Harvard under new fire for antisemitism task force pick
Harvard law student Jonathan Frieden weighs in after a professor who previously signed a letter accusing Israel of wanting to ethically cleanse Gaza was picked for the university's antisemitism task force.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday called for the Biden administration to "reject" the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
The ACLU sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona asking that he disregard the IHRA's working definition of antisemitism because "protected speech would be chilled."
"Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel," is one of a plethora of examples of antisemitism established by the IHRA, an intergovernmental organization dedicated to education, remembrance and research of the Holocaust.
Among the examples of antisemitism cited as a concern by the ACLU is "applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation" and "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis."
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They also list the IHRA’s example of "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor" as a concern.
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The ACLU claims that if these definitions are applied by the Department of Education when investigating universities for Title VI complaints, it could lead college and university administrators to "silence a range of protected speech, including criticism of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians, analogies likening Israeli policies to those of Nazi Germany, or sharing differing beliefs about the right to a Jewish state."
"People may disagree about whether such speech is antisemitic, but that debate is irrelevant to the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from censoring or penalizing core political speech," the ACLU wrote to Cardona.
"If the Department of Education were to use the IHRA working definition of antisemitism in its investigations of Title VI complaints, protected speech would inevitably be chilled," they added.
The ACLU said further that Kenneth Stern, the lead author of the "original IHRA definition," objected to applying the working definition to campus speech.
The U.S. joined 30 other member states in adopting the non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism in 2016. According to the U.S. State Department, "As a member of IHRA, the United States now uses this working definition and has encouraged other governments and international organizations to use it as well."
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Palestinian protests and demonstrations have popped up across college campuses (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images), Right: (Photo by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
"Even in the absence of this definition, advocacy groups have filed or threatened to file numerous Title VI complaints and lawsuits, alleging that colleges have violated Title VI merely by condoning Palestinian rights groups, events, and advocacy," the ACLU said.
"We believe this would become even more common if the Department of Education formally adopts the IHRA working definition of antisemitism."
The ACLU's letter came after the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in November 2023 released a list of higher education and K-12 institutions that are being investigated for "alleged shared ancestry violations of Title VI."
It was reported in January by the Star Tribune that over 90 U.S. schools were under investigation for "discrimination involving shared ancestry," which is prohibited under Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office at the Department of Education, Sept. 20, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
The list of schools includes three Ivy League colleges, such as the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Cornell University.
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The list stems from the federal agency vowing to address the rise of reports of antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and other forms of discrimination and harassment on college campuses and in K-12 schools since the Oct. 7 Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.