Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

St. Lawrence University student government adopts definition of anti-Semitism

Achiad Kalman, president of the Students Supporting Israel chapter, said the resolution’s passage was “a big step towards combating anti-Semitism and ensuring the safety of the Jewish community.”

Hepburn Hall at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Hepburn Hall at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The student government at St. Lawrence University in New York unanimously passed a resolution on Wednesday night that calls on the school’s administration to adopt the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.

The IHRA definition says: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

In a statement, Achiad Kalman, president of the Students Supporting Israel chapter at SLU, said the resolution’s passage was “a big step towards combating anti-Semitism and ensuring the safety of the St. Lawrence Jewish community.”

Out of 2,392 undergraduates, about 50 are Jewish, or 2 percent of the undergraduate population. There are just 42 graduate students, with none recorded as Jewish, according to Hillel International.

“We already have demonstrated that hate and hateful acts are not going to be tolerated, and so if we could even take it a step further to define antisemitism and what that is like, then I want to be able to take that,” Jeannette Sánchez-Palacios told JNS.
The IDF said it would continue to operate in the security zone in accordance with the ceasefire agreement with Beirut.
City Hall is making “a mockery of open government, at least when it comes to the administration’s relationship with the Jewish community,” attorney Jack Lester told JNS.
The State Department weighed in, as the United Nations Security Council readies for its third straw poll to pick the new secretary-general.