Dept. of Education Opens Anti-Semitism Investigation at University of Vermont

“On April 5, the TA wrote: “is it unethical for me, a TA, to not give zionists credit for participation???i feel like its good and funny, -5 points for going on birthright in 2018, -10 for posting a pic with a tank in the Golan heights, -2 points just cuz I hate ur vibe in general.” On April 15, she tweeted, “i’m trying to be lowkey on social media for ramadan and it’s going okay so far but [name redacted] keeps sending me Instagram posts from UVM Zionist Instagram accounts and I get the indelible surge to cyber bully and religion goes out the window. i never learn.” On May 11, she tweeted, “serotonin rush of bullying Zionists on the public domain.” In a May 11 post, the TA confirmed that her “next step is to make zionism . . . worthy of public condemnation.” According to her post, participating in a free [Birthright] trip to Israel, recognizing “both sides” of the Arab Israeli conflict, or merely stating that “my family lives in tel aviv” renders an individual “worthy of private and public condemnation.” 

“Later that fall, the UVM Hillel building was also targeted. A group of UVM students harassed Hillel residents by pelting students’ windows with small stones and then vandalizing the building with a sticky substance. When one student whose window had been pelted called out asking the perpetrators to stop, one of the students responsible for the rock throwing shouted, “Are you Jewish?”

-Louis D Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law

The Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights has announced it is opening an investigation into claims of anti-Semitism at the University of Vermont. The investigation involves claims by Jewish students that they were discriminated against in joining campus student clubs if they were supporters of Israel and that a teaching assistant openly suggested she would give lower grades to students she believed were Zionists. 

You can read the announcement of the investigation by the Louis D Brandeis Center for  Human Rights Under Law here. It is dated today (September 13). The Brandeis Center, along with Jewish on Campus, submitted the complaint to DOE.

The investigation by DOE/OCR was opened Tuesday (September 12). Today (September 13), the campus newspaper, the Vermont Cynic, in its final issue of the current school term, published an article about the perceived drop in campus inclusivity (a favorite academic term), but no there was no mention of anti-Semitism in the article. Nor was there any mention in the entire issue about the DOE investigation. Whether the editors were aware of this news involving DOE before they went to press, I do not know. The university administration most certainly was aware. It issued a statement on September 12.

This is not just a problem unique to the University of Vermont. It is a pervasive problem on campuses all over the nation, brought on by the despicable tactics of pro-Palestinian students and other agitators. The result has been not just demonization of Israel, but bullying and intimidation of Jewish students as well.

I included the part about the campus paper to bring out another aspect of the problem. I am trying to be fair to the young student writers and editors. It may very well be that they were not aware of this investigation being opened when they went to press. Yet, it is ironic that one day after the investigation was announced, the paper ran an article featuring complaints by certain students who felt a lack of “inclusivity” on campus. Yet, no mention was made of Jewish students’ concerns, which must have been known even if the DOE action was not. It is instructive that so much attention is paid to certain groups’ concerns about discrimination while the issue of campus anti-Semitism-the biggest problem in my view- gets little or no attention.