ZOA files bias suit against Rutgers

NEW YORK (Press Release)– The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) on
Wednesday filed a complaint against Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey, with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for
Civil Rights because of a hostile anti-Semitic campus environment.  The
complaint, based on troubling reports from Jewish students, describes in detail
the anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation and discrimination that Jewish
students have been subjected to at Rutgers, in violation of Title VI of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, including the following:

  • A Jewish  student named John Doe (a pseudonym) was subjected to murderous threats made
    against him by other students on Facebook – to “shut him up” by “beating him  with a crowbar,” and to “skin him alive.”
  • Jewish  student John Doe was subjected to anti-Semitic name-calling, threats and
    intimidation by a university official – the Outreach Coordinator for Rutgers’
    Center for Middle East Studies.  The Outreach Coordinator referred to the Jewish
    student John Doe as “that racist Zionist pig!!!!!!!!” on Facebook, and incited
    other Facebook users against John Doe by encouraging them to go to a Facebook
    hate page about him.  The Outreach Coordinator also physically threatened and
    tried to provoke a physical fight with John Doe, rushing toward him after a
    student government meeting, pounding on her chest, and yelling, “I’m
    Palestinian.  Do you want to take me on?  Do you want to fight?  I have thick
    blood.  Try me.”
  • Events and  programs are regularly sponsored on campus that demonize Jews and Israel,
    crossing the line into anti-Semitism and causing Jewish students to feel
    harassed and intimidated.
  • At the  start of one such anti-Semitic event – which falsely and offensively analogized
    the Nazis’ treatment of the Jews to Israel’s policies and practices toward the
    Palestinian Arabs – the organizers suddenly imposed and selectively enforced an
    admissions policy, charging a fee to those thought to be Jewish and pro-Israel,
    while allowing free admission for those thought to be supporters of the
    anti-Israel event.  Students reported hearing one of the event’s sponsors say
    that that the admission fee was imposed when the organizers saw how many
    “Zionists [code for Jews] showed up.”
  • Middle East studies courses are so hateful and hostile to Israel, promoting anti-Israel
    falsehoods, that Jewish students avoid them.  If they do enroll, they are
    reluctant and even afraid to speak up in support of Israel.
  • Jewish students feel harassed and intimidated on campus, afraid to show or express
    their support for Israel.  Some students describe feeling afraid to wear
    anything that shows they are Jewish or pro-Israel.  One student was reluctant
    even to talk on campus about having studied abroad in Israel.  Some students
    fear for their physical safety.

After describing the problems in detail that Jewish students have been facing, the ZOA
urged in its complaint that the Office for Civil Rights “investigate the
anti-Semitic hostility at Rutgers, which reportedly has been a longstanding
problem, and hold the university accountable under Title VI of the Civil Rights
Act.”  Title VI prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national
origin at federally funded schools, including discrimination against Jews based
on their actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.

Commenting on the filing of this civil rights complaint on behalf of Jewish students at
Rutgers, Morton A. Klein, the ZOA’s National President, and Susan B. Tuchman,
Esq., the director of the ZOA’s Center for Law and Justice, said, “The ZOA filed
a Title VI complaint against Rutgers only after numerous serious efforts were
made to get the university to respond to a long pattern of anti-Semitic
hostility on campus, and the administration refused to do so.  Jewish students
tried on their own to raise their concerns with the administration, but these
efforts were futile.  Several filed bias reports, which are supposed to be
responded to within 24 hours, but they were essentially ignored.  When the ZOA
got involved, we too reached out to Rutgers in an effort to resolve the problems
without legal action.  We twice wrote to President Richard L. McCormick,
describing the many problems that Jewish students reported to us, and proposing
reasonable steps that we believed would be effective in eliminating the hostile
environment without impinging on any protected rights.  Many of the steps we
proposed were recommended by the Office for Civil Rights itself in a policy
letter issued last October, regarding compliance with Title VI and other civil
rights laws.  President McCormick’s response was that no such steps were
necessary or required; he rebuffed us, stating that ‘we [at Rutgers] are
confident that we have satisfied our obligations under both Title VI and the
First Amendment.’

“We at the ZOA do not agree, and neither do the students who have endured a campus
environment that they see as increasingly hostile and anti-Semitic.  It is
therefore up to the Office for Civil Rights to ensure that Jewish students’
legal right to a campus that is safe and not hostile to them is upheld and
enforced.  We urge the Office for Civil Rights to investigate the ZOA’s Title VI
complaint and compel the university to finally respond to the legitimate
concerns of Jewish students and protect their legal right to a campus free from
anti-Semitic hostility.  We will do everything we can to assist the Office for
Civil Rights in completing a fair and thorough investigation.

“The ZOA  commends the Jewish students at Rutgers who have had the courage and conviction
to stand up for their legal rights and insist that the campus problems be
addressed.  These students – like all students – are entitled to a campus that
is not threatening or intimidating, where Jewish students who love and support
Israel can be who they are, without any fear or hesitation.  The ZOA stands with
these students.  We will do whatever we can to ensure them a campus environment
that allows them to comfortably attend any class they wish, to walk, live and
study on campus without fear, and to enjoy an educational experience is that is
safe, nurturing and free from anti-Semitic bigotry.”

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Preceding provided by the Zionist Organization of America