20th, the same RA posted that the apology email was sent with a “gun to my head.” Wellesley President Paula A. Johnson advised the college community that the residential staff had learned from their mistake, but did not call out the anti-Semitic email specifically. President Johnson also encouraged students to attend a panel that faculty were hosting about the conflict. But that panel only fueled anti-Semitic ideas, further maligning and marginalizing Jewish students on the basis of their Jewish ancestral identity connected to Israel. Panelists minimized the atrocities committed by Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians on October 7, by claiming that only a small extremist faction of Hamas are terrorists, that Hamas shouldn’t be demonized, and that Hamas is not anti-Semitic because they only want to kill Zionists. Wellesley’s failure to take a stronger stance and check the hostile environment violates Title VI. Brandeis is requesting that OCR require Wellesley to take steps to bring it into compliance with Title VI, including by ensuring Jewish and all students have equal access to residential facilities and services provided by residential staff, investigating discrimination by residential staff in connection with their efforts to exclude Jewish students on the basis of shared ancestry and requiring residential staff to undergo training about anti-Semitism targeting Jewish shared ancestral identity connected to Israel. To view this press release as a PDF, click here. About the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law 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. The Brandeis Center is not affiliated with the Massachusetts university, the Kentucky law school, or any of the other institutions that share the name and honor the memory of the late U.S. Supreme Court justice. More at www.brandeiscenter.com. About Jewish on Campus Jewish on Campusis a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded and run by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students. Since its founding in 2020, JOC has collected stories of anti-Semitism from thousands of students around the world and has assisted in creating change on campus.
Article published by Jewish Insider on 11/14/23; Story by Gabby Deutch Top officials from the Department of Education met virtually with Jewish community leaders on Monday to discuss the agency’s actions to combat rising antisemitism on American college campuses. But several of the attendees left the meeting concerned that the department is not responding with the urgency they feel the antisemitism crisis deserves. “We’ve repeatedly communicated that this crisis is unlike anything we’ve seen before, so it requires a response that is unlike what we’ve seen before, in terms of resources, guidance and — if necessary — direct pressure on schools to ensure their students are safe,” said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. “It is entirely possible to both protect speech and address increasingly overt antisemitism.” Monday’s meeting came two weeks after Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, met with a small group of Jewish leaders and pledged to make a plan within two weeks to address the wave of antisemitism on campuses. “They did not give us a plan to deal with an unprecedented surge in antisemitic activity,” said Ken Marcus, chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. Instead, Marcus said, the Education Department leaders on the call — Deputy Secretary Cynthia Marten and Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon — touted steps already taken by the Biden administration and expressed concern about the problem without offering many new approaches. “It’s notable when two such high officials of the Education Department are present,” Marcus continued. “But beyond that, I would say that the meeting was most notable for the absence of a significant plan for addressing this extraordinary problem.” Cardona kicked off Monday’s meeting with a brief message of support for Jewish students who have faced threats or harassment on campus. “There were a lot of broad comments about how fighting antisemitism on campuses is a priority for the department, and they’re really committed,” said a lobbyist at a Jewish advocacy organization who attended the meeting. Late last month, the White House spoke out against an “extremely disturbing pattern of antisemitic messages being conveyed on college campuses,” according to Andrew Bates, the White House deputy press secretary. “Delegitimizing the State of Israel while praising the Hamas terrorist murderers who burned innocent people alive, or targeting Jewish students, is the definition of unacceptable, and the definition of antisemitism.” The comments were followed by a series of actions meant to combat antisemitism at American universities, which have seen Jewish students assaulted and threatened in recent weeks. The Education Department updated the complaint form for students reporting civil rights violations to now make it easier to identify anti-Jewish hate, and Lhamon wrote a “Dear Colleague” letter to American universities urging them to respond to rising antisemitism and Islamophobia. But some Jewish advocates worry these actions are not enough. “I think the set of tools and the mode of thinking that they have is not matched to the moment of crisis, and they need to shift,” said the lobbyist who asked for anonymity to speak candidly about a closed-door meeting. For instance, senior Education Department officials had pledged to make visits to universities to discuss antisemitism, according to guidance in the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism that was released in May. Last week, Cardona and Emhoff visited Cornell, where an undergraduate was arrested last month for making violent threats against Jewish students. Earlier this month, Cardona and Neera Tanden, the White House’s domestic policy advisor, met with Jewish students at Towson University. “We said, ‘Hey, you should be making some high-profile site visits for universities that are doing a terrible job,’” the lobbyist said, pointing to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Jewish students reported being shut out of classes last week by pro-Palestine protesters. “Those university administrations need to be made to feel uncomfortable themselves.” An Education Department spokesperson declined to comment when asked about the Monday meeting. The Education Department officials pointed to a number of complaints recently filed with the department’s Office of Civil Rights alleging antisemitic discrimination at American universities under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But according to attendees on the call, the officials did not say whether the department will be able to expedite these complaints, which sometimes take years to resolve. Lhamon “shared her strong commitment to using Title VI to hold university administrations accountable for responding swiftly and effectively to harassment of Jewish students creating a hostile environment,” said Adam Lehman, CEO of Hillel International. But “there was general agreement that the department and others will need to invest toward additional interventions that can even more quickly guide universities toward changes in policy and practice.” Other organizations represented on the call included the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, Bend the Arc and T’ruah.
Published by Jewish Insider on 11/8/23; Story by Gabby Deutch The letter comes as Jewish advocates have sought additional action from federal officials in light of a dramatic rise in antisemitism on campuses The top civil rights official at the Education Department sent a letter to leaders of American colleges and universities on Tuesday to remind them of their obligations to provide a discrimination-free learning environment for all students. The letter, authored by Catherine Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, cited “a nationwide rise in reports of hate crimes and harassment, including an alarming rise in disturbing antisemitic incidents and threats to Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian students on college campuses and in P-12 schools.” The Dear Colleague letter comes as Jewish advocates have sought additional action from federal officials in light of a dramatic rise in antisemitism on campuses following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. Last week, the Education Department released an updated version of the complaint form, making it easier to identify religious discrimination, for students alleging that their civil rights had been violated. Such discrimination falls under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires any programs receiving federal assistance “to provide all students a school environment free from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.” Between Oct. 7 and Nov. 7, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights received 12 complaints of discrimination on the basis of “shared ancestry,” a department spokesperson told Jewish Insider on Tuesday. Seven of the complaints involve antisemitism, two involve Islamophobia, two involve anti-Hindu discrimination and one is broad-based. (The spokesperson noted that some complaints may allege actions prior to Oct. 7, and that there may be additional complaints that haven’t yet been logged by regional staff.) The “key paragraph” in Tuesday’s Dear Colleague letter, according to Mark Rotenberg, vice president for university initiatives and general counsel at Hillel International, is one that describes what counts as “harassing conduct.” “Harassing conduct can be verbal or physical and need not be directed at a particular individual,” the letter said. “OCR interprets Title VI to mean that the following type of harassment creates a hostile environment: unwelcome conduct based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics that, based on the totality of circumstances, is subjectively and objectively offensive and is so severe or pervasive that it limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the recipient’s education program or activity.” The letter said schools are obligated to “take immediate and effective action to respond to harassment that creates a hostile environment.” Ken Marcus, who served as assistant secretary for civil rights in the Trump administration, praised the Biden administration for sending the letter but called it “something of a missed opportunity” for its lack of specificity about recent antisemitic incidents at U.S. colleges. “They should get credit for sending a letter, but they could have sent something much stronger,” Marcus, the founder of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, told JI. “I was also hoping that the administration would communicate publicly more of the concern that they are sharing privately.” The letter earned praise from Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), the co-chair of the Senate bipartisan task force for combating antisemitism. “I’m glad to see the U.S. Department of Education is taking action at my urging to remind school administrators of their legal responsibility to keep students safe from antisemitism and other forms of discrimination – or face consequences,” Rosen said in a statement. “I’m continuing to urge the Department to form a task force to counter campus antisemitism.” Last week, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and White House domestic policy chief Neera Tanden visited the Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University in Baltimore to talk with Jewish students about antisemitism on their campus.
Play videoTextBlockModalTitle × Your browser does not support the video tag. The AAJLJ Presents: TITLE VI: The Law Protecting American Jewish Students A Webinar with Denise Katz-Prober, Director of Legal Initiatives at The Brandeis Center Wednesday, November 8th (Noon EST, 11AM CST, 9AM PST) Brandeis Center Director of Legal Initiatives Denise Katz-Prober will discuss the escalation of existing campus antisemitism following the 10/7 Hamas massacre, the law available to protect students from a hostile environment, and the steps that can be taken to protect students’ rights. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars discrimination by universities and grade schools that receive federal funds. Jewish students are protected under our civil rights laws from harassment and discrimination and cannot be denied access to educational opportunities on the basis of their shared Jewish ancestry and ethnicity. The Brandeis Center, a civil rights legal advocacy organization, supports students on campus by using legal tools to address anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination, including filing Title VI complaints with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). OCR can then investigate and impose corrective actions on schools that fail to address hostile environments and other forms of discrimination. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER About Denise Katz-Prober Denise Katz-Prober is the Director of Legal Initiatives at The Brandeis Center. Prior to joining the Brandeis Center, Ms. Katz-Prober was a trial attorney at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, where she served as a criminal prosecutor and subsequently defended the District of Columbia government in civil lawsuits brought in D.C.’s local trial and federal district courts. Prior to working at the Office of the Attorney General, Ms. Katz-Prober completed a fellowship at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where she prosecuted domestic violence offenses while serving as a Special Assistant United States Attorney. In 2011, Ms. Katz-Prober was recognized by the District of Columbia Courts Capitol Pro Bono High Honor Roll for her volunteer work litigating civil protection order cases and advocating for victims of domestic violence. Prior to law school, Ms. Katz-Prober worked for a research organization focused on counter-terrorism and extremist groups. Ms. Katz-Prober graduated from Brandeis University with a B.A. double major in Politics and Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, MA.
Published October 30, 2023 by Jewish Insider. Story by Haley Cohen. The university had previously acknowledged the three Israeli students were targeted by anti-Zionist Jewish faculty member More than four months after Harvard University found that a professor at its John F. Kennedy School of Government discriminated against three Jewish Israeli graduate students, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law on Monday morning sent a legal warning to the university demanding immediate action. “It’s extraordinary that Harvard on the one hand is willing to acknowledge that clients faced inappropriate discrimination and different treatment and yet is not taking meaningful action to address it. This is just the sort of thing you would expect from a university that is under immense pressure for the waves of antisemitism that its students are facing,” Kenneth Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and former U.S. assistant secretary of education for the Bush and Trump administrations, told JI. The letter, which was first obtained by Jewish Insider, comes as Harvard’s administration faces criticism from lawmakers and alumni over its mishandling of a surge of antisemitism at the school since Hamas’ deadly rampage in Israel on Oct. 7. In a letter to the university’s general counsel, the Brandeis Center said that the school’s failure to address the discrimination claim has exacerbated antisemitism at the university, pointing to a letter published earlier this month on social media by 31 student organizations claiming Israel is “entirely responsible” for Hamas terrorists’ murder of 1,400 Israelis. “It isn’t a coincidence that you would see the extraordinary developments at Harvard since Oct. 7 in light of the weak administrative actions prior to that date,” Marcus said, noting that while the primary incident addressed in the case occurred prior to Hamas’ attacks, “Harvard’s inaction paved the way to what we’ve been seeing since then.” The Brandeis Center wrote, “This failure, on top of other failures of leadership, have set the stage for the worsening climate that we have seen for Jewish Harvard students since [Oct. 7]. Harvard’s failure to speak out against anti-Semitism masked as anti-Zionism has only emboldened the student groups who are now celebrating Hamas’ atrocities. The silence needs to end.” Marcus told JI that “this is a great example of what happens when university administrators fail to address antisemitic incidents when they should. Things just get worse and worse as we’ve been seeing at Harvard, especially in the days since Oct. 7.” The incident involves alleged discrimination and harassment of Jewish Israeli students Amnon Shefler, Gilad Neumann and Matan Yaffe, which took place in professor Marshall Ganz’s “Organizing: People, Power, Change” course last spring. All three students have been called up for Israel Defense Forces reserve duty and were not available for comment. According to the Brandeis Center, “the students decided to work together on a joint project that would examine ways to ‘to harness and unite a majority of diverse and moderate Israelis to strengthen Israel’s liberal and Jewish democracy.’” “The students articulated their purpose as ‘organizing a growing majority of Israelis…that act in harmony, building on a shared ethos of Israel as a liberal-Jewish-democracy, being a cultural, economic and security lighthouse.’ Professor Ganz dismissed their project as illegitimate, demanded they change it, and subjected them to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias and discrimination when they refused,” the letter continues. According to the complaint, Ganz told the students they could not use the term “Jewish democracy” to describe Israel – stating that using the words “Jewish” and “democracy” in regard to the Jewish state was akin to a project promoting white supremacy. When the students decided to stick with their project as designed, Ganz threatened them with academic consequences. “Professor Ganz admitted he had never told students in any other class that they could not present their work, even when it centered on controversial topics. During the final class, two of Ganz’s teaching fellows taught a lesson on how to recruit support for Palestinians,” the letter said, noting that while the topic itself was not objectionable, “it led to students making hostile claims, inaccurate characterizations and false accusations against Israel and Israelis. Ganz refused to let the Israeli students provide a response or any counter-arguments to the wildly inaccurate data presented.” The Brandeis Center’s initial complaint to the university was sent in March. In response, Harvard launched a third-party-investigation, which agreed with the Brandeis Center and concluded that “Ganz subjected the students to anti-Israel and antisemitic bias and discrimination on the basis of their identities as Jewish Israelis, silenced the speech of the Jewish Israeli students about a topic he viewed as illegitimate, treated the students differently and denigrated them on the basis of their Israeli national origin and Jewish ethnicity and ancestry, and prioritized others’ concerns over the Israeli students.” Marcus said that the investigator made “fairly strong recommendations,” adding that he would have made “even stronger recommendations,” but was “happily surprised since investigators paid by colleges and universities seldom are as firm as this.” According to the Brandeis Center, the investigator concluded that Ganz’s conduct violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires schools that receive federal funding to respond immediately to discrimination and/or harassment that “negatively affect[s] the ability and willingness of Jewish students to participate fully in the school’s education programs and activities.” Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf pledged to address the problem, asking for time over the summer to do so, Marcus said, adding that ultimately, his plan was “an apology and unspecified personnel actions,” which Marcus called “deeply disappointing.” Four months later, the Brandeis Center said that “not only has there been no action to address the anti-Semitism, Harvard is now publicly touting Ganz, who continues to teach there, as a civil rights hero. The latest edition of the Harvard Gazette esteems Ganz’s early civil rights work, leaving out mention of the antisemitic conduct.” “Harvard, it seems, has no genuine intent to address the anti-Semitism on its campus, choosing instead to publicly celebrate a professor who recently subjected Jewish and Israeli students to bias and discrimination,” the letter sent on Monday states. In July, amid the White House’s rollout of a national strategy to combat antisemitism, the issue was addressed in the Knesset by American Jewish leaders and Israelis studying in the U.S. One of the Israeli students who spoke at the hearing was Lt. Col. Amnon Shefler, the former deputy military secretary to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also served as the IDF international spokesperson and as a fighter pilot in the Israeli Air Force. Shefler was studying at Harvard while still in the military on leave and mentioned the Ganz case when describing the struggles he and other Israeli students faced in their classes. The Brandeis Center is demanding that Harvard “fulfill the commitment it made to address Ganz’s discrimination, and eliminate the hostile environment that is snowballing on its campus, as it is required under Title VI.” It specifically calls on Harvard “to commit to university-wide changes, including requiring all faculty and staff to undergo training on anti-Semitism, including understanding that expressing support for the Jewish homeland is a sincere and deeply felt expression of Jewish ethnic and ancestral identity as well as the Jewish religion. The training also must help faculty and staff recognize when anti-Semitism directed at Jewish ethnicity is a concerted strategy to marginalize Jewish students on campus and make them feel unwelcome.” Earlier this month, the Wexner Foundation cut ties with Harvard over “the dismal failure of Harvard’s leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians by terrorists [on Oct.7].” More than 250 Israelis have graduated from the long-standing and prestigious Wexner Foundation Fellowship, which includes a period of study at Harvard’s Kennedy School. These alumni have often gone on to hold high-ranking positions in the Israeli civil service and in government, including Knesset members, Israel Defense Forces generals, top state prosecutors and others. A letter from the foundation to the Harvard Board of Overseers severing ties said that many Israel fellows “feel abandoned” by the university. Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer and his wife, Batia, also announced they are quitting Harvard’s Kennedy executive board in protest over how university leaders have responded to the massacre.
The Brandeis Center stands with the world’s Jewish community, following the horror and grief of Hamas atrocities since October 7. Demand for our services to keep Jewish students safe on college campus and K-12 environments has since escalated significantly. Brandeis Center attorneys have been continuously speaking with a large number of students and professors around the country about potential lawsuits against universities that have tolerated a hostile environment for Jewish students. Springing into action immediately, we worked with nine other Jewish American organizations to draft and send a letter to more than 500 North American university presidents the week after the Hamas massacres, reminding schools of their legal obligation to keep Jewish students safe. We contributed Hamas-related content to the upcoming Shine a Light toolkit for the Chanukah season. We held an emergency webinar on how Jewish students can hold their school administrators accountable to keep them safe. We spoke to the Society for Human Resource Management to help HR managers provide Jewish employees proactive support – and the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee about a potential hearing they could hold. We rereleased our fact sheet: “International Humanitarian Law in Asymmetric Warfare.” And we spoke to our JIGSAW legal fellows, law student chapters, and legal clerks to help them address the issue on their campuses. The Brandeis Center stands proudly with Israel and the Jewish community everywhere. Joint Letter to North American University Presidents In response to the national group Students for Justice in Palestine calling for a “national day of resistance” across campuses the week after Hamas atrocities started, as well as student groups publishing statements siding with Hamas terrorists and anti-Semitic violence already erupting on campuses, the Brandeis Center assembled a coalition of Jewish American organizations to send a joint letter to North American university and college presidents. The Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, Conference of Presidents, Hillel International, Combat Antisemitism Movement, Israel on Campus Coalition, Jewish Federations of North America, Jewish on Campus and Zionist Organization of America joined our effort. Our coalition reminded university presidents of their moral and leadership responsibility to condemn Hamas’ violence against Jews and their legal obligations to protect Jewish and Israeli students. The San Francisco Chronicle linked to our letter in a story published October 11. LDB-ADL Joint Letter to North American University Presidents The Brandeis Center and ADL sent a joint letter to the presidents of nearly 200 colleges and universities in response to the increase of anti-Semitic incidents on campus in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians. The LDB-ADL letter states that Students for Justice in Palestine “provides vocal and potentially material support to Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” and demands that schools investigate the campus group. Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus, who signed the letter with the LDB President Alyza D. Lewin, told Jewish Insider that “we’re seeing a different situation than what we’ve been dealing with on campus. Groups have shunned, marginalized and excluded Jewish individuals. Now student groups are going as far as aligning themselves with a State Department identified terrorist organization that has pledged genocide against the Jewish people.” Marcus said that there is a “real prospect” legal action will be taken against schools that do not investigate SJP groups. “We’re not just talking about offensive speech. This is the greatest level we’ve seen. When there are student organizations that are explicitly and prominently glorifying the work of a terrorist organization, you wouldn’t think that university presidents need to be reminded of this obligation. But they do,” Marcus continued, adding that the goal of the letter is to “make sure they have no excuse for not doing so.” An abridged form of JI’s story ran in eJewish Philanthropy’s “Your Daily Phil” newsletter on October 27. Kenneth L. Marcus Joins U.S. Sen. Chip Roy for Heritage Foundation Event on U.S.-Israel Alliance In a panel discussion broadcast by C-SPAN, Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus joined U.S. Senator Chip Roy and former Deputy Special Monitor or Combat Anti-Semitism for the U.S. State Dept. for a conversation on the “Future of the U.S.-Israel Alliance at 75.” Chairman Marcus explained to the Heritage Foundation event audience that about the significant and growing impact of the “Marcus Doctrine” policy he helped establish in 2004 while serving as Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights. The Biden administration declared last month that eight additional U.S. executive branch agencies will use the Marcus Doctrine to combat anti-Semitism and other forms of ethnic or ancestral discrimination. In Politico, Kenneth L. Marcus Pushed Biden Administration to Issue Long-Delayed anti-Semitism Regulations In a Politico story published October 12, Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus renewed pressure on the Biden administration to finally issue new regulations on campus anti-Semitism. “This highlights the need for the Biden administration to make good on its long delayed promised regulations,” said Chairman Marcus, who twice led the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. “This has been promised over and over again and delayed throughout the administration.” Marcus told Politico that LDB has already seen significant increases in anti-Semitic remarks on social media since Hamas began committing atrocities, and it expects requests from students to increase. He urged university leaders to get ahead of potential harassment. LDB Re-Releases its Fact Sheet on International Humanitarian Law Following the eruption of inconceivable Hamas atrocities – violating almost every key tenet of international humanitarian law – the Brandeis Center reissued its fact sheet “International Humanitarian Law in Asymmetric Warfare.”Recognizing that in order to understand the Hamas-Israel war, it is crucial that audiences have precise and accurate information about the rules of war and who is violating it. LDB’s fact sheet gives specific factual details sourced from publicly available information demonstrating the Israeli Defense Forces’ consistent and determined compliance with IHL guidelines and the clear violations perpetrated by Hamas. The fact sheet covers the most widely accepted principles of: “distinction,” “necessity,” “proportionality,” and “humanity.”Readers may also find it helpful to share our two-part Instagram explainer of this fact sheet on social media. Kenneth L. Marcus Helps HR Professionals Provide Proactive Jewish Worker Support In the Society for Human Resource Management, Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcusprovided needed advice to HR professionals, helping them provide proactive support to Jewish employees in the wake of Hamas violence. Marcus told SHRM that many Jewish and Israeli workers are traumatized by the recent events in Israel, and their emotions could be exacerbated by anti-Semitism. He noticed a spike in anti-Jewish rhetoric on social media since Hamas began its attacks and expects to see a rise in many other sectors, including the workplace, as the war progresses. He recommended ways for employers to be proactive in supporting Jewish employees, including: establishing an employee resource group for Jewish employees, sending messages of support to any employees impacted by the attacks, including employees who may have lost family or friends in Israel, being aware that some Israeli American employees may be called to service if they are members of Israel’s military reserves – and staying cognizant of the prospect that workplaces may experience an uptick in harassment and bias incidents against Jewish employees. Brandeis Center Holds Emergency Webinar: ‘The Hamas Atrocities and the American Campus’ Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin, Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus, Director of Legal Initiatives Denise Katz-Prober and National Jewish Advocacy Center Director Mark Goldfeder addressed an emergency situation for Jewish students across American college campuses in a webinar held October 12: “The Hamas Atrocities and the American Campus.” Jewish students are watching student groups at Harvard, NYU and other schools publish statements supporting Hamas terrorists, and have already begun suffering physical attacks on campuses, such as Columbia University. College administrators are legally obligated to take actions that will keep Jewish students safe, and the Brandeis Center’s webinar is a valuable resource for concerned students and parents to hold schools accountable. Higher-education news source The College Fix ran a story about LDB’s webinar, excerpting quotes from both President Lewin and Director Katz-Prober, as well as linking to the LDB’s joint letter to university presidents. Webinar: The Hamas Atrocities and the American Campus (10/12/23) Kenneth L. Marcus Lambastes Harvard Student Groups in Campus Reform After more than 30 Harvard student groups issued a joint statement asserting that Israel is “entirely responsible for all unfolding violence” following Hamas’s horrific massacres, Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcusresponded forcefully in the higher education news source Campus Reform. “It is reprehensible, to say the least, that so many Harvard student organizations are taking the wrong side on this massacre,” declared Marcus.“ When so many people are being slaughtered, raped, and their corpses desecrated, it shouldn’t be difficult to decide whether you are on the side of the murderers or the victims. And yet all of these Harvard students are rushing to join the wrong side—the side of the perpetrators. These wrong-headed student voices are more pronounced in light of the administration’s failure to speak out quickly and firmly against the atrocities, just as they spoke out when Russia invaded Ukraine,” Marcus added. Marcus criticized the administration’s prioritization of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) prioritization, claiming that it has “allowed such bigotry to grow unchecked. It is also a sign of something rotten in Harvard’s admissions program, that they have admitted these people.” Brandeis Center Publishes New Fact Sheets on Understanding Hate Crimes and Erasive Anti-Semitism Responding to the growth of anti-Jewish hate crimes in America, the Brandeis Center published two important new resources: fact sheets “Understanding Hate Crimes” and “Erasive Anti-Semitism.”“Understanding Hate Crimes” outlines what a hate crime is; who is most commonly targeted for hate crimes in America; why prohibiting hate crimes is important; and the distinction between punishing hate crimes and punishing hate speech or hateful thoughts. “The Brandeis Center is committed to educating and empowering those who experience anti-Semitism by teaching them about their legal rights. Fact sheets like this one help educate and inform the public about the type of support the Brandeis Center provides,” stated Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin. “Erasive Anti-Semitism” explains what erasive anti-Semitism is and provides real-life examples from college campuses, corporate environments, and in legal settings. “Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War, we’ve seen anti-Semites engaging in twisted conspiracy theories, trying to explain away the atrocities committed against Jews,” said Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “This is despite all of the verified photographic and video evidence, as well as testimonials from survivors and witnesses. Anti-Semites refuse to acknowledge Jews as being victims.” LDB-led Jewish Group Coalition Suit Against CA School District Gains Awareness A lawsuit filed by the Brandeis Center, ADL, AJC, and Potomac Law Group, with the help of StandWithUs, acting as consultant, against the Board of the Santa Ana Unified School District (SAUSD), on behalf of the Brandeis Center and its membership arm, So-CUE (Southern Californians for Unbiased Education), continues gaining awareness in California. The lawsuit alleges that the Board violated California’s open meetings law and asks the Court to void the actions taken by the Board, including its approval of anti-Semitic ethnic studies curricula. “Part of the problem is whether Jewish students in class are harassed, which would be important, and we also don’t want children of other ethnicities being taught that Jews are bad,” stated Brandeis Center General Counsel L. Rachel Lerman. “That’s not good for the community,” she added. Alyza D. Lewin Helps Canada Update its Anti-Semitism Messaging to Include Jewish Identity Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewinspoke to attendees of the “Using the Legal System to Combat Antisemitism” panel at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), part of the Canadian Jewish Federations last week. Lewin said that clear and coordinated public messaging is needed from the Jewish community now to combat the tide of rising anti-Semitism – including vocabulary to articulate that legal actions to fight anti-Semitism are independent of anyone’s political views, but instead necessary for Jews “being targeted, harassed, discriminated against and killed on the basis of identity, as Jews.” LDB President Lewin said many people do not understand that Jews are targeted “because we’re a people” nor understand what makes Jews a people. “Today Jews are being targeted on the basis of our shared ancestry and our ancestral connection to Israel. There are now those who are insisting that Jews do not have a shared ancestry and ethnicity and that certainly we do not have a shared ancestral connection to the land of Israel.” We need to push back against this effort to erase and deny our identity as a people and to erase and deny our ancestral connection to Israel,” Lewin urged. Philanthropy Roundtable Includes Brandeis Center in List of Organizations Fighting Anti-Semitism Following the horrific Hamas violence against Israel, Philanthropy Roundtable published a list of organizations combating anti-Semitism around the globe. The Brandeis Center is grateful and humbled to have been included in this important resource. Deseret News Speaks to Kenneth L. Marcus for Feature Story on Campus Anti-Semitism In an in-depth feature examining the state of anti-Semitism across American college campuses, national weekly publication Deseret News spoke to Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “The unavoidable fact is that there is something monstrous in U.S. college campuses and on U.S. streets,” Marcus stated. “The hatred of Israel that we’re seeing in the anti-Zionist movement is simply a continuation of the age-old hatred of the Jewish people under the guise of political discourse.” The article discussed Marcus’s viral op-ed from last year “Berkeley Develops Jewish-Free Zones,” following several student groups at UC, Berkeley amending bylaws to prohibit invitations to speakers supporting Zionism.
Washington, D.C. (October 30, 2023): In response to a complaint from the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, made public for the first time today, Harvard University found that a professor at its Kennedy School discriminated against three Jewish Israeli graduate students in violation of Harvard and Kennedy School policies and federal civil rights guidance under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After more than four months, however, not only has Harvard failed to address the anti-Semitism, the school is now publicly touting the professor as a civil rights hero. The Brandeis Center today sent a strongly-wordedlegal warning to the University’s general counsel, demanding the school take the prompt action it is required under the law. “This failure, on top of other failures of leadership, have set the stage for the worsening climate that we have seen for Jewish Harvard students since [Oct. 7],” wrote the Brandeis Center, referring to numerous events of late, including the support more than 30 Harvard student groups recently expressed for Hamas, rallies attended by students and faculty celebrating Hamas’ barbaric acts, the posting of Hamas paratrooper images to intimidate Jewish students, and the university’s own equating of Hamas terrorists and the IDF. “Harvard’s failure to speak out against anti-Semitism masked as anti-Zionism has only emboldened the student groups who are now celebrating Hamas’ atrocities. The silence needs to end.” Part of the “silence” the Brandeis Center is referring to involves the discrimination and harassment of three Jewish Israeli students, Amnon Shefler, Gilad Neumann, and Matan Yaffe, which took place in Professor Marshall Ganz’s “Organizing: People, Power, Change,” course over this past spring. The students decided to work together on a joint project that would examine ways to “to harness and unite a majority of diverse and moderate Israelis to strengthen Israel’s liberal and Jewish democracy” at a time of division and social strife within their country. The students articulated their purpose as “organizing a growing majority of Israelis…that act in harmony, building on a shared ethos of Israel as a liberal-Jewish-democracy, being a cultural, economic and security lighthouse.” Professor Ganz dismissed their project as illegitimate, demanded they change it, and subjected them to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias and discrimination when they refused. Specifically, Ganz told the students they could not use the term “Jewish democracy” as a descriptor for Israel. Ganz demanded they eliminate “Jewish” and “democracy” from their project’s stated purpose, stating that an organizing project to promote Jewish democracy was akin to a project promoting white supremacy. When the students decided to stick with their project as designed, Ganz threatened them with consequences. Professor Ganz admitted he had never told students in any other class that they could not present their work, even when it centered on controversial topics. During the final class, two of Ganz’s teaching fellows taught a lesson on how to recruit support for Palestinians. While the topic itself was not objectionable, it led to students making hostile claims, inaccurate characterizations and false accusations against Israel and Israelis. Ganz refused to let the Israeli students provide a response or any counter arguments to the wildly inaccurate data presented. After the Brandeis Center sent a complaint to the university, this past March, Harvard launched a third-party-investigation, which agreed with the Brandeis Center and concluded Ganz subjected the students to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bias and discrimination on the basis of their identities as Jewish Israelis, silenced the speech of the Jewish Israeli students about a topic he viewed as illegitimate, treated the students differently and denigrated them on the basis of their Israeli national origin and Jewish ethnicity and ancestry, and prioritized others’ concerns over the Israeli students. The investigator also concluded that Ganz’s conduct interfered with and limited the students’ ability to participate in and benefit from Harvard Kennedy School’s educational program, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires schools that receive federal funding to respond immediately to discrimination and/or harassment that “negatively affect[s] the ability and willingness of Jewish students to participate fully in the school’s education programs and activities.” A university “must take prompt and effective steps reasonably calculated to end the harassment, eliminate any hostile environment, and prevent the harassment from recurring.” While Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf promptly accepted the investigator’s findings as final and committed to addressing the harassment and discrimination, stating “[w]e need to ensure that the School fulfills these commitments and that the violations of policies that occurred this spring are addressed fully and do not recur,” four months later, not only has there been no action to address the anti-Semitism, Harvard is now publicly touting Ganz, who continues to teach there, as a civil rights hero. The latest edition of the Harvard Gazette vaunts Ganz’s early civil rights work, making no mention of his recent dishonorable conduct. “The professor is no civil rights champion when it comes to minorities he personally finds distasteful, namely, Jewish Israelis. He is in fact a civil rights violator, who undisputedly trampled the rights of members of his class without hesitation or apology, denigrating the Students’ identity and preventing them from participating fully in his class,” wrote the Brandeis Center. “Harvard, it seems, has no genuine intent to address the anti-Semitism on its campus, choosing instead to publicly celebrate a professor who recently subjected Jewish and Israeli students to bias and discrimination.” The Brandeis Center demands Harvard fulfill the commitment it made to address Ganz’s discrimination, and eliminate the hostile environment that is snowballing on its campus, as it is required under Title VI. Specifically the Brandeis Center calls on Harvard to commit to university-wide changes, including requiring all faculty and staff to undergo training on anti-Semitism, including understanding that expressing support for the Jewish homeland is a sincere and deeply felt expression of Jewish ethnic and ancestral identity as well as the Jewish religion. The training also must help faculty and staff recognize when anti-Semitism directed at Jewish ethnicity is a concerted strategy to marginalize Jewish students on campus and make them feel unwelcome. The Brandeis Center also demands Harvard publicly acknowledge and renounce Ganz’s discrimination and harassment of Israeli Jews and take steps to ensure he and all professors treat Israeli and Jewish students with the same level of respect accorded others. “Harvard leadership has allowed its campus to run amuck with anti-Semitism for far too long. This outrageous, irresponsible and illegal failure of Harvard’s administration to address even undisputed anti-Semitism has paved the way for the problems they are now facing,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for the Bush and Trump Administrations. “It is high time the university provides the leadership it is required under the law.” To view a PDF of this press release, click here.