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An American Problem'
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celebrating
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Join Us at 8:00 pm,
Thursday, April 19. 2007
at Temple Beth Et
7400 Telegraph Road,
Bloomfield Hills
Program & Kosher
Gala Reception:
$118 per Guest
Help us pay tribute to
The Honorable
Helene N. White
American Jewish Committee,
Metropolitan Detroit Chapters
Distinguished Leadership
Centennial Award recipient
for reservations or further
information, contact
detroit@ajc.org or call
(248) 646-7686.
For more information about the
AJC, click on www.ajc.org .
All monies generated help
underwrite the programs
and projects of the
American Jewish Committee.
14
April 5 • 2007
.
44 00
AJC
Meet David Harris,
AJC's National
Executive Director
In the course of his
extensive career in
Jewish communal
work, he has
traveled throughout
Europe, the Middle
East, Africa, Asia,
and Latin America to monitor the
condition of Jewish communities,
combat anti-Semitism, advance
Israel's diplomatic standing, and
promote international human
rights and interreligious and
interethnic understanding.
"In these troubling and uncertain
times, David Harris provides a
distinguished voice of clarity,
vision, and leadership, for which
he is accorded great respect and
admiration at home and abroad.
Long may his voice be heard!"
Dan Gillerman,
Israeli Ambassador to the UN
1235330
enneth Marcus says anti-
Semitism is a serious col-
lege campus issue. And he
should know.
Staff director of the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights, an inde-
pendent bipartisan agency estab-
lished by Congress
in 1957, Marcus
is an experienced
civil rights attorney,
litigator and leader
who oversaw the
Commission's 2006
study of campus
anti-Semitism.
Kenneth
Marcus addressed
Marcus
the community
at a public pro-
gram organized
by StandWithUs-
Michigan on March
26 at Temple Israel.
Also speaking was
Aryeh Weinberg,
research associ-
ate at the San
Aryeh
Francisco-based
Weinberg
Institute for Jewish
& Community Research.
While many campus programs
and projects focus on educating and
empowering students to challenge
misrepresentations and respond to
attacks on Jews and Israel, the speak-
ers focused on the need for universi-
ties to take action against campus
anti-Semitism and the role of outside
groups and individuals in ensuring
that they do.
Marcus says it is only Jewish audi-
ences who sometimes express dis-
comfort with a focus on issues affect-
ing their own community. Jewish
leaders often urge him to talk about
civil rights in general and not about
anti-Semitism.
"Maybe they are just so concerned
about the world and social justice, or
maybe they don't want to talk about
challenges they would prefer do not
exist:' Marcus said.
Outlining four different areas of
anti-Semitism — classical European,
Arab and Muslim; anti-Israelism that
"crosses the line"; anti-globalism;
and anti-Americanism that blames
Jews first — he said that "in many
cases" they are "camouflaged" as free
speech though "sometimes it is truly
anti-Semitic bigotry that merely
cloaks itself as anti-Zionism?'
In 2004, his department added
religion to the list of protected
classes. He says that in the 1980s "we
thought that campus anti-Semitism
didn't exist except as a historical
topic" because the challenges Jews
face are so much different than quo-
tas or institutionalized discrimina-
tion prevalent decades ago.
"It is worse now," Marcus says,
though he admits "we don't have the
data, and I don't think the govern-
ment is doing enough to find the
data." He says the Commission wants
to inform college students of their
rights and have them file complaints
if they feel they have been wronged.
Lack Of Civility
Weinberg, who co-authored The
Uncivil University: Politics and
Propaganda in American Education
with scholar Gary Tobin, described
the book as "a critique of the lack of
civility in higher education and how
it leads to anti-Semitism on campus."
While acknowledging the high
quality of many American universi-
ties, which are the envy of the world,
he claimed, "a climate of incivil-
ity has dramatically subverted the
institutions and we've lost the ability
to debate and discuss in a civilized
manner." He says rhetoric has often
replaced facts while vilification
of opponents and the silencing of
unpopular views has increased, and
one of the most egregious exam-
ples are anti-Semitism and anti-
Israelism."
"Legitimate criticism of Israel is,
and should be, part of the campus
debate," Weinberg says, but "Israel
often serves as a proxy" for hateful
views historically reserved for the
Jews.
To prove his point, he gave numer-
ous examples where criticism crosses
the line, including the marginaliza-
"