The US Department of Education has launched an investigation into an incident at the State University of New York at New Paltz in which a student-led group supporting sexual assault survivors expelled one of its co-founders for sharing a pro-Israel Instagram post. Had done it.
Pro-Israel legal groups filed a complaint with the department last year alleging that the school did not respond adequately to the incident, which they said anti-semitism, They are calling on the school to improve their training on antisemitism, which they define as targeting students for “ties to Israel”.
It was announced Thursday that the investigation is being conducted under the auspices of the department’s Civil Rights Office, which investigates allegations of discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal funding. This is the latest in a series of investigations launched into allegations of campus antisociality Since the Trump administration broadened the office’s mandate in 2019 to include certain types of anti-Israel speech.
It is also the first anti-Semitism probe to be launched since the Biden administration unveiled a plan last month, which includes a section on higher education. The 60-page document outlining the plan states that “Jewish students and faculty are targeted for ridicule and ostracism on college campuses.”
“No student should ever be excluded from campus because of aspects of their Jewish identity, let alone a survivor of sexual assault,” said Julia Jesse, a recent University of Chicago graduate who co-founded the college antisemitism watchdog group Jewish. Founder and CEO. the campus said in a press release celebrating the investigation.
Jewish On Campus filed the federal complaint in partnership with the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a pro-Israel legal group that frequently involves itself in campus conflicts over speech about Israel. The complaint was filed on behalf of two Jewish students at the school, which is located in upstate New York.
A spokesperson for SUNY New Paltz said the university does not comment pending investigations, and added, “We unequivocally condemn any attacks on SUNY students who are Jewish, and we condemn anti-Semitic harassment and threats on campus.” will not tolerate.” In the immediate aftermath of the controversy, the school’s president condemned antisemitism but indicated that, because the student group was not formally recognized by the university, administrators were limited in their ability to respond.
federal investigation
The federal investigation will focus on two claims: that SUNY New Paltz did not respond appropriately to the exclusion of a Jewish student from a student group, and that the students were being harassed based on their Judaism.
The investigation doesn’t mean the department believes the claims have merit — only that they fall within the purview of its civil rights office under a section of the law known as Title VI.
The complaint focuses on an episode that CNN featured last year as part of a prime-time special on antisemitism in the United States. It was filed on behalf of Cassandra Blatner, a Jewish student who was expelled from the student group New Paltz Accountability over her pro-Israel Instagram posts, according to coverage by the campus newspaper. It was also filed on behalf of Ofek Preuss, another Jewish student who left the group in solidarity with Blattner. Blatner was a co-founder of the group, which seeks to pressure the university into adopting greater transparency in sexual assault investigations.
as reported last year New Paltz Oracle, a student newspaper, Blattner shared an infographic on Instagram in December 2021 featuring pro-Israel influencer Hein Mazig reading, “Jews are an ethnic group that comes from Israel,” and, “Israel is not ‘A colonial state’ and Israelis are not a ‘populate.’ You cannot colonize the land your ancestors are from.
Blatner said that shortly afterwards, his fellow group leaders sent him messages requesting a conversation about his views on Israel. One wrote, “Personally, I feel that Israel is an oppressive colonial state and we cannot condone the violence they perpetrate against Palestinians.”
Blatner at first refused to negotiate with other members of the group, then later suggested they speak to the school’s Jewish student union—at which point, she said, the group kicked her out. Preece then decided to resign from the group (the administrators said she was only a potential member).
“They told me that because I’m a Zionist, that means I’m an oppressor, and that means I’m not against all forms of oppression, which means I’m against sexual violence,” Blatner told CNN’s Dana. I’m not against.” Bash in Antisemitism Special.
A day after the publication of a student newspaper article detailing allegations against the group, New Paltz Accountability appeared in an Instagram post defending its opposition to Zionism.
The post said, “Being against sexual violence but indifferent to colonialism are conflicting ideologies.” “Justifying the occupation of Palestine in any way excuses the violence used to acquire the land. This does not mean that we do not support victims or students with different political beliefs.
According to the Brandeis Center and Judaism on Campus, Blatner requested that university administrators provide her with a security escort because her interactions with the group made her feel unsafe on campus, but they denied her request. She graduated last month from the Brandeis Center, thanking Jewish and Mazig on campus in an Instagram post, saying “they lifted me up when I was down.”
In response to the incident, the president of SUNY New Paltz met with Jewish students and strongly condemned antisemitism, saying “any campus member should be barred from institutional events and activities based on differing viewpoints on such matters.” Extroversion is a traditionally defined form of antisociality.
According to the Brandeis Center, the university also said it should adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism. That definition is endorsed by dozens of American universities, according to the American Jewish Committee, but has been criticized for saying that some criticisms of Israel are anti-Semitic.
The Brandeis Center has repeatedly called on universities to adopt the IHRA definition, yet in this case it said SUNY New Paltz did not go far enough and called on the school to change other policies in response to the incident. Some past investigations of schools accused of anti-Semitic violations have resulted in universities pledging to make substantial changes to their diversity training programs and other initiatives.
This was the case recently at the University of Vermont, which was the subject of a federal civil rights complaint that partly revolved around a student group for survivors of sexual assault that excluded Zionists. In 2020, the University of Illinois pledged to take steps to combat antisemitism, days after the Department of Education opened a Title VI investigation into the school.
But other campus communities that have faced Title VI antisemitism investigations in matters related to Israel have quickly seen division and mistrust in the investigation. George Washington University faces its own investigation days after a professor was acquitted of anti-Semitism charges brought against him by pro-Israel groups.
And the University of California, Berkeley, founder of the Brandeis Center, a former Trump administration official, alleged in an op-ed that it was promoting “Jewish free zones” at its law school after a coalition of student groups An investigation was opened. The law school pledged not to invite Zionist speakers. The Jewish dean of the law school vehemently denied the allegation.