Content warning: This article contains references to sexual assault and shootings.
Following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the frequency and intensity of antisemitic incidents increased exponentially. Data shows a 400% increase in such episodes, tragically exemplified by the recent murder of a Jewish man in Los Angeles who was peacefully counter-protesting at a rally supporting the designated terrorist organization Hamas’ brutality. At our peer institutions, antisemitism has manifested in person and online. At Columbia University (N.Y.), a student was physically assaulted, and at Cornell University (N.Y.), a student threatened to rape Jewish students and “shoot up” the kosher dining hall on an online discussion forum.
At Emory University, some students and faculty are normalizing an atmosphere of palpable hostility toward Jewish students. I’ve witnessed concerning acts, including the defacement of posters of those taken hostage, divisive calls for severance from Zionist community members and the misrepresentation of Hamas’ statistics as factual. Community members have falsely accused Israel of genocide, weaponizing the psychological trauma of the Holocaust against Jewish students. Despite this pattern of harassment, some Jewish students made a good-faith attempt to foster unity by identifying Hamas as a common adversary of Israelis and Palestinians in posters around campus. Even so, someone maliciously defaced them to instead label Israel as the enemy, sowing further divisions.
These actions surpass mere vandalism. This pattern constitutes deliberate threats to Jewish students’ safety. Far from healthy discourse, individuals who partake in the above seek to undermine Jewish students’ sense of belonging and disrupt our academic endeavors. Emory’s proactive stance against such acts is appreciated, but condemning antisemitism is a moral and legal obligation all faculty assume to maintain a secure academic environment for all students. Unfortunately, some of our professors have grossly neglected their obligations.
I am immensely grateful for University President Gregory Fenves’ unequivocal condemnation of antisemitism, articulated in his recent statement to the Emory community. His leadership is a beacon of moral clarity in these challenging times, affirming the University’s dedication to inclusivity and a hate-free campus. However, the recent criticism from faculty and staff of Fenves’ statement is deeply troubling. I feel unsafe on campus when educators here dismiss the real fears of Jewish students. Their words have created an intimidating atmosphere that threatens my identity and security and inhibits Jewish students’ ability to participate fully in the classroom, as we cannot trust that certain professors will not discriminate against our Jewish identity and protect us against antisemitism.
Worse, Emory faculty and staff’s criticisms are intellectually dishonest and misleading to its readers. Faculty members argue that the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free” is about Palestinian self-determination. Their stance neglects to acknowledge its deep historical resonance as an expression that calls for the destruction of Israel. Indeed, just this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed resolution H.R. 845, which confirmed that the phrase “‘from the river to the sea’ is widely recognized as a genocidal call to violence to destroy the state of Israel and its people to replace it with a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
The faculty members’ analysis also rests on a problematic definition of antisemitism. The United States’ official working definition of antisemitism — and the definition that all federally-funded universities, including Emory, should abide by — comes not from the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, which the faculty referenced in their letter, but from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IRHA). The IHRA defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” It also states that “the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity” is a manifestation of antisemitism, and “[d]enying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” is an example of antisemitism. The IRHA definition is the result of extensive research and consensus among 43 countries, and it reflects the lived experience of Jewish people over generations.
Failure to recognize the historical weight of “from the river to the sea” chants sideline the legitimate concerns of Jewish students who know it calls for the eradication of the Jewish state. Instead of validating the lived experiences of Jewish people, these faculty members selected a self-serving standard to draw a conclusion that fits their politics, not reality. The “political bias over reality” approach concerns us on the integrity of academic discourse, as it suggests that these faculty members are prioritizing their personal or ideological agendas over an objective and widely recognized understanding of antisemitism, compromising the authenticity and inclusivity of educational environments.
Jewish students and community members must retain the agency to define the boundaries of what constitutes hate speech and prejudice against them. Any attempt to undermine or invalidate these definitions by tokenizing marginal views with undue weight is inappropriate and counterproductive to an inclusive environment grounded in mutual respect and understanding.
Academic settings should foster debate and encourage diverse viewpoints. However, our professors must be able to discern discomfort from the genuine sense of unsafety currently experienced by many Jewish students. The educators who contested the concerns of antisemitism have abused their positions of power by dictating which acts of hate to validate, thus failing to protect the intellectual and emotional welfare of every student.
This issue transcends comfort and violates the civil rights of Jewish students. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 enshrined Jewish students with the right to pursue their education without facing a hostile environment due to their ethnic or ancestral background. The pervasive nature of the faculty members’ actions, coupled with the charged language used, hinders students’ ability to participate fully and equally in the academic and social life of the University. The divisive actions of faculty have manifested in a reality pushing Jewish students to self-segregate to ensure their comfort and safety, antithetical to Emory’s spirit of academic inclusivity and diversity. Orly Kessler-Godin (27C) has even rearranged her entire schedule “to avoid taking a class with an antisemitic professor.”
My efforts to fight antisemitism should not be misconstrued to create a dichotomy between condemning Jew hatred and advocating for the rights of Palestinian and Muslim students; instead, they are to ensure that all forms of discrimination are recognized and addressed with equal care and without minimizing anyone’s experiences. I seek to reinforce a commitment to inclusivity, ensuring that all voices, especially from vulnerable groups, are heard with equal respect. I aim to acknowledge and address the distinct experiences of discrimination faced by diverse communities. This is about collective empathy, not a falsely constructed binary conflict between antisemitism and Islamophobia.
I hope that Emory will remain a bastion of dialogue and safety. As I support Fenves, I call upon the critical signatory faculty to recognize the divisive impact of their actions and make legitimate efforts to foster unity and understanding.
If you or someone you know experienced sexual assault, you can access Emory’s Title IX resources at 404-727-0541 or https://equityandcompliance.emory.edu/title-ix/index.html and the Office of Respect at https://respect.emory.edu/ or their hotline 24/7 at (470) 270-5360. You can reach the RAINN National Sexual Assault hotline 24/7 at (800) 656-4673 or https://hotline.rainn.org/online. You can reach the Atlanta Grady Rape Crisis Center crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 616-4861 or gradyrapecrisiscenter@gmh.edu and the Decatur Day League Sexual Assault Care and Prevention crisis hotline 24/7 at (404) 377-1428.
If you or someone you know is struggling in the aftermath of gun violence, you can reach Emory’s Counseling and Psychological Services at (404) 727-7450 or https://counseling.emory.edu/ or the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Disaster Distress hotline 24/7 at +1 (800) 985-5990.
Morgan Ames (24C) is from New York.
