With regularity, campuses in the United States debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — and with regularity, many of those debates degenerate. Students on all sides accuse opponents of creating one-sided programs, of engaging in inflammatory or bigoted rhetoric, of protesting in ways that squelch free speech. This spring, for example, a Jewish former student sued the University of California at Berkeley, saying that it had failed to protect her from an attack with a shopping cart by a pro-Palestinian student. On the other side of the country, the Zionist Organization of America filed a complaint with Rutgers University, saying that it was failing to prevent “anti-Semitism, Israel-bashing and violent threats.”
On Monday, leaders of the American Association of University Professors and the American Jewish Committee issued a letter that urges greater scrutiny for claims that anti-Israel statements and activities on campuses amount to illegal intimidation of Jewish students. In particular, the letter says that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — which bars discrimination by organizations receiving federal funds — … >>>
