Anti-Semitism Gets the DEI Treatment
On Tuesday, Claire Shipman, Columbia's acting president, announced in an email to the community that the university would take several steps to quell anti-Semitism on campus. Columbia will appoint Title VI and Title VII coordinators to review allegations of discrimination. It will launch new programming around anti-Jewish discrimination, send out regular messages affirming its zero-tolerance policy on hate, and use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism for certain disciplinary proceedings. In her message, Shipman promised that the university would continue making reforms until it had stamped out anti-Semitism. 'In a recent discussion, a faculty member and I agreed that anti-Semitism at this institution has existed, perhaps less overtly, for a long while, and the work of dismantling it, especially through education and understanding, will take time,' she wrote.
The message was notable for how closely it resembled the communications that university presidents have previously sent out about other forms of discrimination. Replace the references to 'anti-Semitism' with 'racism,' and Shipman's message could practically have been lifted from the statements of summer 2020. As university presidents contort themselves to respond to campus anti-Semitism, they seem to be replicating the DEI push of the past decade, bureaucracy and all. It's not just Columbia. Harvard University is also implementing new trainings, evaluating its administrative complaint structure, and adopting a more expansive definition of anti-Semitism.
Franklin Foer: Columbia University's anti-Semitism problem
Setting aside the question of insanity, Columbia's approach is risky: University leaders may be implementing reforms that aren't proven to work, or are proven not to work. Giving anti-Semitism the DEI treatment is also ironic: Universities are instituting these policies under pressure from the Trump administration, which is simultaneously engaged in an effort to root out DEI from governing and educational institutions across the country.
Anti-Semitism is a real issue at Columbia. As my colleague Franklin Foer documented, university administrators slow-walked responses to anti-Jewish discrimination; such apathy directed at any other protected group would have led to scandal. In the days after Hamas's brutal attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, Columbia's student newspaper interviewed dozens of Jewish students about life on campus. Thirteen students said they had suffered attacks or harassment.
Under President Donald Trump, campus anti-Semitism has also been a pretext to wage war on universities. In March, the Trump administration used Columbia's perceived deficiencies in combating anti-Semitism as an excuse to yank $400 million in research funding. It demanded far-reaching concessions as a precondition for getting the money back. Columbia soon acquiesced to the reforms, with only minor changes. But the administration still didn't restore the funding. The two parties have been locked in protracted negotiations ever since, though they are reportedly nearing a deal. Shipman's Tuesday announcement was one attempt among many to satisfy the administration.
Assaf Zeevi, an Israeli professor at Columbia's business school, told me he was encouraged by the latest reforms. He cautioned, however, that these efforts would matter only if the university demonstrates that it will discipline students who harass their Jewish peers or violate protest policies. Otherwise, the recently announced measures are no more than lip service. (Columbia did not immediately provide comment.)
Universities have built up their antidiscrimination apparatuses for decades now. Yet they seemed utterly ill-equipped to address anti-Semitism on their campuses. 'It suggests that whatever tactic universities were using and the huge growth in the bureaucracy dedicated to this hasn't been effective,' Shibley told me. 'I don't think there's any reason to assume that adding some coordinators or throwing more people at the problem is going to solve it.'
Rose Horowitch: The era of DEI for conservatives has begun
Ineffectiveness is one concern. Here's another: As the university sets up a new anti-Semitism bureaucracy, it runs the risk of repeating the overreach of the DEI movement. What began as a well-intentioned effort to address real issues of discrimination resulted in a proliferation of administrators who, in certain instances, evolved into a sort of speech police. David Bernstein, the founder of the North American Values Institute, has criticized DEI initiatives for flattening nuanced issues. 'I don't like the idea of training anybody in ideas,' he told me. 'Just as I'm critical of DEI programs for providing simplistic answers about power and privilege to complex issues, I'm worried that campus anti-Semitism training will use the same playbook.'
The appointment of new Title VI coordinators and the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism could also tend in that direction. FIRE has opposed universities adopting the IHRA definition, arguing that it could be used to punish speech that merely, if harshly, criticizes Israel's government. Universities' existing policies are sufficient to punish anti-Semitic speech, Shibley said. The problem is that schools haven't enforced them.
And then there's the fact that the Trump administration, even as it has focused on addressing anti-Semitism, has pushed universities to get rid of efforts that have the faintest whiff of DEI. The notion that some version of the DEI bureaucracy is appropriate for anti-Semitism and only anti-Semitism is nonsensical. 'Ultimately, the most important thing a university can do to deal with this anti-Semitism problem is to embrace the free expression of ideas and to make sure that they have faculty who embrace a genuine liberal education," Bernstein told me.
The experiments in addressing anti-Semitism are likely to continue all summer and into the next academic year. 'Hopefully, some will work,' Shibley told me. 'I'm concerned, though, that many of them are going to cause government overreach and end up causing more problems than they solve.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Los Angeles Times
18 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
UCLA to pay $6.45 million to settle suit by Jewish students over pro-Palestinian protests
UCLA has agreed to pay $6.45 million to settle a lawsuit brought by three Jewish students and a medical school professor who alleged the university violated their civil rights and enabled antisemitic actions during a pro-Palestinian campus encampment hit with violence in spring 2024. Each plaintiff will receive $50,000. About $2.3 million will be donated to eight groups that work with Jewish communities or issues. Another $230,000 will be directed a UCLA initiative to combat antisemitism and the rest of the funds will go toward the legal fees. As part the deal, UCLA has also agreed that it is 'prohibited from knowingly allowing or facilitating the exclusion of Jewish students, faculty, and/or staff from ordinarily available portions of UCLA's programs, activities, and/or campus areas.' This provision extends to any actions taken on campus, including measures to de-escalate tensions during a protest, for instance, and it includes 'exclusion ... based on religious beliefs concerning the Jewish state of Israel.' That agreement, which would be in effect for 15 years, is awaiting approval from U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi, who is overseeing the case. The organizations to receive the money are: Hillel at UCLA, Academic Engagement Network, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation Los Angeles Campus Impact Network, Chabad of UCLA, Jewish Graduate Organization, the Orthodox Union's Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, and The Film Collaborative, Inc. for use toward producing a film related to the Holocaust called Lost Alone. The lawsuit stems from the days-long pro-Palestinian encampment that protesters erected on the UCLA quad in front of Royce Hall in late April 2024. Pro-Palestinian activists were demanding the university divest from companies with ties to Israel's war in Gaza. The encampment became a global news story after a melee instigated by pro-Israel counter-demonstrators erupted. UCLA and law enforcement's failure to quickly stop the violence sparked intense criticism. The people involved hurled objects, sprayed irritants and tossed fireworks — attacks that continued for hours until officers from the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol quelled the violence. Calling UCLA a 'hotbed of antisemitism' with a 'rampant anti-Jewish environment,' the students sued the UC regents and several school officials in June 2024, alleging that the encampment blocked their access to part of campus, violating their civil rights. The professor later joined the suit. Among the six individual defendants in the case are former UCLA Chancellor Gene D. Block, who stepped down at the end of July 2024; and Michael V. Drake, president of the University of California. The lawsuit alleged that UCLA provided support to pro-Palestinian activists who 'enforced' what it termed a 'Jew Exclusion Zone,' which segregated Jewish students and prevented them from accessing the 'heart of campus,' including lecture halls. It also alleged that the university's 'cowardly abdication of its duty to ensure unfettered access to UCLA's educational opportunities' violated the students' freedom of speech and other rights. UCLA's outlook over the suit dimmed beginning about a year ago, when the federal judge overseeing the case admonished campus leaders for how they handled the encampment. Scarsi ordered the university to ensure equal access to Jewish students. 'In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,' Scarsi wrote in the order last July. UCLA faced stronger headwinds after the presidential election, as President Trump embarked on a series of high-stakes challenges to higher education institutions by threatening to pull federal research grants over alleged antisemitism. In March, the U.S. Department of Justice filed court documents in support of the students, arguing that UCLA had tried to 'evade liability' for what transpired on campus. The department's 'statement of interest' filing said that the plaintiffs 'were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,' calling this 'abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.' In court filings, UCLA lawyers said campus leaders were not responsible for the actions of protesters and that UCLA officials were focused on de-escalation and safety during the encampment. Pro-Palestinian groups also filed briefs in the case, arguing that the encampment was not antisemitic but anti-Zionist and pointing out that a large segment of its members were Jewish. They also alleged that UCLA's actions in response to the case ended up cutting into academic freedom by limiting campus lessons about Palestinians. After the unrest of spring 2024, UCLA and the University of California enacted several major changes related to security and how protests would be handled going forward. Now, protesters cannot block paths or wear masks if it's to conceal their identity while breaking campus rules, and demonstration areas are restricted, among other changes. UCLA also hired LAPD veteran Steve Lurie to lead the new Office of Campus Safety. On Monday, Lurie announced that LAPD veteran Craig Valenzuela would be UCLA's police chief, effective Sept. 1. Valenzuela, a UCLA alumnus who joined the city's police force in 1996, will take over a department that has not had a permanent chief since May 2024, when then-UCLA Police Chief John Thomas was reassigned before resigning in the fall. Thomas faced blame for the police mishandling of violence at the encampment. Although UCLA has increased protest restrictions, added security officers and quickly shut down some pro-Palestinian events since spring 2024, many on campus have said that demonstration policies are unevenly or sporadically enforced. The concern has been repeatedly voiced at UC and campus forums by pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian campus groups. There was another major change on campus: Julio Frenk — whose German Jewish father fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s — becoming chancellor on Jan. 1. Three months later, Frenk banned Students for Justice in Palestine as a campus organization after a protest the group held in front of a UC regent's house that was vandalized. Frenk also launched a campuswide initiative to combat antisemitism. Times staff writer Libor Jany contributed to this report.
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Marjorie Taylor Greene is first Republican lawmaker to call Gaza crisis a ‘genocide'
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Greene's comments were a direct rebuke of one Republican colleague in particular, Rep. Randy Fine of Florida, who has drawn intense criticism for comments he made on social media last week calling the images of starving children in Gaza a campaign of 'Muslim terror propaganda.' Advertisement 'Release the hostages,' Fine wrote, adding, 'until then, starve away.' Fine, a first-term lawmaker who has been outspoken in Congress about his Jewish faith and staunchly pro-Israel views, made the remarks the same day that he was elevated to a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the influential panel that focuses on international policy. Fine made his comments before President Donald Trump said there was 'real starvation' happening in Gaza and made commitments to offer additional support to increase aid. Advertisement 'That's real starvation stuff -- I see it, and you can't fake that,' Trump said Monday after a series of meetings with European leaders while in Scotland. 'We have to get the kids fed.' Greene had already started to make her pivot before Trump's comments, as had some others in the MAGA movement. 'Standing with Israel means eliminating every barbaric Hamas terrorist,' Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas wrote on social media, in a quote Greene recirculated. 'It also means rejecting the killing and starvation of children in Gaza.' Earlier this month, she said in a statement that: 'Israel bombed the Catholic Church in Gaza, and that entire population is being wiped out as they continue their aggressive war in Gaza.' The remarks were made after a failed bid, led by Greene, to strip $500 million of American military funding that Congress had approved as part of annual defense support for Israel. The effort failed with only six members, two Republicans and four Democrats, voting in favor. That coalition included Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., the only Palestinian American serving in Congress. The pairing of Greene and Tlaib on the effort to revoke the funding, for Israel's Iron Dome weapons system, was an unlikely one. Greene two years ago led a failed effort to censure Tlaib, accusing her of 'antisemitic activity' and 'sympathizing with terrorists' after the Democrat spoke at a pro-Palestinian protest about the 'dehumanizing conditions' in Gaza and called for 'lifting the blockade' against humanitarian aid. On Sunday, Greene posted on social media that she could 'unequivocally say that what happened to innocent people in Israel on Oct 7th was horrific. Just as I can unequivocally say that what has been happening to innocent people and children in Gaza is horrific.' Advertisement This article originally appeared in .
Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Mamdani's rise, 'vile hatred' of US Jews the focus of 'critical' closed-door congressional huddle
EXCLUSIVE: Lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee met with stakeholders and law enforcement to address the rise of antisemitic violence in the U.S., during a closed-door congressional roundtable on July 22, Fox News Digital has learned. The roundtable comes amid growing concerns about antisemitic violence months after recent attacks in Boulder, Colorado, and Washington, D.C., along with growing fears surrounding the potential election of Zohran Mamdani, who has espoused anti-Israel viewpoints, as New York City mayor. "Jewish communities across the country are living in fear, and I am committed to standing with them. This roundtable comes at a critical moment: a far-left activist who has defended the phrase 'globalize the intifada' is inching closer to leading a city home to one of the world's largest Jewish populations," Rep. August Pfluger, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee's counterterrorism and intelligence subcommittee, said in his opening statement, obtained by Fox News Digital. "Antisemitic and anti-Israel rhetoric is becoming dangerously mainstream. We must act now to expose and combat this vile hatred wherever it is spread," Pfluger said. The roundtable focused on improving interagency coordination, intelligence sharing, training, and enforcement to better prevent and respond to antisemitic violence, according to a House Homeland Security Committee aide. In particular, the meeting addressed ways to bolster communication between the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, along with state and local law enforcement, according to Michael Masters, the CEO of the Secure Community Network, a non-profit organization focused on the safety of the Jewish community in North America. This interagency coordination is absolutely paramount as the Secure Community Network has flagged 500 credible threats to life this year – which all have required immediate law enforcement intervention, according to Masters. "Bad guys don't respect orders. Bad actors don't respect jurisdictions, and that means that our intelligence can't be siloed," Masters told Fox News Digital on Monday. Additionally, the roundtable's discussion highlighted how extremist rhetoric can spread, especially on college campuses and via social media, the aide said. Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, student protests have erupted across college campuses in the U.S., including at Columbia University in New York. Likewise, those participating in the roundtable addressed the prevalence of homegrown and foreign-influenced extremism, when one participant highlighted instances where anti-Israel terrorist organizations have disseminated tool kits and talking points aimed at promoting attacks in the U.S., the committee aide said. The discussion is expected to inform legislative priorities centered around bolstering officer training, improving data collection, and ensuring "robust prosecution" of antisemitic offenses, the committee aide said. Those who participated in the roundtable included representatives from the Secure Community Networks; the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to stopping the defamation of the Jewish people; the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence & Analysis; and law enforcement officials. Pfluger, a Republican from Texas, has spearheaded legislation that would bar any visa holders backing Hamas or other designated terror groups from staying in the U.S. He also led a hearing last month on the rise of antisemitic violence in the U.S., following a May shooting that killed two Israeli Embassy employees in Washington and a terrorist attack in Colorado targeting a grassroots group advocating for the release of Israeli hostages. Antisemitic violence reached a new high in 2024, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The group recorded 9,354 antisemitic instances of harassment, assault, and vandalism in the U.S. in 2024 – a 5% increase from the 8,873 incidents recorded in 2023 and a 344% increase in the past five years. Likewise, the number of incidents is the highest the group has recorded since 1979, when the group first started tracking these cases. Incidents of antisemitic violence in 2024 were highest in the state of New York, where Mamdani is currently a state assemblyman. Mamdani has attracted scrutiny, including from Democrats, for initially failing to condemn the term "globalize the intifada," a phrase used to back Palestinian resistance against Israel. However, he has since said he will not use the term and will discourage others from using it as well. Still, concerns remain over what his potential leadership as mayor could mean for the Jewish community in New York City. Roughly 1.4 million people in the Greater New York Area identified as Jewish in 2023, according to UJA-Federation of New York. "There's a lot of fear in the Jewish community if this guy becomes mayor," New York City Republican councilwoman Inna Vernikov told Fox News Digital. "This is a guy who wants to globalize the intifada," Vernikov said. "We've never seen anything close to this in New York City. We have the largest Jewish population in America, and I'll tell you Jews are telling me they're going to run away from New York City, and Jews have contributed a lot to the city and to this country, and the idea that they are now afraid to live here – it's unacceptable and unprecedented really, this has never happened here."
