depend on three factors.
First, OCR must address anti-Semitic
incidents that masquerade as anti-
Israelism. On college campuses — and
especially in protests brought by the
anti-Israel boycotts, divestment and
sanctions movement — it is now widely
understood that attacking "Jews" by name
is impolitic, but one can smear "Zionists"
with impunity.
Natan Sharansky famously supplied a
"3-D" test to address this ruse: If anti-
Israel protesters Demonize Israel, use
Double standards or try to Deligitimize
the Jewish state, something other than
mere political argumentation is generally
involved.
The U.S. State Department and the
European Union's human rights agency
have developed important definitions
that distinguish between the permissible
and the impermissible. OCR thus far has
ignored the issue, and its past history pro-
vides little comfort that it will get it right.
Second, OCR needs to demonstrate
that it can protect Jewish students from
hate and bias while guarding the First

Amendment and academic freedom. On
many campuses, anti-Israel activists sup-
press pro-Israel advocacy by heckling
Jewish-sponsored speakers, vandalizing
Jewish posters and fliers, and intimidat-
ing students who wear clothing or jew-
elry that connects them with the Jewish
state. University leaders must condemn
these attacks on free speech and aca-
demic freedom.
At the same time, OCR must explain
that nothing in its new policy requires
any encroachment on constitutionally
protected expression by either advocates
or critics of Israel. Even where anti-Israel
groups are engaged in deeply offensive
protests, the best university response
often is to condemn the hate or bigotry
rather than censor or punish the speaker.
Universities that fail to do so deserve to
get a call from the federal agency that
funds them.
Third, the current OCR policy is still
informal policy guidance and it may not
endure. Worse, since the policy does not
cover religious discrimination, it contains
a loophole wide enough that some perpe-

trators may evade enforcement.
Ultimately, Congress must act to pro-
tect all religious minorities — not just
Jews, but also Sikhs, Muslims and oth-
ers — from discrimination at federally
funded secular institutions of higher
learning. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa.,
and Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., recently
introduced legislation, advocated by
the Institute for Jewish & Community
Research and the Zionist Organization of
America, to accomplish this result.
There is little chance that the legislation
will pass during a lame-duck legislative
session following November's elections,
and Specter will not return for the next
Congress.
The bill, however, deserves serious
consideration by the new Congress, when
Sherman hopefully will reintroduce it and
identify a Senate co-sponsor.

Answering
Israel's Critics

The Charge
Some Arab world media are question-
ing why the diplomatic cables that
Wikileaks has released don't criticize
Israel and don't express Arab fear over
Israel's perceived nuclear arsenal.

The Answer
The U.S. State Department represents
U.S. government policy, which has
minimal differences with its ally Israel.
Regarding nuclear capability, the Arabs
know that if Israel has it, it is for deter-
rence, not aggression.

— Allan Gale

Kenneth L. Marcus is director of the Anti-

Jewish Community Relations Council

Semitism Initiative at the Institute for

Jewish & Community Research and author of

of Metropolitan Detroit

© Jewish Renaissance Media • December 23, 2010

"Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America,"

Cambridge 2010.

"Any form of mental or physical
harassment is a violation of our
Student Code of Conduct."

- Dr. David Strauss, Wayne State dean

Oakland University's Mary Beth Snyder and the University of Michigan's Dr. Sam
Goodin

issues.
Reacting to the video she said, "I
can't guarantee that an incident won't
happen, but I haven't seen anything
during my 12 years like what [the
video] showed?'
Mary Beth Snyder, Oakland
University's vice president for stu-
dent affairs, said, "We make sure our
students have a safe experience at
Oakland." And she recognizes that

"what some may consider free speech
can cross the line into hateful and
harassing speech."
She said such activity is in violation
of the OU Student Code of Conduct.
Dr. Sam Goodin, University of
Michigan assistant dean of students,
said his office doesn't deal with a
student code of a conduct, but the
intergroup relations office "tries to
find solutions to head off problems."

Many of the questions posed to him
dealt with academic affairs, which
he was not familiar with and "were
handled by a different department?'
He urged people to contact him so he
could get them answers.
Dr. David Strauss, Wayne State
University dean of students, said, "Any
form of mental or physical harassment
is a violation of our Student Code of
Conduct." Acknowledging that a few
years ago an outside group came onto
campus and stirred up problems, refer-
ring to the video he said, "Our Muslim
students don't do this?'
"Different segments from our cam-
pus meet together every two weeks:' he
said, and this helps avoid problems and
improve understanding. "We know our
student organizations and that helps?'

The final question from the audience
was from Michael LeFebre of Livonia,
a pro-Israel activist who has attended
campus Israel-related programs for
years. Like others in the audience, he
was skeptical that there was sufficient
understanding of what goes on at anti-
Israel events.
"I'm not Jewish:' he told the panel.
"But I just want the Jewish students on
campus to be protected!"
"It was obviously shocking that there
are so many acts of anti-Zionism on cam-
puses," said Rina Edelson, 17, of Franklin,
who will be off to college soon. "But just
knowing it exists doesn't personally help
me. If the criticism or prejudice was
directed at me it would still be shocking.
Students need to be prepared, to know
how to handle it."

❑

December 23 2010

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