U.S. Dept. of education office for civil rights

The House Ways and Means Committee invited Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus to testify at its hearing: “Crisis on Campus: Antisemitism, Radical Faculty, and the Failure of University Leadership,” which took place June 13, 2024. The hearing’s other witnesses included recently-graduated Cornell student Talia Dror, Columbia Professor Shai Davidai, American Jewish Committee CEO and former U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch, and American First Policy Institute Higher Education Reform Director Dr. Jonathan Pidluzny.

This hearing focused on what Congress could do to respond and stop the rampant anti-Semitism that students have seen and experienced on college campuses since the October 7 Hamas massacre. The various ideas included curbing the college’s tax-exempt status, cutting federal funding, and revoking foreign wrongdoers’ visas. “Over the last 20 years, I have been fighting anti-Semitism on college campuses, but never seen anything like what we have experienced since October 7,” began Chairman Marcus in his opening statement. “Over the time since…this Committee held its last hearing…we are seeing a kind of perfect storm of student violent extremism, professorial politicization, undisclosed foreign funding, and often feckless and weak administration.”

Chairman Marcus shared concern about retaliation against students who report the anti-Semitic abuse: “In some cases, those who report anti-Semitic incidents have been met with retaliatory complaints or countercomplaints. Students should be encouraged to report their abuse without fear of reprisal.” Marcus is also troubled about how the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has dismissed some complaints unlawfully. He recommended OCR prioritize “opening, investigating, and resolving shared ancestry cases.” He suggested the Dept. of Education not merely wait for new complaints to be filed, but instead open its own investigations of anti-Semitic discrimination on campuses. And Marcus recommended joint investigations with the U.S. Department of Justice, because discrimination cases can fall under their purview.

Two bills were also discussed as potential remedies. One was the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Chairman Marcus called this a “huge step,” saying, “I hope the Senate will follow suit.”

Chairman Marcus advises that university presidents investigate Students for Justice in Palestine for “potential violations of the prohibition against materially supporting a foreign terrorist organization under 18 USC 2339A and B, and its state equivalents. Marcus also advocated for increased transparency about the “large sums of money from foreign governments.” But he cautioned for the “need to know what those funds are used for and “what impact it has on the curriculum and campus environment.”

The idea of rescinding funding to schools that refuse or declare themselves unable to respond to the ongoing crisis of hatred on campuses was endorsed by all the hearing’s witnesses. In response to a question from Congressman Drew Fergurson, Marcus said school administrations are “addicted to federal funding,” and it would change their

approach to anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination of students were their federal funding to be revoked or blocked.

Video of the hearing and a transcript of Chairman Marcus’s opening statement are embedded below.

Full Hearing Recording – Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus’s Opening Statement Begins at 1:03:07

Ken Marcus Testimony 061324 FINAL Download

Authored by: Eli Goldstein

Published 6/17/24 by New York Post; Story by Carl Campanile

CUNY has entered into a settlement agreement with the US Department of Education to resolve nine discrimination complaints alleging antisemitism, Islamophobia and other harassment — many occurring well before the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

Under the Monday agreement — which also cites alleged civil rights violations by the central office — the City University of New York agreed to more aggressively confront anti-Jewish hatred and other bigotry on its campuses through more extensive training, surveys, and better probes and reporting of discrimination.

“The CUNY agreement is a step in the right direction as it recognizes that CUNY failed to adequately address the problem and sets up federal monitoring and oversight,” said Alyza D. Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which represented students in the Brooklyn College case.

“It is a far cry, however, from an ‘all clear’ for CUNY. The devil will be in the details. We are eager to see what specific steps CUNY will take to actively address the anti-Semitism that has run rampant on their campuses for far too long,” Lewin said in a statement.

At Brooklyn College, white and Jewish students in the Graduate Program for Mental Health Counseling told of being bullied — and deemed “privileged” — in the fall of 2020.

When a student complained, the deputy director of the program allegedly said white students should “keep quiet” and “keep their heads down.”

Among the other complaints cited by the federal DOE’s Office of Civil Rights at other CUNY schools, including Hunter, Baruch and Queens Colleges and the School of Law were:

Students and professors hijacked two Zoom sessions of a Hunter College course in 2021 by reading a statement calling for the decolonization of Palestine while demonizing Israel. Several students wrote in the Zoom chat that they were scared. “OCR found that Hunter concluded—without interviewing students present during the sessions—that the disruption did not deny access to education, and that Hunter did not respond to requests from Jewish students to learn Hunter’s response,” the department said in a letter sent Monday to CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez.
A videotaped incident in 2020 of CUNY Law School student holding a lighter flame close to a sweatshirt bearing the emblem of the Israel Defense Forces, claiming she was going to set it on fire. The complainant alleged that the incident constituted antisemitic harassment, and that the incident and the Law School’s response to it were inadequate. The Law School said it never received a formal complaint the incident, which occurred off-campus and therefore the student was not disciplined.
Pro-Palestinian students alleged discrimination after the Law School cancelled a Muslim Law Student Association event titled “Fighting Complicity Against Genocide” on Nov.15, 2023. The Law School — which is being sued by pro-Palestinian students for nixing graduation speakers after years of hate-spewing messages — cancelled the event for not having enough time to address safety concerns.
At Queens College, Muslim students claimed they were verbally harassed and called names, such as “ISIS” and “terrorists” during pro-Palestinian protests in fall 2023, and and one was harassed for wearing a keffiyeh on campus. Jewish students also complained of being subjected to slurs at pro-Israel rallies.
In the spring of 2022, a Baruch College student alleged harassment after hearing slurs such as “f—ing Jew,” or “f—ing Jew who doesn’t want to wear a mask.” “Baruch did not provide to OCR information regarding complaints of national origin harassment (including shared Jewish ancestry) during the spring 2022 semester,” the department said.

The letter cited testimony of Jewish students and professors at a 2022 City Council hearing, saying they had been targeted with antisemitic slurs, including calls for the murder of Jews.

Rachel Pomerantz, the regional director of the OCR, said anti-discrimination policies at CUNY campuses may not be uniformly enforced.

“OCR identified concerns that particular constituent campuses, such as Hunter, the Law School, and Brooklyn appear not to have taken sufficient action in response to the existence of a potentially hostile environment, as evidenced by the persisting and sometimes escalating incidents,” Pomerantz said.

“For example, OCR is concerned that Brooklyn appears not to have either promptly or effectively responded to reports and incidents of discrimination, including harassment of students, based on race and shared ancestry.”

As part of the agreement, CUNY has agreed to conduct a system-wide campus climate survey at all 25 campuses to help address bigotry and harassment.

The university also agreed to provide training for new hires, including campus chief diversity officers and compliance and campus safety officers.

Three colleges — CUNY Law, Hunter College and Brooklyn College) will reinvestigate four incidents dating back to 2019-21.

“CUNY is committed to providing an environment that is free from discrimination and hate and these new steps will ensure that there is consistency and transparency in how complaints are investigated and resolved,” said CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez.

CUNY board of trustees chairman Bill Thompson said CUNY “believes in the dignity of all human beings and stands united against bigotry or hate of any kind on our campuses.”

Washington, D.C., June 17, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has opened an investigation into a federal complaint filed by The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law alleging Chapman University failed to take action after anti-Semitic harassment and exclusion of Jewish students in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The case involves anti-Semitic incidents perpetrated by Chapman Students for Justice in Palestine (CSJP) and its members. CSJP is a local chapter of a national anti-Jewish hate group, with the stated goal of “dismantling Zionism on college campuses.” After the October 7th Hamas massacre, actions by CSJP and its members included removing a Jewish student from the group because of his shared Jewish ancestry and making heinous death threats against a different Jewish student.

The complaint specifically details several instances when the University failed to address anti-Semitic conduct by CJSP targeting Jewish students.

First, was the exclusion of a Jewish Chapman student with a Jewish sounding surname when he attempted to join the group in September 2022 to learn about CSJP’s perspective. In October of 2022, he was removed from the listserv and effectively denied admission to the group. He was similarly rebuffed by CSJP when he renewed his attempts to join the group in October 2023 after Hamas’ terrorist attacks in Israel. CSJP failed to confirm his RSVP to a teach-in event and later denied him entry to the in-person event held on campus. This also happened with several other students who are Jewish or have Jewish-sounding names, who sought to attend the teach-in event, but did not receive the confirmation needed for admission by CSJP and therefore were barred from attending.

The complaint explains that CSJP utilizes a litmus test whereby those believed to be Jewish, often on the basis of nothing other than a Jewish-sounding surname, are denied access to CSJP unless and until CSJP confirms that they do not support Israel. Non-Jewish students, however, are not subjected to this test.

The second incident detailed in the complaint started on November 12, 2023 when a CSJP member sent a death threat to one of the Jewish students who was excluded from CSJP, after she responded to a social media post in which he called for “death to all Israelis who follow Zionism.” The student then asked the CSJP member if he wanted her dead. He responded “f*** yeah I want you and all Zionist trash bags dead the f*** kinda question is that?” The CSJP member then sent her a barrage of harassing messages accusing her of not being a real Jew and alleging that “Zionism is terrorism.”

The complaint details Chapman’s failure to keep the Jewish student safe after she promptly reported the threat incident to Chapman’s Department of Public Safety. After the Department of Public Safety conducted a threat assessment and determined that the CSJP member was not a threat, however, the school permitted him to move back into on-campus housing pending an investigation by Chapman’s Office of Student Conduct. At no point since issuing the death threat has the student been prohibited from campus. The Jewish student had to live and study in fear for her physical safety at Chapman due to the death threat issued on the basis of her Jewish identity by an individual who was routinely on the Chapman campus.

What is more, the same CSJP member continued to post anti-Jewish content on social media. After Hamas’ October 7 massacre in Israel, he filmed himself on TikTok vandalizing an on-campus memorial to the Israeli victims of the massacre. He also falsely accused another Jewish student of stealing his Palestinian flag and threatened him, going so far as to demand the Jewish student’s address.

Said Kenneth L. Marcus, chair of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, “Anti-Semitism continues to run rampant on college campuses. Too many universities are refusing to do what’s needed to address these civil rights violations. It is imperative that federal officials enforce the law. It is about time that the federal government is finally investigating Students for Justice in Palestine’s discriminatory activities. We welcome this outcome and look forward to pursuing the case to implement needed remedies to address past violations and stop future wrongs.”

Other SJP chapters at Fordham, Rutgers, Brandeis and George Washington University have been banned or suspended.

Ultimately, The Brandeis Center is seeking several remedies to ensure anti-Semitism is addressed including ensuring a comprehensive investigation into the death threat, ensuring student clubs are equally accessible to all Jewish students, disciplining student groups that engage in discrimination, revising anti-discrimination policies to better address the rights of Jewish students, and issuing a statement denouncing anti-Semitism in all forms and recognizing Zionism is a key component of Jewish identity for many of Chapman’s students.

The Brandeis Center is also pursuing federal lawsuits against Harvard University and the University of California at Berkeley. The U.S. Department of Education is currently investigating Brandeis Center complaints of unaddressed anti-Semitism on numerous college campuses, including Wellesley, SUNY New Paltz, the University of Southern California, Brooklyn College, and the University of Illinois. The organization also recently filed complaints against American University, UC Santa Barbara, Occidental College, Pomona College, UMass-Amherst, and Ohio State University, working in some cases with partner institutions, such as the Anti-Defamation League and StandWithUs. At the K-12 level, the Brandeis Center has also filed a federal complaint against Berkeley Unified School District and is suing the New York Department of Education and the Santa Ana Unified School District for unaddressed anti-Semitism, after securing a recent win with respect to its complaint against the Community School of Davidson in North Carolina.

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.

Published 6/8/24 by the Washington Examiner; story by Peter Cordi

The Department of Education has opened over 100 civil rights investigations into universities and school districts since tensions boiled over on campuses following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. California had the most investigations into its schools of any state.

Of the 103 Title VI investigations relating to tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, the vast majority involve antisemitic conduct. There have also been lawsuits alleging anti-Palestinian bias at some schools.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, there was a 400% uptick in antisemitic incidents in the wake of the onset of the war while 2023 saw a record number of such incidents. Anti-Muslim incidents have also increased.

There have been 28 states with similar investigations since Oct. 7, and California and New York are head and shoulders above the others, with 21 and 15 opened, respectively. Pennsylvania had eight, Illinois had seven, and Massachusetts and New Jersey had six each.

Ohio, Georgia, Washington, Minnesota, Michigan, and Maryland each had three investigations. Kansas, Florida, Louisiana, Arizona, North Carolina, and Indiana had two. Nevada, Montana, Virginia, Missouri, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Vermont, Hawaii, and Texas each had one.

Examples of conduct prompting civil rights investigations

Since Oct. 7, the number of incidents of antisemitism on campuses has increased. There have been several reports of Jewish students being physically assaulted or blocked from entering a public area, and numerous cases of antisemitic slurs being hurled at students.

Kenneth Marcus, founder and head of the Brandeis Center, pointed out to the Washington Examiner one especially notable instance in Ohio State University’s campus community where a student was asked, “Are you a Jew?” When the student acknowledged that he and his friends were Jewish, two men allegedly “punched one of the Jewish students and threw him into the street.”

Yael Lerman, director of StandWithUs legal department, identified three trends aside from antisemitic speech being seen on campus since Oct. 7 in an interview with the Washington Examiner. Besides physical violence or threats and barrier of entry, Lerman said “retaliation or false claims” have been the subjects of multiple university disciplinary proceedings in which Jewish or Zionist students have allegedly been falsely accused of misconduct.

She additionally noted that the kind of conduct seen at high schools generally differs from what is seen on college campus, with more “classic antisemitism” such as slurs and tropes reported at high schools, but the “anti-Zionist strand” is seen more in higher education.

While the vast majority of conduct resulting in civil rights lawsuits and subsequent investigations has involved acts of antisemitic speech or violence, there have also been several lawsuits, especially following the breaking up of anti-Israel encampments, alleging anti-Muslim or anti-Palestinian bias.

An April lawsuit against Columbia University alleged that Arab students, particularly those wearing keffiyehs and hijabs, were targets of harassment including being called terrorists and receiving death threats. The lawsuit also claimed “discriminatory treatment” of Palestinian students “protesting peacefully” because the school allowed the police to break up the anti-Israel encampment.

The City University of New York School of Law was also sued in April over the alleged removal of student fliers “supporting Palestinian lives and liberation,” increased surveillance and police presence at the school in response to anti-Israel “activism,” and the “last-minute” cancellation of a campus event about Gaza.

Legal advocacy groups such as the Brandeis Center, the ADL, Palestine Legal, and the Center for Constitutional Rights typically handle cases such as these, but individuals have also filed complaints on their own or someone else’s behalf.

Lerman called it “unprecedented” to see pro bono cases being eagerly taken on in this capacity and pointed to Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP as one major firm involved in high-profile Title VI lawsuits.

Civil rights investigations most likely to generate accountability

Lerman explained that the complaints filed by “broader” advocacy groups “generally speaking … will be more likely to have the evidence and witness necessary for [the Office for Civil Rights] to make a finding,” as opposed to investigations based on “quick complaints drawn up by concerned community members.”

She noted that the ones specifically filed by StandWithUs, including at Middlebury College in particular, are “all equally egregious because we don’t file Title VI complaints unless we think they’re worthy of full investigation.”

Marcus, who was appointed as assistant secretary of education for civil rights during the Trump administration, echoed a similar sentiment and called on the Office for Civil Rights to “take action on every one of our complaints” because “they all describe untenable situations that shouldn’t be permitted at federally funded institutions.”

“I’m concerned that until we actually see universities starting to lose their federal funding, we’re not going to actually see significant change in how these schools address antisemitism,” Lerman said. “We need to start seeing some of the schools lose their federal funding in order for real change to start happening.”

The latest in California

Of the 14 related Title VI civil rights investigations opened up by the Department of Education in the month of May, six were in California. No other state had more than one.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has acknowledged the rise in antisemitism and anti-Muslim discrimination in the wake of Oct. 7 through a number of actions, including publishing a plan to combat antisemitism in the Golden State, highlighting efforts to address anti-Muslim bias, and calling on the state’s education leaders to take additional steps to protect students.

Newsom has also authorized the expansion of funds to bolster security at religious institutions, traveled to Israel to meet with Israeli leaders and victims of the Oct. 7 attack, and convened with both Jewish and Arab leaders in his own state.

“Antisemitism, Islamophobia, hatred and bigotry in all forms have no place at the CSU,” Amy Bently-Smith, director of strategic communications and public affairs at California State University said in a statement. “Any act of hatred or discrimination creates a hostile environment that can interfere with a student’s right to access, benefit from, and feel safe in their education programs or an employee’s right to access, benefit from, and feel safe in the workplace. Hostile environment harassment and discrimination is prohibited by the law and CSU policy.”

The Washington Examiner reached out to the California Department of Education, the California Justice Department, and the University of California for comment.

Did the Brandeis Center just have its most extraordinary month ever? It certainly looks that way. We announced we are suing Harvard University for leaving “cruel anti-Semitic bullying, harassment, and discrimination unaddressed for years.” We also announced an anti-Semitism lawsuit against Origins High School in New York City. We filed new Title VI complaints with the U.S. Dept. of Education (ED) Office for Civil Rights against four more institutions – the University of Massachusetts Amherst and three California schools: Pomona College, Occidental College , and the University of California, Santa Barbara. In a significant victory, a K-12 school in North Carolina agreed to settle an ED anti-Semitism complaint filed by LDB. And we expanded our previously-filed complaints against the Berkeley Unified School District and the University of California, Berkeley. In this jam-packed edition of the Brandeis Brief, we break all that activity down for you.

LDB Sues Harvard for ‘Tolerating Rampant and Pervasive Anti-Semitism’

The Brandeis Center announced it is suing Harvard University for leaving “cruel anti-Semitic bullying, harassment, and discrimination” unaddressed for years, pre- and post-10/7. According to the complaint, “when Harvard is presented with incontrovertible evidence of anti-Semitic conduct, it ignores and tolerates it. Harvard’s permissive posture towards anti-Semitism is the opposite of its aggressive enforcement of the same anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies to protect other minorities.”

As detailed in the complaint, Harvard students and faculty have called for violence against Jews and celebrated Hamas’ terrorism. Student protestors have occupied and vandalized buildings, interrupted classes and exams, and made the campus unbearable for Jewish and Israeli classmates. Jewish students are bullied and spat on, intimidated, and threatened, and subject to verbal and physical harassment. For their part, professors have explicitly supported anti-Jewish and anti-Israel terrorism and spread anti-Semitic propaganda in their classes.

“For years, Harvard’s leaders have allowed the school to become a breeding ground for hateful anti-Jewish and radical anti-Israel views,” stated LDB Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “An outside investigator warned of the problem more than a year ago, Harvard Kennedy School’s Dean acknowledged it, and yet crickets. When are university leaders going to learn that in order to prevent your school from becoming a cesspool of anti-Semitism action is required? Schools must hold students and faculty accountable. They must follow through with public consequences when Jews are harassed and discriminated against just as they would for any other minority group, in keeping with settled law.”

LDB Lawsuit Targets Anti-Semitism in NYC Public School

The Louis D. Brandeis Center and law firm Walden Macht & Haran filed a lawsuit against Origins High School, the City of New York, the New York City Department of Education, and senior city and school officials on behalf of a public-school teacher and a campus administrator who have been harassed for months. Defendants did nothing to address the problem. Instead, they fired the Jewish teacher and the administrator who stood up for her.

The suit describes acts of anti-Semitism and hate speech against Jewish people generally, and teacher Danielle Kaminsky specifically, including students marching through the campus chanting “Fuck the Jews,” aggrandizing Adolf Hitler (and referring to him as the G.O.A.T. or “greatest of all time”), drawing swastikas on a Jewish student’s property, and exclaiming to a Jewish teacher that they “want to kill all jews.” The complaint also details how school officials, especially the Interim Acting Principal, sought to shield bigoted students from disciplinary action, even when a student brought explosives to school after engaging in other anti-Semitic acts. The complaint alleges that DOE’s complicity caused the anti-Semitism to fester, and that some of the bigoted cabal of students have started attacking and assaulting LGBTQ+ members of the school community.

“It seems to have been a complete abdication of responsibility, and then an attempted cover up,” stated LDB Senior Counsel Mark Goldfeder. LDB Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus added: “Above all else, safety must be a school’s #1 priority. Yet, New York City and Origins officials not only ignored violent, targeted threats, they attempted a complete cover-up. They shielded dangerous perpetrators, punished whistleblowers, and left Jewish teachers and students utterly vulnerable.”

LDB Files Title VI Complaints Against Four More Higher Education Institutions

In the past month, the Brandeis Center has filed Title VI civil rights complaints to the U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) asking the Office to investigate anti-Semitism at four institutions of higher education – the University of Massachusetts Amherst and three California colleges: Pomona, Occidental, and UC Santa Barbara.

“Following the law, holding perpetrators accountable, and issuing consequences is not rocket science. It’s beyond shameful that we have to call in the Department of Education to get a school to address a violent anti-Semitic assault and ensure other students aren’t similarly attacked,” stated LDB Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus in reference to the UMass complaint.

“Jewish students at Pomona and Occidental are hiding in their dorms and avoiding their own campus rather than risk verbal and physical attacks. These colleges know full well this is happening,” Marcus stated. “But instead of enforcing the law and their own policies, they are caving to the anti-Semitic mob and letting them bully, harass, and intimidate Jewish students. Anti-Semitism left unaddressed will not go away. It will only snowball and escalate until the problem is faced head on as the law requires.”

“At UCSB, what has been allowed to happen to Tessa [Veksler, UCSB Student Government President] over many months – shaming, harassing, and shunning a student to try to make her disavow a part of her Judaism – is shameful and illegal,” stated Marcus. “Sadly, this is not the first time we are seeing this mob behavior against a Jewish student elected by their student body to serve. It is incumbent upon UC Santa Barbara and all universities to say enough is enough.”

North Carolina K-12 School Settles U.S. Ed. Dept. OCR Complaint Filed by LDB

A North Carolina public charter school agreed to settle a U.S. Department of Education investigation into severe, persistent, and pervasive anti-Semitic bullying that went unaddressed in one of its charter schools for two full academic years. The settlement requires the school to take concrete steps to address the systemic anti-Semitism it allowed to fester in its community – e.g., publicizing a statement that it does not tolerate “acts of harassment based on a student’s actual or perceived race, color, or national origin including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics (e.g. antisemitism),” and conducting annual trainings of school staff and administrators on anti-discrimination law under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics.

According to the settlement, a non-Jewish eighth-grade boy faced daily abuse after he wore the Israeli Olympic jersey of his favorite Major League Baseball player. From that moment on, he was treated with vicious, severe and relentless harassment and bullying by a group of nine classmates. The bullying occurred daily for two years. He was also threatened and physically assaulted. Officials at the middle school were fully aware of the problem yet they refused to take steps to protect the boy.

“I think this case is a reminder that the problem of anti-Semitism, whether it’s in K-12 schools or on college campuses, should not be shoved under the rug,” said Brandeis Center Director of Legal Initiatives Denise Katz-Prober. “It needs to be addressed head-on by educators, administrators and the Department of Education.”

U.S. Dept. of Ed. Opens Investigation Into Anti-Semitism at Berkeley K-12 Schools

The U.S. Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights opened a formal investigation in May into a complaint filed by the Brandeis Center and Anti-Defamation League alleging that the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) has failed to address non-stop “severe and persistent” bullying and harassment of Jewish students in classrooms, hallways, school yards, and on walkouts since October 7, 2023.

One day before OCR opened the investigation, LDB and ADL expanded their jointly-filed complaint, sounding the alarm that the already-hostile environment for Jewish students is taking a frightening turn for the worse. For example, after the original complaint was filed, a student faced retaliation by peers and anti-Semitic graffiti appeared in a Berkeley High School bathroom and at the bus stop used by many Berkeley High School students to get to and from school.

And the day after OCR announced its investigation, BUSD’s Superintendent testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, denying that her school district had an unaddressed anti-Semitism problem. LDB and ADL’s expanded complaint provided a basis for the Committee’s questions. “They’re breeding the next generation of anti-Semites,” stated LDB Senior Counsel Robin N. Pick, who is overseeing Brandeis’s complaint, about BUSD’s administrators. “In some ways, it’s worse, because these are children as young as five or six years old. They’re captive audiences in these classrooms. They see their teachers as authority figures. They’re extremely impressionable. They don’t have the level of freedom as students do in college.” As a result, Pick warns, what’s happening in Berkeley classrooms amounts to “indoctrination.”

LDB and JAFE Expand Lawsuit Complaint Against UC Berkeley

The Brandeis Center and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education (JAFE) – one of the three membership organizations it established to help students, faculty, and parents join its cases as anonymous plaintiffs – expanded their lawsuit complaint against UC Berkeley, adding additional anti-Semitism allegations to the suit.

“As we’ve continued to talk to students – graduate students, law students, undergraduates – we decided to amend our complaint to add new allegations regarding the campus atmosphere, which we believe is a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students,” stated LDB Vice Chair and Berkeley Law alumna L. Rachel Lerman. “What we’re seeking is injunctive relief mainly – we want a court to tell the school, ‘follow the law, enforce your rules.’ And we have found that sometimes this is very effective, sometimes we can reach a settlement agreement with the university or sometimes it has to play itself out in court.”

LDB Declares AAA a Potential Game-Changer for Jewish Students

The House approved the long-awaited Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA) to combat anti-Semitism on college campuses. The fate of the bill awaits a decision by the Senate to bring the bill to a floor debate.

Brandeis Center Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus commended the House decision:

“This is the game-changing response that we’ve been waiting for. It finally establishes as a matter of law that Jewish students are protected under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Until now, this has been only a matter of informal guidance and an executive order. It also provides for the consistent, transparent use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism and ensures that it will be applied consistent with the First Amendment.

“The legislation also gives the force of law to the Trump Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism. The Biden administration has said that they’re following this Order, but now it is formalized. Moreover, the Biden administration has long promised to codify the IHRA definition via regulation, but they have repeatedly missed their self-imposed deadlines.

“From a federal perspective, this legislation won’t change current practice so much as it will reinforce it. From a university perspective, however, there are few U.S. universities that are consistently applying the IHRA definition in appropriate cases. This legislation should put a stop to that.”

Kenneth Marcus Explains Recent U.S. Ed. Dept. OCR Anti-Semitism Guidance in Chronicle of Higher Education

The Chronicle of Higher Education article emphasizes the Brandeis Center’s insights on recent OCR guidance on discrimination – including anti-Semitism – based on real or perceived shared ancestry characteristics.

“This letter is a signal to colleges that OCR is very much open for business. It shows that it is actively pursuing antisemitism and other ethnoreligious cases,” declared LDB Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. The Chronicle of Higher Education reaches an extremely influential higher education audience.

To Marcus, OCR’s citation of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, along with another that references a Q&A on President Trump’s Executive Order on Combating Antisemitism, “clarif[ies] that this administration remains committed to President Trump’s executive order.” Taken together, they show that the IHRA Definition “is not something institutions can choose to adopt,” Marcus said, but a principle “that is woven into the regulatory fabric of the agency.” Marcus has been pushing Congress to pass the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which would codify the IHRA Definition.

LDB and Others Prevent Showing of Anti-Semitic Film at Washington, D.C. High School

The Brandeis Center, American Jewish Committee and JCRC of Greater Washington jointly-filed an amicus brief in federal court case, supporting a Washington, D.C. high school’s decision to ban the screening of an anti-Semitic documentary.

One day later, the student group that had sued to compel the school to screen the film “The Occupation of the American Mind” narrated by Roger Waters withdrew its request for a preliminary injunction that, if granted, would have allowed it to show the film.

“High schools should not be sanctioning movies, teacher lesson plans, or any ‘educational’ activities that present a one-sided, biased perspective, often laced with anti-Semitic tropes about Israel and Jews. That is not education,” stated LDB Chairman Kenneth L. Marcus. “Schools have every right to exclude anti-Israel propaganda.”

NYT Interviews Rachel Lerman on Lack of Consequences for Anti-Semitic Faculty and Administrators

In a recent analysis of the lack of firings of educators accused of anti-Semitism, the New York Times sought insights from Brandeis Center Vice Chair L. Rachel Lerman.

LDB and ADL’s jointly-filed Title VI federal complaint filed against Berkely Unified School District (BUSD) argues that the district has “refused” to discipline teachers, including some who framed the Hamas attack as “resistance” or called Israel an “apartheid state” in their classrooms. The U.S. Dept. of Education recently opened an investigation into BUSD based on LDB’s complaint.

Lerman stated that many Jewish families feel that if another group were to face similar targeting in schools, “We would see results. It’s not about silencing speech. It’s about what’s appropriate in the classroom under the school’s own rules and California’s own laws.”

LDB Hosts Capitol Hill Briefing Highlighting the Spread of Anti-Semitism in K-12 Schools

The Brandeis Center hosted a Capitol Hill briefing titled “Fighting Antisemitism in K-12 School” in early May. The panel discussion was moderated by Brandeis Center Director of Legal Initiatives Denise Katz-Prober and featured Director of Legal Investigation Marci Lerner Miller and Senior Counsel Mark Goldfeder.

“Some of the anti-Semitism we are seeing in elementary and secondary schools involves traditional and classic manifestations, while some of it resembles what we are seeing in higher education, with middle and high schoolers emulating their older siblings to target Jews on the basis of their shared ancestry connected to Israel,” Katz-Prober explained. “And some aspects of the problem are different – coming from teacher unions or school-generated problems with curriculum.”

Read the full blog post, authored by LDB Director of Policy Education Emma Enig, who also produced the Congressional Briefing.

Alyza Lewin to Feature in Touro University Webinar (June 19)

Brandeis Center President Alyza D. Lewin is among the featured panelists in a webinar titled “Antisemitism on College Campuses and Beyond.” The event is open to the public.

The event also features United States District Judge Hon. Roy K. Altman. The presentation’s moderators are Touro University President Dr. Alan Kadish and Touro University Professor of Law and Director of the Jewish Law Institute Samuel J. Levine.

Register here. The Touro Talks 2024 Distinguished Lecture Series, virtual lectures is co-sponsored by Robert and Arlene Rosenberg and the Jewish Law Institute at Touro Law Center.

Kenneth L. Marcus Discusses Anti-Semitism Awareness Act on NBC News

Kenneth L. Marcus Discusses the Anti-Awareness Act in an Instagram Reel Posted by NBC News.

The Brandeis Center is Hiring

The Brandeis Center is hiring for the full-time positions of Litigation Counsel (New York), Staff Attorney (New York; Washington, D.C.; or remote), and Director of Development ( Washington, D.C.; New York; or remote). 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.

Published in The Algemeiner on 6/4/24; Story by Dion Pierre

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law has prevailed in its latest civil rights case brought forth on behalf of a North Carolina middle schooler who was bullied for being “perceived” as Jewish.

Last week, the nonprofit civil rights group announced that the Community School of Davidson, a charter school located in North Carolina, agreed to settle a complaint alleging that administrators failed to address a series of heinous antisemitic incidents in which the non-Jewish student, whose name is redacted from the public record, was called a “dirty Jew,” told that “the oven is that way,” and battered with other denigrating comments too vulgar for publication. The abuse, according to the complaint, began after the child wore an Israeli sports jersey.

“This is a very important settlement. It reflects the severity of antisemitism we’re now seeing not only on college campuses but also in K-12 schools,” Brandeis Center chairman and former US assistant education secretary Kenneth Marcus said in a statement. “This case also shows the various ways in which non-Jews as well as Jews can be harmed by antisemitic attitudes. The law recognizes that discrimination against those ‘perceived’ to be Jewish must be addressed because it is still bigotry, and it can quickly and dangerously multiply and seep into an entire community.”

Marcus continued, “We commend the courage of this family including a child for coming forward.”

The student, an eight-grader, was threatened and physically assaulted, according to the complaint, which noted that officials at the middle school were aware of the problem but did not take steps to address the daily bullying.

As part of the settlement with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Community School of Davidson has agreed, among other things, to issue a statement proclaiming a zero tolerance policy for racist abuse, institute anti-discrimination training for teachers and staff, and “develop or revise” its approach to responding to racial bigotry.

“It would be hard to overstate the impact this has had on my child,” the student’s mother said in a statement. “It is critical that educators not only understand the seriousness and danger of letting antisemitism flourish in their schools, but also that they are capable of taking proper action to effectively confront it and protect our children.”

This case isn’t the first the Brandeis Center has pursued on behalf of K-12 students. In February, it filed a complaint alleging that the Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) in California has caused severe psychological trauma to Jewish students as young as eight years old and fostered a hostile learning environment.

The problem exploded after Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, the suit charged. Since then, BUSD teachers have allegedly used their classrooms to promote antisemitic tropes about Israel, weaponizing disciplines such as art and history to convince unsuspecting minors that Israel is a “settler-colonial” apartheid state committing a genocide of Palestinians. While this took place, high-level BUSD officials allegedly ignored complaints about discrimination and tacitly approved hateful conduct even as it spread throughout the student body.

At Berkeley High School, for example, a history teacher allegedly forced students to explain why Israel is an apartheid state and screened an anti-Zionist documentary. The teacher sharply squelched dissent, telling a Jewish student who raised concerns about the content of her lessons that only anti-Zionist narratives matter in her classroom and that any other which argues that Israel isn’t an apartheid state is “laughable.” Elsewhere in the school, an art teacher, whose name is redacted from the complaint for matters of privacy, displayed anti-Israel artworks in his classroom, one of which showed a fist punching through a Star of David.

At several schools throughout BUSD, students were recruited to assist anti-Zionists teachers in cheering Hamas’ atrocities as “liberation.” They were called on to join “walk outs” and rewarded with excused absences in return for their participation, another violation of district policy forbidding excused absences for all but the most important reasons. These demonstrations became salvos of antisemitic rhetoric. During one organized at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, students shouted “KKK,” “Kill Israel,” “Kill the Jews,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” In another incident, the second-grade teacher who threatened a parent instructed her students to write “Stop bombing babies” on sticky notes.

The behavior of BUSD teachers and the benefits they offered in exchange for engaging in antisemitic behavior sent a strong signal to students that hating Jews is normal, socially acceptable behavior, the complaint explained. Acting on such approval, they proceeded to bully Jewish students with impunity. “You have a big nose because you are a stupid Jew,” a Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School student allegedly told their Jewish classmate. Another called a Jewish student a “midget Jew,” and throughout the district it became a trend to ask Jewish students if they have a “number,” an allusion to tattoos given to Jewish concentration camp prisoners during the Holocaust.

“The Jewish community was slower than we should have been to grasp the threat posed by antisemitism in higher education. Now we’re in danger of repeating the same problem in elementary and secondary education,” Marcus told The Algemeiner on Tuesday. “It is horrifying to acknowledge, but the fact is that the situation in many high schools is starting to replicate some of our most worrisome campuses. Elementary schools are not safe either. One ramification is that college campuses may get even worse, as entering freshmen arrive after having already been indoctrinated while in elementary and secondary schools.”

Anti-Semitic bullying reported at Davidson charter school leads to policy changes

DAVIDSON, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS; June 5, 2024) — A Davidson charter school has agreed to make changes around harassment and training after a complaint was filed that detailed a student enduring anti-Semitic bullying from classmates.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law filed a complaint on behalf of the Community School of Davidson student and his family in August of 2023. It says the seventh-grader faced the remarks for two school years.

The complaint was filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and centered around harassment that occurred between August 2021 through May 2023.

It also stated that CSD’s teachers and even administrators knew about the harassment.

In documents obtained by Queen City News, the complaint alleged that the student, who is non-Jewish, was bullied by classmates after he wore an Israeli Olympic jersey of his favorite Major League Baseball player.

The complaint described “vicious anti-Semitic” comments directed at the middle schooler that also occurred during a class lecture about the Holocaust.

The child was said to have been “distressed and isolated by the daily abuse and degradation he endured.”

In March of 2023, he notified his mother who reported it to the school administration.

It was later reported in findings by the Office for Civil Rights that CSD asked “the teacher to increase their supervision of the students involved and conducted interviews with the students identified.”

However, “there is no evidence that after substantiating that harassing conduct occurred in March 2023, the School took steps to address the harassment with the Student to mitigate its effects.”

CSD released a statement to Queen City News regarding the complaint:

“The Community School of Davidson (“CSD”) was built on the founding principles of community and inclusion. Our mission is to provide an optimal environment for learning in which teachers and parents work together to create an inclusive environment for all students. We abide by all federal and state anti-discrimination laws and will continue to do so. All complaints received by CSD are investigated in accordance with CSD’s policies and procedures, as well as federal and state laws and regulations.

“With regard to the complaint filed with OCR, CSD voluntarily entered into a resolution agreement with OCR. OCR made no findings of any wrongdoing on the part of CSD. Instead, CSD agreed to bolster trainings, policies, and routine school activities to ensure the necessary safeguards are implemented to protect all students and staff from discrimination, harassment, and bullying or any perception of the same.“

However, in its analysis of how the school handled its investigation into the complaint the Office of Civil Rights did name instances of “failure.”

OCR stated it found evidence to show the student was harassed, thereby creating a “hostile environment,” and that “OCR is concerned that the School failed to consistently take prompt and effective steps to redress the environment.

It was also discovered that the school did not properly document its investigation which could have led to the school not properly identifying the hostile environment which led to future abuse.

Read the full analysis of the findings here.

Before the investigation was complete, OCR and CSD entered into an agreement that included better training for educators to identify instances of hate speech, proper documentation of investigations into these matters, and a future assessment of the climate on campus in the first quarter of 2024-2025.

Read the settlement here.

The OCR will also follow up with the school to ensure the changes are in place.

Mother of bullied middle-schooler testified at Congressional briefing this month

Washington, D.C., May 30, 2024: A North Carolina public charter school agreed to settle a U.S. Department of Education investigation into severe, persistent, and pervasive anti-Semitic bullying that went unaddressed in one of its charter schools for two full academic years. The settlement requires the school to take concrete steps to address the systemic anti-Semitism it allowed to fester in its community.

According to the settlement, the Community School of Davidson has entered into a resolution agreement with the Department of Education to resolve a federal complaint filed by The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law on behalf of a non-Jewish eighth-grade boy who faced daily abuse after he wore the Israeli Olympic jersey of his favorite Major League Baseball player. From that moment on he was treated with vicious, severe and relentless harassment and bullying by a group of nine classmates for being a Jew. He was called “dirty Jew,” “filthy Jew,” and “penny picker upper,” and told to “get in the gas chamber,” “go back to your concentration camp,” “go to your oven Jew,” “the oven is that way,” and “go die Jew.” The bullying occurred every single day all over school, even during Holocaust class, for two years. He was also threatened and physically assaulted.

Officials at the middle school were fully aware of the problem yet they refused to take steps to address the daily bullying and physical assaults.

“It would be hard to overstate the impact this has had on my child,” said the boy’s mother, who asked that her name and her son’s name be withheld, during a recent congressional briefing on Capitol Hill about rising anti-Semitism in K-12 schools. “As a parent this has been completely devastating.”

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin, including discrimination against Jews, or those perceived to be Jewish, on the basis of their actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics in educational institutions that receive federal funding.

In the settlement, the Department of Education confirmed that the evidence substantiated the Brandeis Center’s claim that the child was subjected to a hostile environment based on his perceived Jewish shared ancestry, and that the school knew about it and did not take prompt and effective steps to address it or the broader hostile environment at the school. The Department of Education went on to admonish the school for failing to properly investigate, failing to take “timely, reasonable, and effective steps to eliminate the hostile environment,” and failing to “put in effective supports for bystanders who may have witnessed the antisemitic comments and experienced the impact of a hostile environment,” and it cautioned that these failures “may have impeded the School from identifying whether a hostile environment existed for other students.”

“This is a very important settlement. It reflects the severity of anti-Semitism we’re now seeing not only on college campuses but also in K-12 schools. This case also shows the various ways in which non-Jews as well as Jews can be harmed by anti-Semitic attitudes. The law recognizes that discrimination against those ‘perceived’ to be Jewish must be addressed because it is still bigotry, and it can quickly and dangerously multiply and seep into an entire community. We commend the courage of this family including a child for coming forward,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, chair of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education.

The agreement requires the school to take the following immediate steps:

Publish and publicize a statement that it does not tolerate “acts of harassment based on a student’s actual or perceived race, color, or national origin including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics (e.g. antisemitism)”;
Review and revise its policies and procedures for non-discrimination and reporting to ensure it specifies prohibited harassment based on “actual or perceived shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics,” including providing examples of harassment based on shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics;
Develop or revise procedures for documenting complaints of harassment and actions taken in response by the school;
Annual trainings of school staff and administrators on anti-discrimination law under Title VI, including actual or perceived shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics;
Conduct annual trainings of staff involved in processing, investigating, and resolving complaints of discrimination and harassment, including “racial sensitivity training, including on the basis of actual or perceived shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics”;
Develop a student informational program for students to address discrimination including on the basis of actual or perceived shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics;
Conduct audits for the last two school years to determine if any incidents constituted discrimination including harassment on basis of actual or perceived shared ancestry and ethnicity, and if they find harassment occurred, the school must take steps to remedy the harassment towards affected students;
Conduct an audit at the end of the 2024-25 school year to assess compliance with the school’s anti-discrimination policies and procedures; and
Conduct a climate assessment during 2024-25 school year and ensure parents and students have access to a counselor to discuss incidents and concerns.

The Department of Education indicated that it will monitor the Community School of Davidson until it determines it is in compliance with the terms of the settlement and the law.

“The fact that the school would ignore this is reprehensible,” stated Marcus. “Unfortunately, though, far too many K-12 school districts and universities are taking the easy way out and allowing schools to become hostile environments for Jews, and by default anyone perceived to be Jewish. We urge the Department of Education to resolve other pending cases expeditiously so we can begin to turn the tide on this dangerous wave of anti-Semitism.”

The boy’s mother added, “It is critical that educators not only understand the seriousness and danger of letting anti-Semitism flourish in their schools, but also that they are capable of taking proper action to effectively confront it and protect our children.” The Brandeis Center also filed a federal complaint against Berkeley Unified School District and is suing the New York Department of Education for unaddressed anti-Semitism in K-12 schools. And the Department of Education is currently investigating Brandeis Center complaints for unaddressed anti-Semitism on numerous college campuses, including Wellesley, SUNY New Paltz, the University of Southern California, Brooklyn College, and the University of Illinois. The organization also recently filed complaints against American University, UC Santa Barbara, Occidental College, Pomona College, UMass-Amherst, and Ohio State University.

Contact: Nicole Rosen 202-309-5724

Washington, D.C., May 16, 2024: The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law today filed a federal civil rights complaint against the University of Santa Barbara (UCSB) for leaving its own student government president, Tessa Veksler, utterly vulnerable to severe and persistent anti-Semitic bullying, harassment, intimidation, and threats. The harassment escalated to such a degree it forced Veksler to stay off campus during the end of the fall semester and take her exams online. The Brandeis Center is representing Veksler.

Veksler was elected president of the UCSB Associated Students (AS) in April 2023, making history by becoming the school’s first Sabbath observant student body president. She is the daughter of Soviet refugees who fled Jewish persecution, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine compelled her to run. According to Veksler, her parents came to the U.S. in search of a society where they could live freely from anti-Semitism. Yet, a generation later, she is facing anti-Semitic hate for serving her university.

According to the complaint, Veksler has been targeted relentlessly on social media and at her student government office by her peers on the basis of an integral component of her Jewish identity, namely, her “Zionism,” which recognizes that Jews are part of a people with an ancestral connection to Israel. Threats such as, “you can run but you can’t hide, Tessa Veksler;” attacks calling her a Zionist dog, racist, and fascist; and repeated accusations that she is unfit to serve in her elected position due to her Jewish identity, have plagued her since October 7. Just last month, in a poster featuring Veksler and other students, a photo of Veksler’s face was violently slashed. The constant harassment has left Veksler fearful for her physical safety on campus, negatively impacted her mental health, adversely affected her academic performance, and undermined her ability to lead student government.

“No individual should ever have to experience what I went through as a Jewish student at UCSB – harassment, intimidation, threats, and character assassination all in the form of pure anti-Semitic hatred,” stated Veksler. “Despite the challenges I have faced, I knew that nothing would stop me from standing up for the Jewish community, maintaining my democratically-elected position, and pursuing justice for myself after being relentlessly targeted on the basis of my Jewish identity.”

The situation began online where Veksler was repeatedly cyberbullied and doxed. And after it was left unchecked by the university for numerous months, the harassment migrated to the campus. In February, students plastered signs throughout the Multicultural Center, where Veksler’s student government office is located, threatening her and making it clear Veksler is unwelcome on campus and should be excluded. The messages on posters stated: “Zionists are not welcome,” “Zionists not welcome,” “Ziofascists GTFO [get the f**k out],” “Zionists not allowed,” “AS president is racist Zionist,” and “Get these Zionists out of office.” Some of the posters contained ominous warnings directed at Veksler.

The harassment was further publicized to the entire student body community when photographs were posted on UCSB Multicultural Center’s official Instagram account. The harassment continued online with demeaning messages and veiled threats that included, “You are disgusting. Zionists are NOT welcome in the MCC [Multicultural Center]. We will not back down and we WILL take action.” One post stated, “Zionist dog is sad she can’t harass the non-white students she presides over :(,” and another remarked, “Everyone, take a moment of your time to feel bad for this genocide-supporting racist piece of shit,” and “f**k your white comfort in stealing a multicultural center.” Other posts invoked age-old anti-Semitic tropes including the greedy Jew and claims Jews cannot be trusted to hold elected office.

Some of the harassing messages suggested Jews are not a minority group and do not belong at the Multicultural Center at all.

According to the complaint, the university has largely ignored the harassment, threats, and attacks, failing to stop the harassment or adequately address the hostile environment, and the few steps it has taken have been severely insufficient. It has failed to even put out a statement specifically condemning anti-Semitic efforts to bully and intimidate its own Jewish student president.

The Brandeis Center demands UCSB conduct an immediate and full investigation of the discriminatory and harassing behavior against Veksler and take appropriate disciplinary action against perpetrators. To prevent future incidents like this, they also urge the university to issue a statement clearly and specifically condemning anti-Semitic harassment and efforts to shun and marginalize Jewish students based on the Zionist component of their Jewish identity and commit to conducting anti-Semitism education and training of faculty, students and staff.

“What has been allowed to happen to Tessa over many months – shaming, harassing, and shunning a student until they disavow a part of their Judaism – is shameful and illegal,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights. “Sadly, this is not the first time we are seeing this mob behavior against a Jewish student elected by their student body to serve. It is incumbent upon UC Santa Barbara and all universities to say enough is enough.”

Brandeis Center attorneys also represented Rose Ritch when anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination led to her resignation as University of Southern California’s (USC) student government vice president and Max Price, a Tufts student government official similarly threatened with impeachment and disciplinary hearings. Ritch and Price were both attacked for the Zionist component of their Jewish identity. After the Brandeis Center intervened, Students for Justice in Palestine withdrew their call to impeach Price. The Department of Education is currently investigating USC.

Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color, and national origin, including discrimination against Jews on the basis of their actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, in educational institutions that receive federal funding. Under the law, harassing, marginalizing, demonizing, and excluding Jewish students based on the Zionist component of their Jewish identity is unlawful. UNESCO has cautioned that “Jew” and “Zionist” are often used interchangeably today in an attempt by anti-Semites to cloak their hate. According to President Biden’s U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, released in May 2023, “Jewish students and educators are targeted for derision and exclusion on college campuses, often because of their real or perceived views about the State of Israel. When Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism. And that is unacceptable.”

Last week the Brandeis Center and ADL filed civil rights complaints against Pomona and Occidental Colleges for severe anti-Semitic bullying, intimidation and physical threats. And the Department of Education opened an investigation into a complaint filed by the Brandeis Center and ADL about “severe and pervasive” anti-Semitism in Berkeley K-12 public schools.

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is an independent, unaffiliated, nonprofit corporation established to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all. LDB engages in research, education, and legal advocacy to combat the resurgence of anti-Semitism on college and university campuses, in the workplace, and elsewhere. It empowers students by training them to understand their legal rights and educates administrators and employers on best practices to combat racism and anti-Semitism. More at www.brandeiscenter.com

Brandeis Center/ADL file federal complaints with U.S. Dept of Education

Contact: Brandeis Center, Nicole Rosen 202-309-5724 l nicole@rosencomm.com

ADL, Todd Gutnick 212-885-7755 | adlmedia@adl.org

Washington, D.C., May 9, 2024: The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) today announced they have filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against two California colleges — Occidental and Pomona — for permitting severe discrimination and harassment of Jewish students in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Arnold & Porter joined the Brandeis Center and ADL in the filing against Pomona College.

Since 10/7, Jewish and Israeli students on both campuses have been verbally harassed and physically surrounded, followed, threatened, and intimidated by protestors. They have been shouted at, told to “go back to the gas chambers,” and called “kike,” “f**king Jew,” “f**king Zionist,” and “murderer.” Many have been obstructed from moving freely about campus and cannot carry out their jobs or partake in educational opportunities as a result of anti-Semitic bullying, and some have even been physically assaulted. Many Jewish students confine themselves to their dorm rooms or refrain from participating in certain educational and/or extracurricular activities, avoiding certain dining halls or cafés, common areas on campus, and campus events to avoid anti-Semitic harassment. Several have transferred to other schools due to persistent anti-Semitism.

“Jewish students on these campuses are hiding in their dorms and avoiding their own campus rather than risk verbal and physical attacks,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights. “Pomona and Occidental know full well this is happening. But instead of enforcing the law and their own policies, they are caving to the anti-Semitic mob and letting them bully, harass, and intimidate Jewish students. Anti-Semitism left unaddressed will not go away. It will only snowball and escalate until the problem is faced head on as the law requires.”

“There’s simply no excuse for the persistent and pervasive antisemitic harassment being faced by Jewish students at Occidental and Pomona colleges,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director. “No student should be forced to transfer due to continual harassment. We urge the U.S. Department of Education to investigate these schools for potential civil rights violations and to take effective measures to protect Jewish students on these campuses.”

Occidental College

Occidental is fully aware of the pervasive and hostile environment for Jewish students, and has ignored and enabled it.

The complaint details how Jewish students were forced out of school-sponsored employment opportunities due to severe and pervasive anti-Semitic environments. Many Jewish students chose to leave their jobs rather than continue to subject themselves to anti-Semitic attacks, Holocaust inversion, and harassment while others chose to take unsafe routes home rather than continue to be harassed.

At every turn, Occidental has put its Jewish students last, swiftly enforcing policies against its Jewish students while continuing to ignore the same or similar violations from the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic crowd. Jewish students are harassed and obstructed daily on campus, in their dorms, in the dining hall, and more. One particularly egregious incident occurred when anti-Semitic protests occupied and vandalized the central administrative building for nearly a week. Despite several warnings to the trespassing students and staff, Occidental forwent enforcing school policies and instead capitulated to the occupiers’ demands. Occidental sent a clear message – when the victims of violations are Jewish, the rules will not be enforced.

Faculty at Occidental have also played a role in encouraging the anti-Semitic environment. One professor told her students she felt “invigorated” by the Hamas terrorist attack and encouraged students to share her excitement. Others have participated in pro-Hamas chanting and made anti-Semitic statements. More than 60 faculty members sent an email denying that Hamas’ actions were terrorism. The school has said nothing to condemn these anti-Semitic declarations, sending a green light to students that this behavior is permitted.

Pomona College

The already hostile environment for Jewish students at Pomona took a turn for the worse immediately following the October 7 terrorist attack with various student groups and members of the faculty loudly supporting the murderous Hamas attacks, blaming the Israeli victims, and creating a shrine honoring the Hamas terrorists. Pomona students blocked access to buildings, interfered with classes and school events, and harassed current and prospective students. At first, the Pomona administration did very little to remedy the hostile environment. But as the situation deteriorated, President G. Gabrielle Starr eventually began to respond. But despite her laudable, albeit belated efforts to address growing antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on campus, Pomona failed to eliminate the hostile environment, in part, because the opposition from pro-Hamas students and faculty had already grown too strong.

Multiple incidents of physical violence and intimidation occurred during the numerous explicitly pro-Hamas protests that took place at Pomona. For example, during one demonstration, protestors surrounded Jewish students who were putting up posters of hostages, physically preventing them from hanging the posters. The protestors then followed the Jewish students and a Jewish adult staff member, obstructed their paths, verbally harassed them, and tore up at least 300 of the Jewish students’ pre-approved flyers. Later that day a protestor saw one of the Jewish students and aggressively pushed him into a wall. The Jewish student was then tailed by other protestors who threatened and intimidated him. The school has taken no action and school security has even refused to watch security footage of the protest incident. Most Jewish students sheltered in in their dorms or left campus entirely for their safety, missing classes to avoid the physically hostile demonstrators.

Another protest was so disruptive, including loud antisemitic chants and the blocking of entrances, forcing President Starr to cancel her Family Weekend Address. During another protest, when a student tried to move past the demonstrators to attend the Harry Potter Dinner, an annual Pomona tradition, the demonstrators blocked and grabbed him. Protestors have also disrupted and harassed prospective student tours to such a degree that one prospective student started sobbing. The message was clear: Jewish families and Jewish students are not welcome at Pomona. During a recent protest, President Starr had to call the police to protect herself and the Pomona community at large, resulting in nineteen arrests for criminal trespass and obstruction of justice. This conduct has ensued despite President Starr’s warnings to the Pomona community, her attempts to impose order on campus, and her efforts to offer support to the victimized Jewish and Israeli students.

“I have seen anti-Semitism here grow tremendously in the last 3 years,” stated Pomona student, Ayelet Kleinerman. “I have raised it with the administration many times, but even when they had the opportunity to take it seriously, they didn’t. They’ve called the police for their own safety, but they are not doing enough to protect Jewish students. From hate speech to retaliation in class and outside it to the mob that is occupying our campus and has taken over much of campus life, Jewish students are scared.”

Earlier this week the Department of Education opened an investigation into a complaint filed by the Brandeis Center and ADL about “severe and pervasive” anti-Semitism in Berkeley K-12 public schools.

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.