Can the U.S. government officially protect Jewish students?
Are Jews an ethnic or a religious group?
This perennial question is now at the heart of a Jewish communal effort to get the U.S. Department of Education more deeply involved in probing allegations of anti-Semitism on college campuses.
Thirteen national Jewish organizations have sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan arguing that the department's Office for Civil Rights has adopted a policy that fails to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment on college campuses.
The March 16 letter urges the department to address incidents of campus antisemitism under its mandate to investigate instances of discrimination on the basis of race and national origin. The Jewish groups' letter expressed concern that the department is treating campus antisemitism solely as a manifestation of religious bias, over which the Education Department lacks jurisdiction.
"Jewish students? should have some recourse and some remedy if they?re subject to intimidation or harassment on the basis of their identity of being Jewish," said Richard Foltin, director of national and legislative affairs at the American Jewish Committee. "We want to make sure that the resources of our national institutions, our federal government, are in place for those students when they're needed."
Along with the AJC, signatories to the letter include the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Religious Action Center of
This perennial question is now at the heart of a Jewish communal effort to get the U.S. Department of Education more deeply involved in probing allegations of anti-Semitism on college campuses.
Thirteen national Jewish organizations have sent a letter to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan arguing that the department's Office for Civil Rights has adopted a policy that fails to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment on college campuses.
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"Jewish students? should have some recourse and some remedy if they?re subject to intimidation or harassment on the basis of their identity of being Jewish," said Richard Foltin, director of national and legislative affairs at the American Jewish Committee. "We want to make sure that the resources of our national institutions, our federal government, are in place for those students when they're needed."
Along with the AJC, signatories to the letter include the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Religious Action Center of