The student government at California State University Northridge (CSUN) unanimously passed a resolution adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism on December 7.
The resolution states that anti-Semitic incidents have increased in the United States by 12% from 2018 to 2019 and that in 2018, there was graffiti threatening a mass shooting with a swastika underneath it. The resolution went on to state that the student government “denounces all forms of Antisemitism, no matter what political party it is from” and “is committed to fighting all forms of anti-semitism on campus.”
CSUN Associated Student Senator Jonathan Hay, who spearheaded the effort to pass the resolution, said in a statement to the Journal, “I am very happy how smoothly the resolution was able to be passed through senate. I am grateful to be surrounded by senators who understand the growing threat of anti-Semitism and sound proudly with the Jewish CSUN students.”
Matt Baram, executive director of Hillel 818, also said in a statement to the Journal that the resolution’s passage “makes clear once again that the CSUN community embraces, nurtures, and protects its 4,000+ Jewish undergraduate students, as well as its Jewish faculty, alumni, and community friends. At many universities, resolutions like this have received pushback and been enveloped in controversy. At CSUN, this resolution was emphatically passed with barely a peep.”
He added, “We are so proud of students Jonathan Hay and Zachary Schimke for taking the initiative to get this resolution passed. Jews throughout all of Greater Los Angeles should know that CSUN is a wonderful place to be Jewish.”
