As Jews, we generally take great pride in the support we have shown for civil rights and free-speech. The 1964 sit-in of a thousand students in UC Berkeley’s Sproul Hall, which catapulted the free-speech movement into the headlines, included a Hanukkah service organized by Rabbi Michael Lerner. Lerner was asked to join the Free Speech Movement’s Coordinating Committee after he had organized a protest to oppose legislation being considered in West Germany at the time to grant amnesty to former Nazi leaders. Hundreds of students who had chosen to remain in Sproul Hall building despite pending arrests attended the Hanukkah service and sang songs of freedom and danced the Hora!
We still invoke and feel inspired by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel who said, of his participation with Dr. King in the Selma march of 1965, “I felt my legs were praying.”
Even as recently as 1995, the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) proudly stated its position in defense of the first Amendment, “we cherish these protections, not only because they are the hallmark of true freedom, but because we also know that the vibrant political discussion they foster strengthens our nation.”
Following leaders like Rabbi Heschel and Rabbi Lerner, who was a student of Rabbi Heschel’s, and reaching as far back as Maimonides, we take pride in thinking of ourselves as staunch champions for ethics and justice. And so, we should be appalled at the nomination of Kenneth Marcus for Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the Department of Education.
Kenneth Marcus, President and General Council of the Brandeis Center, is well known for his attacks on university students who campaign for Palestinian rights. In complete disregard for the First Amendment, Marcus spends his time trying to trying to convince lawmakers to classify student activism critical of the Israeli government as inherently anti-Semitic. Using a tactic coined “lawfare,” Marcus and the Brandeis Center champion Title VI complaints to the Department of Education, asking universities to punish student activists and prohibit their activities.
In 2011, Brandeis Center lawyers filed a complaint with the Department of Education on behalf of UC Berkeley alumna Jessica Felber. The complaint alleged that the constructing a mock Israeli checkpoint created an unsafe environment for Jewish students. The suit was dismissed, with the court stating that the actions of the pro-Palestine activists were “pure political speech and expressive conduct, in a public setting, regarding matters of public concern, which is entitled to special protection under the First Amendment.”
In 2016, Marcus went after a group of racial justice and Palestinian rights students at UC Davis. He called them an “angry mob” and alleged that they had terrorized Jewish students outside a film screening. The university spent months investigating the charge and found it unsubstantiated. In 2017 Marcus sent a letter to the Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin demanding the punishment of a group of students who had organized for racial justice and Palestinian rights.
Marcus is a among those pushing for wide use of a problematic State Department definition of antisemitism (currently the definition is narrowly used only for data collection). Even Kenneth Stern, author of the State Department definition of antisemitism, disagrees with the use of the definition on campuses, arguing, “rather than suppressing speech about the conflict, we should be encouraging it. How else will students learn?”
So far, the Brandeis Center’s Title VI complaints have been mostly unsuccessful. But, after Tuesday, if Marcus is confirmed by the Senate Committee, he will hold the very position to adjudicate complaints and set policies.
The appointment of Kenneth Marcus will greatly damage free speech rights on campuses. He will also take us backwards in our work to combat antisemitism. It’s only been a few months since the marches and chants of “Jews shall not replace us” took place in Charlottesville. Neo-Nazis are using campuses as recruitment grounds and students are encountering the real threat of a rising alt-right anti-Muslim, black, immigrant, LGBTQ and Jewish movement. False or exaggerated complaints that protests for Palestinian rights put Jewish students in danger undermine the genuine efforts being made to stem the rising tides of bigotry. We risk the definition antisemitism becoming so diluted it becomes meaningless to counter real threats.
The Brandeis Center states its mission as being to to “advance the civil and human rights of Jewish people and promote justice for all.” But, in reality, under the leadership of Kenneth Marcus, that Center works to shut down criticism of Israel, especially those who engage through nonviolent boycott and divestment, by defining all such actions as antisemitism. This ends up distracting from the genuine cases of antisemitism, Islamophobia, hemophilia, transphobia, racism and misogyny that need our attention. But, this isn’t out of alignment with the rest of Marcus’s agenda. In 2010, Marcus opposed a proposal to enable the US Commission on Civil Rights to investigate human rights violations, including LGBT rights violations. He stated that he was concerned that opening the USCCR up to such issues as LGBT rights would make the commission “less concerned with protecting actual human rights or civil liberties and more concerned with implementing redistributionist policies in the areas of education, health, jobs and the economy.” In 2008 Marcus wrote against a University of Texas plan aimed at increasing Black and Latino student enrollment, calling it “decidedly not compelling.” In 2009, he supported a white firefighter’s New Haven lawsuit alleging they were discriminated against when test scores that would have prevented the promotion of Black and Latino firefighters were thrown out.
My son, now in his junior year of high school, is just starting to think about where he wants to attend college. I envision these years to be an opportunity for him to expand, explore and debate the various disciplines and topics that interest and directly affect him, including the policies of the state of Israel. In this time where bigotry, in all its forms, is on the rise, condoned, supported and retweeted by the President, I hope my son will find his home both in the Jewish college community and at lectures and protests about settler-colonialism, sexual assault, racism, climate change, Israel and Palestine and more. If his college passions include creative protest and boycott and divestment for Palestinian rights, I want him to be able to do so within the proud history of the Jewish leaders and sages who came before him, from Maimonides, to Heschel to Lerner. I want him to spend his university student years without fear of a Title VI lawsuit that, prior to Kenneth Marcus, would likely have been thrown out as unconstitutional.
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Ariel Gold is the national co-director for CODEPINK, a grassroots women-led organization that opposes war and militarism and advocates for Palestinian rights. She works directly with Palestinian human rights defenders who are under attack and is well known for her creative direct actions to challenge Israeli occupation and apartheid. She recently co-founded a new organization, Hebron Freedom Fund, to support the nonviolence and resiliency efforts of Palestinian communities in the West Bank city of Hebron. She and her two children live in Ithaca, NY where they belong to congregation Tikkun v’Or.
Excellent article — as Ariel is speaking truth to power! A major concern is her appeal for people to work for justice and for openness in being able to offer criticism of Israeli policies without being called a “self-hating Jew.”
Where is Fred?
When Jim Wilkinson compared Israel to Nazi Germany , that is called Anti Semitism
As a parent of a college student, I have seen how — too often — vitriolic anti-Zionism on campus spills over into antisemitism. It is ugly, and is particularly difficult for Jewish students on college campuses. The answer, however, is not trying to ban speech, as Ken Marcus and the ZOA seek to do with their Title VI lawsuits. On the contrary, what is needed is more speech, more discussion, and calling out the instances when the far left dips its toes into the waters of Jew-hatred.
I agree… thanks for you comment.