Tag: colleges

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Trump plunges into campus conflicts about Israel and Palestinian rights

A guest at the White House Hanukkah reception on Wednesday wears a “Make America Great Again” yarmulke. (Tom Brenner/Reuters)
A guest at the White House Hanukkah reception wears a “Make America Great Again” yarmulke, Wed, Dec 11, 2019. (photo: Tom Brenner / Reuters)
The executive order, like many of Trump’s policy moves related to Israel, drew approval from parts of his evangelical Christian base, while Jewish leaders were divided in their responses.

By Julie Zauzmer and Susan Svrluga | The Washington Post | Dec 11, 2019

The executive order ‘has been crafted carefully in a way to paper over the inherent flaw in directing federal agencies to use a definition of anti-Semitism that reaches speech plainly protected by the First Amendment.’
— Will Creeley, a senior vice president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education

President Trump added new fuel Wednesday to a long-simmering fight about how colleges should handle activism around the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, signing a controversial executive order directing the federal government to penalize universities that allow anti-Semitism on campus.

Jewish Americans, from rabbis to college students, were deeply divided in their opinion of an order ostensibly meant to protect Jews. Advocates for Palestinian rights and for free speech on college campuses feared that the order might be used to punish students for criticism of Israel that they contend is political, not anti-Semitic.

On campuses across the country, including at George Washington University in the District, students and faculty are fighting over what constitutes bias against Jews and what is legitimate criticism of a foreign government. Continue reading “Trump plunges into campus conflicts about Israel and Palestinian rights”

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Enough already — not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism

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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march through Sather Gate on the University of California, Berkeley campus. (photo: Paul Sakuma / Associated Press)

The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2018 should be shelved.

By The Times Editorial Board | Los Angeles Times | Jun 8, 2018

Is it necessarily anti-Semitic to harshly criticize the Jewish state or to do so without, in the same breath, criticizing Saudi repression?

Freedom of speech on college campuses is under enough pressure without the federal government adding to the problem by threatening to withdraw funding to punish people for expressing their political opinions. That would be a real possibility if Congress enacted and President Trump signed a bill called the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2018.

The legislation, which has recently been reintroduced in both chambers, purports to target harassment of Jewish students on college campuses, which has occurred in California and elsewhere.

But this proposal would blur the distinction between unacceptable, intimidating expressions of intolerance directed against Jews with criticism of the state of Israel. The latter, even when expressed in intemperate terms, is protected by the 1st Amendment. . . .

Continue reading “Enough already — not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism”

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Cal State East Bay student government unanimously passes BDS resolution

California State University East Bay. (photo: BDS Movement)

The Student Government of CSU East Bay endorsed a resolution calling for divestment from corporations complicit in the illegal military occupation of Palestine.

Press Release | SJP West | May 24, 2018

Under international law, Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Territories, which include the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, is illegal and inhumane. The occupation restricts the movement and freedom of Palestinians in these territories, and monitors and controls Palestinian lives and livelihoods as well as removing them from the lands they live on through the use of the separation barrier, checkpoints, and Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank which are also considered illegal under international law, as well as a military blockade surrounding the Gaza Strip.

Hawyard, May 23, 2018: Associated Students, Incorporated (ASI) Board of Directors of California State University, East Bay voted unanimously in favor of a resolution in support of divestment from corporations that profit from the occupation of Palestine.

The resolution, which was authored and introduced by a coalition of diverse student organizations and individuals at CSU East Bay, spearheaded by the Muslim Student Association, calls upon the university’s trustees to review their investments and divest from any companies found to be complicit in the violation of international law.

Some corporations were specifically mentioned, such as Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, G4S, and Motorola Solutions, for being directly involved in allowing the Israeli government to maintain and enforce the occupation and construct Jewish-only settlements, walls and barriers, and checkpoints.

Continue reading “Cal State East Bay student government unanimously passes BDS resolution”

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Fordham’s Decision to Block Pro-Palestine Group Is an Attack on My Academic Freedom

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(photo: townhall.com)

By Jacob Linker / townhall.com
March 13, 2017

Fordham University has a real problem with political speech. In the name of avoiding controversy, they suck the air out of political life on campus and then act surprised that so few are able to take a deep breath. The fear of political polarization or controversy . . . often stifles meaningful dialogue on campus and deprives students of the opportunity to engage in the marketplace of ideas.

I am a proud Jew and a proud American. However, I cannot defend the actions of my school — Fordham University — which has recently blocked the formation of a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter on campus.

On November 17th, the United Student Government stated that SJP “fulfills a need for open discussion and demonstrates that Fordham is a place that exemplifies diversity of thought.”

However, Dean of Students Keith Eldredge would go on to deny SJP official recognition. He stated that Fordham “cannot support an organization whose sole purpose is advocating political goals of a specific group, and against a specific country.” Seemingly unaware of the irony, he went on to argue that “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict . . . often leads to polarization rather than dialogue.”

Continue reading “Fordham’s Decision to Block Pro-Palestine Group Is an Attack on My Academic Freedom”

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White Supremacists Targeting Washington State Colleges

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University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce. (photo: U.W.)

Campuses in 24 other states also have been hit with supremacist fliers, a new national report says.

By Katherine Long / The Seattle Times
March 6, 2017

“Don’t let these cowardly tactics succeed. Remember: There are far, far more of us than there are of them.”
— UW President Ana Mari Cauce

White-supremacist groups are targeting college campuses in Washington and 24 other states with fliers that promote their ideology, according to a new report by the Anti-Defamation League, a national organization that fights hate speech and anti-Semitism.

Oren Segal, director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said three white-supremacist groups appear to be at work in Washington: Identity Evropa and Atomwaffen at the University of Washington and American Vanguard at Washington State University.

In total, the Anti-Defamation League has cataloged 104 incidents of white-supremacist posters appearing on campuses in at least 25 states, starting in September 2016. “The fact we’re seeing this many fliers around the country raises a red flag,” Segal said.

Continue reading “White Supremacists Targeting Washington State Colleges”

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A Letter to President Trump

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The following letter by forty-eight US university presidents and chancellors was sent to President Trump on February 2, 2017.

By Joanne Berger-Sweeney, Lee C. Bollinger, Robert A. Brown, Robert L. Barchi, and Ronald J. Daniels, et al. / The New York Review of Books
March 9, 2017

Throughout its history America has been a land of opportunity and a beacon of freedom in the world. It has attracted talented people to our shores and inspired people around the globe. This executive order is dimming the lamp of liberty and staining the country’s reputation. We respectfully urge you to rectify the damage done by this order.

President Donald J. Trump
The White House
United States of America

Dear President Trump:

We write as presidents of leading American colleges and universities to urge you to rectify or rescind the recent executive order closing our country’s borders to immigrants and others from seven majority-Muslim countries and to refugees from throughout the world. If left in place, the order threatens both American higher education and the defining principles of our country.

The order specifically prevents talented, law-abiding students and scholars from the affected regions from reaching our campuses. American higher education has benefited tremendously from this country’s long history of embracing immigrants from around the world. Their innovations and scholarship have enhanced American learning, added to our prosperity, and enriched our culture. Many who have returned to their own countries have taken with them the values that are the lifeblood of our democracy. America’s educational, scientific, economic, and artistic leadership depends upon our continued ability to attract the extraordinary people who for many generations have come to this country in search of freedom and a better life.

Continue reading “A Letter to President Trump”