Thread by @JeffreyASachs

StandWithUs continues its assault on academic freedom with a new Title VI lawsuit. This time, it is against Hunter College, with SWU claims has violated the civil rights of its Jewish students by allowing for the creation of an anti-Semitic atmosphere.

sdjewishworld.com/2021/11/10/sta…

At issue is a May 2021 end-of-year class meeting on Zoom. During that class, a number of students changed their background pictures to the Palestinian flag and their Zoom names to "Free Palestine - Decolonize." You can read about it in SWU's complaint.

…9-4e5a-bf63-78204b4a07c9.usrfiles.com/ugd/46fc49_532…

Some of the students then began to read a manifesto, which the professors on the call did nothing to prevent. Some students also made controversial comments in the chat, like about how Israel is a "white supremacist" state.

The complaint says that by not preventing these students from these actions/speech, the professors were sanctioning an anti-Semitic attack on the class's Jewish students. Furthermore, it says that at least one professor "followed suit" by changing their background and/or name.

Throughout the complaint, SWU leans heavily on the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which it mistakenly claims that federal agencies are required to utilize (in fact, they are only required to "consider" it). This is the definition that includes, as examples, anti-Israel speech.

The crux of the complaint is that since Jewish students consider their attachment to and identification with Israel to be fundamental to their faith, anti-Israel speech constitutes anti-Semitism. In other words, SWU is making precisely the argument that critics of IHRA warned.

As redress, SWU is seeking that Hunter adopt the IHRA definition, issue a statement affirming the centrality of Zionism to Jewish identity, mandate bias training and disciplinary measures reflecting that fact, and punish the students and faculty involved in the May 2021 incident.

And they may well get it. Other schools have capitulated before similar complaints.

jewishjournal.com/news/californi…

Other countries are taking note. A group called the Hindu American Foundation filed a complaint against UPenn last month. It claimed that by hosting a conference called "Dismantling Global Hindutva," UPenn violated the civil rights of Hindu students.

hinduamerican.org/press/universi…

No doubt there will be more examples to come.