Rutgers University-New Brunswick issued a statement on May 29 denying that it had apologized for condemning antisemitism a couple days earlier.
Rutgers had initially put out a statement on May 26 denouncing “hate and prejudice against members of the Jewish community and any other targeted and oppressed groups on our campus and in our community.” After Rutgers’ Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter posted an Instagram statement criticizing the university’s statement, Rutgers put out a statement on May 27 apologizing for failing “to communicate support for our Palestinian community members. We sincerely apologize for the hurt that this message has caused.”
A backlash ensued over the apology. Rutgers President and Professor Jonathan Holloway responded to the backlash in a statement that read, “Rutgers deplores hatred and bigotry in all forms. We have not, nor would we ever, apologize for standing against anti-Semitism.
“Neither hatred nor bigotry has a place at Rutgers, nor should they have a place anywhere in the world. At Rutgers we believe that anti-Semitism, anti-Hinduism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism, intolerance and xenophobia are unacceptable wherever and whenever they occur.”
George Mason University Law Professor David Bernstein wrote in Reason Magazine that Holloway’s statement was “a bit strange” given that “the [May 27] statement apologizing for it literally had the heading, ‘An Apology.’ It included, ‘We sincerely apologize for the hurt that this message has caused.’”
KC Johnson, a history professor at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center, similarly tweeted, “The Rutgers statement was entitled ‘an apology’!! It’s not as if this issue required a tortured interpretation of the president’s language.”
The Rutgers statement was entitled "an apology"!! It's not as if this issue required a tortured interpretation of the president's language.https://t.co/ntxjboRIWJ
— KC Johnson (@kcjohnson9) May 31, 2021
Rutgers Hillel said in a statement that “identifiably Jewish students [at Rutgers-New Brunswick] have been verbally assaulted, some report having their car tires slashed. This follows, of course, on the heels of vandalism at the AEPi House, a Jewish fraternity, on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day.” They added that there has been a “social media pogrom” against Jewish students and that “the lack of support from the media, political leaders, celebrity influencers, and our university, has compounded our sense of isolation.”
“What SJP and the Chancellor have said, in effect, is that NO condemnation of hatred against Jews, of attacks on Jews, of threats against Jews, is legitimate in and of itself. Such bizarre moral logic is twisted, wrong, and must be condemned. One only has to compare the University’s statement in March, condemning anti-Asian prejudice without qualification or reference to any other minority group, to realize just how grossly prejudiced the University’s attitude toward its Jewish community has been.”
Rutgers Hillel praised Holloway’s statement “as an important first step in rebuilding the trust which is essential and desired by all. But the still relatively new Rutgers Administration needs to face the fact that the University has an established pattern of minimizing antisemitism.” They pointed to the university’s failure to mention antisemitism or Jews after the 2019 Jersey City attack at a kosher supermarket and the omission of antisemitism from the university’s “Unpacking Hate” symposium in March 2021.
“The University has demonstrated a pattern: when it comes to recognizing prejudice and bias, Jews don’t count,” the statement read. “The University seems unable to recognize that Jews are a vulnerable minority and that anti-Jewish prejudice is real. This repeated erasure of Jewish concerns and identity is painful and bewildering to every member of the Rutgers Jewish community.”
The American Jewish Committee tweeted, “It’s unacceptable and disturbing that its administration apologized for condemning antisemitism. We stand by our friends at @RutgersHillel working to ensure Rutgers is safe for Jews.”
.@RutgersU has one of the largest Jewish student populations. It's unacceptable and disturbing that its administration apologized for condemning antisemitism. We stand by our friends at @RutgersHillel working to ensure Rutgers is safe for Jews. https://t.co/ln4jUudiqx
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) May 31, 2021
The Simon Wiesenthal Center similarly tweeted that the statement is a “powerful indictment of tolerated Jew-hatred on major US campuses. Where are American corporations? US Congress members to denounce the hate emanating from their colleagues?”
Powerful indictment of tolerated Jew-hatred on major US campuses. Where are American corporations? US Congress members to denounce the hate emanating from their colleagues?https://t.co/8Ei8AfGH3b
— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) May 31, 2021
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