The head of civil rights at the Education Department, Kenneth Marcus, reopened a Rutgers University case Tuesday, which alleged that the college allowed for discrimination against Jewish students. Marcus is looking to review the case, adopting a broader definition of anti-Semitism, the New York Times reports.
Marcus told the Zionist Organization of America, the group that brought the initial suit, in a letter that he was interested in re-examining one of the three allegations in particular. A pro-Palestine group called Belief Awareness Knowledge and Action hosted an event in 2011 called “Never Again for Anyone.” An email was used as proof that the event’s organizer began charging a fee after “150 Zionists” showed up. Palestine Legal, a Palestinian rights group, however, said that fees were charged only after Rutgers Hillel and other pro-Israel groups sent out a message to their members to protest the event, which caused the university to impose last-minute fees for security and the rental space.
The Education Department, when the case was initially reviewed, found that there was no evidence that Jewish attendees were selectively targeted to pay a fee for the event. Rutgers also investigated complaints of bias at the time.
Marcus adopted a definition of anti-Semitism in the letter to ZOA last month that is widely accepted by government agencies. This definition says that delegitimizing the state of Israel or holding it to a double standard, not expected of other democratic nations, is anti-Semitic. Marcus plans to re-evaluate the evidence in the case, using this definition, as to whether Rutgers participated in ethnic discrimination rather than religious discrimination.
The use of the phrase “150 Zionists” in the pro-Palestine group’s email, according to Marcus “could have been rooted in a perception of Jewish ancestry or ethnic characteristics common to the group.” He added that, “In cases such as this, it is important to determine whether terms such as ‘Zionist’ are actually code for ‘Jewish.’”
Liz Hill, spokeswoman for the Education Department, said in an interview with the New York Times that the agency’s civil rights division “aggressively enforces” civil rights law “which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin.”
Before Marcus became the head of civil rights at the Education Department, he worked at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a nonprofit advocacy organization that seeks to “advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and to promote justice for all.” He also wrote in a 2017 Politico column of the need for a definition of anti-Semitism within the department. He wrote that “absent a definition, the office is stymied by anti-Semitism cases and is failing in its mission to protect Jewish students.”
Marcus wrote in his letter to ZOA that, “An individual’s pro-Israel viewpoint itself — or, for that matter, any viewpoint on the policies of the State of Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or related issues — is not protected by” federal civil rights law, but “discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics — which may include discrimination against Jewish or Muslim students — is.”
The reopening of the Rutgers case comes after the Trump administration moved the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, moved to cut off aid to the Palestinian Authority, and announced the closing of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Washington. Palestinian and human rights organizations protested the confirmation of Marcus, afraid that he would use the Education to Department to promote a pro-Israel agenda.
Rahul Saksena of Palestine Legal said an interview with the New York Times about the case: “You would think that the O.C.R. would have their hands full these days, and instead they’re using their limited resources” to reopen a case “that the Education Department spent years investigating, and had been closed.”
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos “has made clear that O.C.R. will look at the specific facts of each case and make determinations accordingly,” according to Hill, the Education Department spokeswoman.
