[News] Department of Education Redefines Antisemitism With No Public Notice

[Anti-Imperialist News]

https://palestinelegal.org/news/2018/9/11/kenneth-marcus-adopts-controversial-antisemitism-definition-at-doe-with-no-public-notice-reopens-dismissed-rutgers-case-from-2014 



  Department of Education Redefines Antisemitism With No Public Notice

September 11, 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Israel-aligned groups have announced that the U.S. Department of 
Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is using a widely-criticized 
re-definition of 
<https://static1.squarespace.com/static/548748b1e4b083fc03ebf70e/t/5ad7b16603ce646d1a0d59d9/1524085097669/FAQ+on+Definition+of+Antisemitism+4.18.18+.pdf>antisemitism 
<https://static1.squarespace.com/static/548748b1e4b083fc03ebf70e/t/5ad7b16603ce646d1a0d59d9/1524085097669/FAQ+on+Definition+of+Antisemitism+4.18.18+.pdf> 
when investigating allegations of antisemitic discrimination on college 
campuses. The re-definition 
<https://palestinelegal.org/s/2pca1aqgnezn7njehe4sdil36q8bgp> classifies 
virtually all criticism of Israel as antisemitic.

OCR gave no public notice of the major policy decision.

The news from OCR was buried in a letter written by Trump’s new head of 
Civil Rights, Kenneth Marcus, to the Steve 
<https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/bannon-to-speak-at-zoa-gala/538197/>Bannon 
<https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/bannon-to-speak-at-zoa-gala/538197/>-aligned 
<https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/bannon-to-speak-at-zoa-gala/538197/> 
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). The letter informed the ZOA 
<https://zoa.org/2018/09/10378469-zoas-title-vi-case-against-rutgers-reopened-by-us-civil-rights-office/>that 
OCR would reopen a 7-year old complaint against Rutgers University, 
which OCR had previously dismissed in 2014 after a years-long 
investigation.

Marcus wrote that the controversial antisemitism definition “is widely 
used by government agencies, including the US Department of State, and 
is used by OCR as well.”

Prior to his appointment at OCR, Marcus drove a campaign by 
Israel-aligned groups to codify the same re-definition he has now put in 
place at OCR without public notice. Marcuslobbied 
<https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/01/government-crack-down-anti-semitism-college-campuses-000272><https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/01/government-crack-down-anti-semitism-college-campuses-000272>federal 
and state governments to adopt 
<https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/01/government-crack-down-anti-semitism-college-campuses-000272> 
legislation to impose this redefinition on the Department of Education 
and state agencies. The legislation was strongly contested by civil 
liberties groups 
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2016/12/14/media-spotlight-anti-semitism-awareness-act-draws-criticism> 
for its clear encroachment on political speech. It failed to pass the US 
House of Representatives in 2016 but was reintroduced this year 
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/pl-letter-congress-asaa-2018> and is 
currently pending in Congress. The redefinition has also been rejected 
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2015/7/22/uc-drops-consideration-of-state-department-anti-semitism-definition> 
by the University of California and by its original author 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/opinion/will-campus-criticism-of-israel-violate-federal-law.html> 
as inappropriate in a university setting.

As head of the Brandeis Center, Marcus and the ZOA, both together and 
separately, filed 
<https://palestinelegal.org/the-palestine-exception-appendix#berkeley2> 
several 
<https://palestinelegal.org/the-palestine-exception-appendix#irvine1> 
complaints similar to the failed complaint against Rutgers, which Marcus 
is now reopening. All were either dismissed, or not investigated by the 
DOE.

Marcus’s efforts come three months after the U.S. Senate narrowly 
confirmed 
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2018/6/7/kenneth-marcus-confirmed> him 
to head OCR on a party-line vote, with all Democrats voting against his 
confirmation. Marcus was widely 
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/senate-help-approves-marcus>criticized 
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/senate-help-approves-marcus> for his 
anti-free speech 
<https://palestinelegal.org/news/2017/11/29/kenneth-marcus> and 
anti-civil rights 
<https://civilrights.org/oppose-confirmation-kenneth-marcus-assistant-secretary-civil-rights/>positions 
<https://civilrights.org/oppose-confirmation-kenneth-marcus-assistant-secretary-civil-rights/>, 
including opposition to affirmative action policies, his criticism of 
expanding civil rights protections to LGBTQ people, and his hostile 
position towards survivors of sexual assault 
<https://nwlc.org/resources/nwlc-letter-of-opposition-to-kenneth-marcus-nomination/>. 


In recent weeks, Marcus has proven his commitment to these rightwing 
positions, withdrawing Obama-era guidelines for universities to consider 
race as one of many factors in admissions 
<http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/Embargoed%20Until%204%20p.m.DCL%207.3.18.pdf> 
and delaying implementation of protections for students of color 
disproportionately channeled into special education programs 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/how-do-you-enforce-civil-rights-under-betsy-devos-a-stark-shift-in-approach/2018/07/30/0ebf6e3e-8eb2-11e8-bcd5-9d911c784c38_story.html>. 
  He recently stated 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/how-do-you-enforce-civil-rights-under-betsy-devos-a-stark-shift-in-approach/2018/07/30/0ebf6e3e-8eb2-11e8-bcd5-9d911c784c38_story.html>, 
“We are law enforcement officials, not advocates or social-justice people.”

“Marcus is sending a clear signal that attacking free speech for 
Palestinian rights is at the top of his agenda at OCR,” said Dima 
Khalidi, Director of Palestine Legal. “This is a perverse use of 
government resources. Especially at a time when white supremacist 
attacks are rampant on college campuses, we need to use the meager 
resources 
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-administration-plans-to-minimize-civil-rights-efforts-in-agencies/2017/05/29/922fc1b2-39a7-11e7-a058-ddbb23c75d82_story.html?utm_term=.d4c5dd231122> 
we have to protect – not attack - civil rights.”

For Marcus to make such a controversial and corrosive policy decision 
with no public notice raises serious questions about open government and 
the influence of lobbying groups.

The Rutgers case stems from a 2011 event, sponsored by student groups 
that shared stories of Holocaust and Nakba survivors. Dozens of 
pro-Israel protesters showed up to the event, some physically assaulting 
event volunteers and calling student organizers racist slurs such as 
“towelheads” and “suicide bombers.” The ZOA filed a Title VI complaint 
based on factually inaccurate allegations that organizers levied a fee 
at the last moment only on Jewish attendees, an allegation that 
investigators could not substantiate after a years-long investigation. 
See the detailed case summary in our 2015 report, The Palestine 
Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the US, here 
<https://palestinelegal.org/the-palestine-exception-appendix#rutgers2>.

For media coverage of this story, see this New York Times article 
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/us/politics/rutgers-jewish-education-civil-rights.html?emc=edit_na_20180911&nl=breaking-news&nlid=64618519ing-news&ref=cta> 
and this Politico article 
<https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-administration-adopts-new-definition-of-anti-semitism-in-schools-education-department/>. 


-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 https://freedomarchives.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20180912/e3689f48/attachment.htm>