The Brandeis Brief: October 2024

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With students returning to campus, displays of anti-Semitism remain at all-time highs; this month’s Brief looks at what we, universities, and government officials can do to change course and protect Jewish students and people from harassment and discrimination. In September, the Brandeis Center reached a historic agreement to protect Jewish students at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Later in the month, Judge Lippman issued a long-awaited report investigating CUNY’s failure to protect Jewish students and urging action to prevent systemic anti-Semitism.

In this issue:

• Historic Agreement Reached to Protect Jewish Students at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Long-Awaited Anti-Semitism Report Finds City University of New York Needs to “Significantly Overhaul” Policies and Procedures to Protect Jewish Students
• Students Return to College, and So Do Anti-Zionist Protests
• Mayor Adams Should Act to Stem the Tide of Anti-Semitism Sweeping New York City 
• Federal Court Rulings Accept Legal Recognition of Zionism as Integral to Jewish Identity

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Historic Agreement Reached to Protect Jewish Students at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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Long-Awaited Anti-Semitism Report Finds City University of New York Needs to “Significantly Overhaul” Policies and Procedures to Protect Jewish Students

The report, issued by Judge Lippman and ordered nearly one year ago by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, evaluated CUNY’s policies to protect Jewish students on campus. The investigation found that “CUNY’s current policies and procedures for preventing and addressing anti-Semitism and discrimination need to be significantly overhauled and updated in order to handle the levels of anti-Semitism and discrimination that exist on CUNY’s campuses today.” The report included a review of Brandeis Center work regarding CUNY.

The Brandeis Center knows CUNY’s failure to properly combat anti-Semitism all too well, having both advised CUNY on the shortcomings of its existing policies and counseled individual Jewish CUNY students and faculty who have experienced anti-Semitism on campus. At the core of CUNY’s failure to effectively combat anti-Semitism, particularly expressed as anti-Israel animus, has been their refusal to align its policies, practices, and procedures with the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism and to enforce effective time, place, and manner rules.

The report includes recommendations to acknowledge IHRA and properly enforce protest policies. The proposed reforms may not be perfect, but the Brandeis Center  encourages CUNY to accept its recommendations and specifically to “accept the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, as the law effectively requires, so that by better understanding Jewish peoplehood, our inextricable connection to the land of Israel, and the ways that anti-Semites hide behind the demonization and delegitimization of Israel, CUNY can truly protect its Jewish community,” said LDB Director of Corporate Initiatives Rory Lancman.

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Students Return to College, and So Do Anti-Zionist Protests

As students return to college campuses, Kenneth L. Marcus appeared on Fox News to weigh in on what we can expect from students and universities this semester, predicting that “it’s not a question of whether the students will engage in vandalism, it’s a question of how these universities are miseducating the students to the point where this is considered to be normal.”

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Alyza Lewin also appeared on JNS TV’s podcast, “The Quad,” to explore more about what the new school year means for students. Despite increased anti-Semitism now, the problem is not new, and college campuses have long been “a community that has been vilifying Jews.” In response, Ms. Lewin said that “Jewish students have found they need the Jewish community more than ever on campus. That’s the one safe space.” Ms. Lewin also appeared on i24 news to reiterate the universities’ legal obligation to protect students and cautioned that “administrators mischaracterize what’s taking place on campus. It’s not a good faith political debate… it’s actually the vilification and dehumanization of Jews.”

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With anti-Semitism on campuses showing few signs of slowing down this year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers urged the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to investigate the issue and provide recommendations to address it. Mr. Marcus responded to this idea, reiterating the need for an investigation at this critical moment, but questioning whether the commission “has the strength and resolve to give the matter the fair, focused, and principled attention that it deserves.”

In its continued commitment to supporting students’ civil rights to freely and safely be Jewish on campus, earlier this month, the Brandeis Center, along with partners at Hillel International, ADL, and Gibson Dunn announced that the Campus Anti-Semitism Legal Line (CALL) has received more than 650 requests for assistance from university students across the country who experienced anti-Semitic harassment, violence, or discrimination in the first nine months of the program. While the Brandeis Center continues to hold universities to the law to combat anti-Semitism and protect Jewish students, “through CALL, we have come together as a community in strength to empower and protect our students,” shared Alyza Lewin.

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Mayor Adams Should Act  to Stem the Tide of Anti-Semitism Sweeping New York City

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Federal Court Rulings Accept Legal Recognition of Zionism as Integral to Jewish Identity