StandWithUs filed a complaint to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) on November 10 against Hunter College’s Silberman School of Social Work at the City University of New York (CUNY), alleging that the school’s response to antisemitic incidents on campus has been inadequate.
The complaint, which was also filed on behalf of students Jessica Shafran and Raphi Cooper, cited a May 2021 incident in which a Zoom class was disrupted with students changing their backgrounds to Palestinian flags and their screennames to “Free Palestine: Decolonize.” The students began reading a manifesto accusing Israel of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.” No effort was taken by professors to stop the disruption and one professor even joined in on it. The complaint alleges that when Shafran talked about the issue to her professor, the professor replied that “sometimes extreme protest needs to be done for change to happen.”
The school’s administration said they would investigate the matter, yet Shafran and other Jewish students who were subjected to the disruption have not been contacted, nor has the school denounced the incident.
The complaint goes onto list several other antisemitic incidents that have occurred on campus, including a professor stating during a 2021 class that the Chasidic Jewish community don’t wear masks and then ignoring a Jewish student who countered that Jews were among the first people to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic and donate plasma to those afflicted with COVID-19. Another incident in 2021 involved a student claiming that American Jews have “privilege” during a class discussion about the shooting at the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue without any pushback from the professor.
The complaint concluded by noting that Jewish students have raised concerns with campus administrators about the issue of antisemitism multiple times and yet the school has yet to take any meaningful action against antisemitism. StandWithUs urged the school to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and adopt mandatory bias training for staff and faculty that includes on how to identify and combat antisemitism on campus.
“No student should have to endure such a hostile climate at school, and we are proud of these three current and former students for standing up and speaking out against antisemitic harassment and discrimination,” StandWithUs CEO and Co-Founder Roz Rothstein said in a statement. “Every school has a legal responsibility and moral duty to ensure a safe and welcoming learning environment for all. Because of the administration’s repeated refusal to take meaningful corrective action, we are appealing to the Department of Education to ensure that the rights of Jewish students on this campus are equally protected alongside those of all other students.”
Hunter College did not respond to the Journal’s request for comment by publication time.
