Campus Antisemitism
The National Students for Justice in Palestine is holding its conference from Nov. 1-3 at the University of Minnesota.
That could violate the Clery Act of 1990, which requires colleges that receive federal funding to report crimes on or adjacent to campus.
“Would university administrators permit the KKK to have a national conference on campus? Why then are we allowing an ideology of hate that targets specific groups to influence our universities?” asked Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy executive director Charles Asher Small.
This “outrageous and deeply offensive” incident is “another example of SJP’s anti-Semitic practice of marginalizing Jews and reducing their identity to their connection to Israel” on college campuses, says ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
The 33-page dossier “reveals the disturbing truth about anti-Semitism at one of the highest-regarded universities in the United States,” said Avi Gordon, executive director of the NGO Alums for Campus Fairness.
“People are really upset,” said Rabbi Shmuel Kravitsky, co-director of Chabad at the Five Colleges. “It’s unprecedented in a small school and community like this.”
Accuses Chancellor Robert Jones of having “improperly characterized” SJP presentation as having anti-Semitic content • Jewish campus community not consulted • Strong display of Jewish unity.
In a campus email, Chancellor Robert Jones wrote: “This exercise was part of a university program created to help students learn to share diverse ideas and perspectives that lead to new understanding. Instead of fostering dialogue, it incited division, distrust and anger.”
A swastika was found on one of its buildings, and a presentation for the school’s residential living team, consisting of 11 student employees and a full-time staff member, contained anti-Semitic content.
“We have committed to making Israel a ‘brain gain’ country for students and researchers from around the world—North and South America, Europe and Asia,” said Professor Yaffa Zilbershats, chair of the Council for Higher Education in Israel’s Planning and Budgeting Committee.
“This is an attack not just on Yale’s Jewish community, but on Yale itself and its values,” said Jewish chaplain and Rabbi Jason Rubenstein.
“The prophecy of the vanishing Jew has not come to fruition,” said Leonard Saxe, director of the Steinhardt Center at Brandeis University.
