Is Restricting Pro-Israel-as-Jewish-Democracy Speech National Origin/Ethnicity Discrimination or Harassment?

As I’ve written in a separate post, three Israeli students in Harvard Kennedy School Prof. Marshall Ganz’s “Organizing: People, Power, Change” course complained that Ganz had rejected their class project proposal’s description of Israel as a “Jewish democracy”:

• When the Parties met on February 27, 2023, Professor Ganz told the Students they could not describe Israel as a “liberal-Jewish democracy” because Israel is not democratic.
• In a March 2, 2023 email, Professor Ganz wrote that the Students’ statement of purpose was “not acceptable going forward,” and he instructed them to revise it. In a later email that night, Professor Ganz wrote, “I cannot permit [a debate of the question of ‘Jewish democracy’] to claim the very limited time and space in a class in which 116 students are enrolled to learn to practice organizing. Please find a way to describe your organizing project in terms that are respectful of others in the class.” {There is no evidence that the Students intended to debate whether Israel is a democracy in the Jewish homeland. According to Professor Ganz, certain teaching fellows sought to debate this issue, which Professor Ganz rightfully stopped.}
• When the Students told Professor Ganz that they would not change their purpose, he told them they would be responsible for the “consequences” of their decision, and later clarified that by consequences, he meant “fulfillment of course requirements.”

A report commissioned and accepted by the Kennedy School concluded that this violated the students’ free speech rights; I discuss that in a separate post. But the report also concluded this violated Kennedy School rules forbidding “discrimination and harassment” based on national origin, ethnicity, and ancestry, which the report treated as embodying federal rules developed under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

[Title VI] extends to those who experience discrimination, including harassment, based on their actual or perceived: (i) shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics; or (ii) citizenship or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity. Likewise, the Act protects individuals from discrimination based on the country, world region, or place where a person or their ancestors come from, including membership in a religion that may be perceived to exhibit such characteristics, such as Jewish individuals…. [To violate Title VI,] “the conduct must … be considered sufficiently serious to deny or limit a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from the educational program.” Conduct can be harassing even if the offender does not intend harm, and even if the conduct is not directed at a specific target.

The report concluded that Ganz’s actions “treated the Students differently on the basis of their Israeli national origin and Jewish ethnicity and ancestry,” by “instruct[ing] the Students not to use as a purpose anything that describes Israel as a ‘Jewish democracy,’ which he did only after complaints by Muslim and Arab students.” Ganz had replied that he was focused solely on the topic, regardless of the ethnicity of the students, and would have likewise rejected a proposal from non-Jews who wanted to describe Israel as a “Jewish democracy.” But the report disagreed:

OCR’s guidance provides that “[c]onduct can be harassing even if the offender does not intend harm, and even if the conduct is not directed at a specific target.”

{On May 25, 2023, the White House released its U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which similarly raised concerns about college students who are treated differently on campuses based on their actual or perceived views on Israel.

On college campuses, Jewish students, educators, and administrators have been derided, ostracized, and sometimes discriminated against because of their actual or perceived views on Israel. All students, educators, and administrators should feel safe and free from violence, harassment and intimidation on their campuses. Far too many do not have this sense of security because of their actual or perceived views on Israel.

Professor Ganz’s treatment of the Students was inconsistent with guidance provided by OCR and the White House, namely that students should not be treated differently or harshly based on their views on Israel.}

 

Professor Ganz also favored the ethnic and political views of his Muslim and Arab students and teaching fellows over those of the Jewish Israeli Students.

Professor Ganz directed the Students to change their project after students and teaching fellows who identified as Muslim and Arab complained about the Students’ topic.

Student 3 wrote to Professor Ganz: “As you know, Israel identifies as a Jewish and democratic state and, for many Israelis like us, the idea of Jewish democracy is not just an idea. It is deeply woven within our identities as Israelis and as Jews. It is part of who we are as peop

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Article from Reason.com

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