Campus Antisemitism
“You have an opportunity to show moral leadership and set an example to the greater community that SJP does not reflect the values of your campus,” wrote StandWithUs to the university’s president and dean.
The resolution highlighted incidents at the North Carolina university, such as the drawing of swastikas.
“Fighting bigotry should not be a competition between minority groups; it’s not a zero-sum game,” said Denise Katz-Prober, director of legal initiatives at the Brandeis Center.
A total of 111 incidents were recorded at universities in the 2020-21 academic year—a rise of 59 percent from the previous school year.
Aviva Rosenschein, CAMERA’s International Campus Director, told JNS: “It’s gotten much worse since I started in 2008 with CAMERA—much worse. It’s much more intimidating on the campuses.”
The effort involved 40 focus groups comprised of students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees, in addition to a campus-wide survey.
“Not only does the administration not care about discrimination against Orthodox or Zionist Jews, but they actively retaliate against them,” claimed Professor Jeffrey Lax, who is involved in an investigation against Kingsborough Community College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system.
Six professors—five of them Jewish—said they feel “alienated” from the Professional Staff Congress as a result of “its political advocacy and stated positions on Israel,” and no longer want to pay dues.
From intimidation to physical instances, the California college has moved full-force ahead, starting with the creation of a new Advisory Committee on Jewish Life.
“It is important to face our history as an institution and understand the impact of past actions,” said university president Marc Tessier-Lavigne.
After being included in the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Global Anti-Semitism 2021 “Top Ten” list, the university distributes a statement condemning anti-Semitism to the media.
Experts say the resolution ignores the reality of academic freedom in Israel. According to the Israeli Council for Higher Education, approximately 54,000 Arab students attend Israeli universities, comprising 17 percent of all students in Israel.
