Campus Watch Mar. 9, 2023

Linda Sarsour, Rashida Tlaib Headline Harvard’s Arab Conference

Former Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour and Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) spoke at the Arab Conference at that took place Harvard University March 3-5.

Jewish Insider (JI) reported that Sarsour, who gave the keynote address on March 5, declared: “I’m not afraid of Zionists in America. I’m not afraid of people trying to silence me, because nothing that I experience here in the United States — not cancellation, not a headline in this country — is ever going to be anything compared to what our people experience under siege and under military occupation.” Tlaib said during a panel that pro-Palestinian students should combat efforts from pro-Israel students who try to bully and “silence” them. JI’s report noted that many speakers at the conference lauded “Harvard students for their pro-Palestinian activism” and urged them “to further support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”

“It is laudable that Arab students gathered at @Harvard to celebrate their culture and discuss social change,” the American Jewish Committee tweeted. “Speakers at the Arab Conference at Harvard who demonized pro-Israel students undermined the conference’s goal to ‘create a world of prosperity and dignity for all.’”

Connecticut College President Under Fire for Planned Fundraiser At Golf Club With Past of Excluding Jews, Blacks

Connecticut College President Katherine Bergeron is facing calls from Jewish students to resign after they learned that she was planning to attend a fundraiser at a Florida golf club with a reported history of barring Jews and Blacks from the club.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported that the fundraiser was going to be held at the Everglades Club in Palm Beach. The school’s Dean of Institutional Equity and Inclusion had resigned in February after Bergeron ignored his suggestion to cancel the fundraiser. Bergeron then subsequently canceled the fundraiser and issued an apology. But students, who were already upset at Bergeron for — in their view — not providing enough resources for ethnic studies and diversity programs, viewed the fundraiser as the final straw. A spokesperson for the college told JTA that they plan to have a third party look into “workplace-related concerns” and promised to provide more resources for what JTA described as “diversity-focused efforts.” 

The New Times Broward Palm Beach reported in 2009 that “for decades, the club was known for excluding Black and Jewish members” like singer Sammy Davis, Jr., who was both Black and Jewish. The club officials told The Palm Beach Post in 2019, “We do not discriminate.”

Anti-Israel Group to Hold Event at CUNY

The Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is holding an event at the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Proshansky Auditorium on March 9.

The event, “The People’s Hearing on Racism and Repression,” an event “make connections with liberation struggles in Palestine, Puerto Rico, Philippines, Haiti and elsewhere.” Among those participating include Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters at CUNY and Columbia University. Nerdeen Kiswani, who has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” will be speaking at the event. Samidoun was designated as a terror organization by the Israeli government in 2021 over alleged ties to the Popular Front to the Liberation of Palestine; Samidoun has called the designation a means to “suppress Palestinian organizing.”

Brandeis, Patriots Owner’s Nonprofit Announce Collaboration in Fighting Antisemitism

Brandeis University and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, headed by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, announced a collaboration to fight against antisemitism on March 2. 

“The rise of antisemitism and hate targeting Jews across the country is a threat to the Jewish community’s survival and needs strong leadership to combat,” Kraft said in a statement, per The Algemeiner. “Through our Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, we are working to find innovative ways to educate and empower Jews and non-Jews to stand up to Jewish hate. Brandeis is the right partner for this important work.”

University President Ronald D. Liebowitz also said in a statement that the partnership will include “a comprehensive approach to educate students, convene leaders in higher and K-12 education, and train future Jewish communal professionals about the impact of this millennia-old scourge.”

Yeshiva University, Yad Vashem Announce Partnership on Holocaust Education

Yeshiva University (YU) and Yad Vashem announced on March 6 that they have formed a partnership in using Holocaust education to combat antisemitism, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The partnership includes a collaboration on teacher training, forming curriculums and planning events. Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan said in a statement, “This agreement with Yeshiva University provides the next generation of educators with the necessary tools and materials to address the topic of the Holocaust and engage young scholars in the need for further research into its multifaceted nature and relevance today. Yad Vashem hopes that this agreement with YU will continue to open opportunities in higher education in the United States and all over the world.”