This commentary is written by Kenneth L. Marcus, who is the founder and chair of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which is representing Jewish students in the University of Vermont complaint discussed in this piece. Marcus served as the 11th assistant U.S. secretary of education for civil rights.
University of Vermont President Suresh V. Garimella recently presented a master class on how not to address civil rights violations. When the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into systemic anti-Semitism at his university, Garimella responded with a harsh public statement criticizing his accusers. Garimella’s response succeeded wildly but in only one respect.
Garimella succeeded only in uniting the organized Jewish American community against his leadership. Specifically, his ill-tempered response provoked a statement of “grave alarm” against UVM’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations. In particular, he drew condemnation for blaming whistle-blowers for his own administration’s failures.
Over twenty Jewish organizations, representing Jewish Americans from coast to coast, joined in a rare show of unity. They announced that they are “alarmed, disappointed and troubled” by UVM’s response. Spanning the A-to-Z of the Jewish world, from the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International to Jewish Federation, Simon Wiesenthal Center and Zionist Organization of America, these organizations, some of which agree on little else, agree on this: Vermont has a big problem, and Garimella is making it worse.
To understand how we got to this point, one must begin with the facts. Last year, my organization, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, joined with a student organization, Jewish on Campus, in filing a lengthy legal complaint against the University of Vermont.
What makes Vermont’s record especially notable is that it came as anti-Semitic incidents were surging nationally and worldwide. Earlier this year, the Anti-Defamation League announced that anti-Jewish assault, harassment and vandalism had increased 34% in 2021 to the highest levels since the organization had begun tracking such incidents in 1979. Other organizations reported record levels of anti-Semitism worldwide.
On U.S. college campuses, anti-Semitic incidents have also surged. Catharine Lhamon, my successor as the Biden administration’s assistant secretary of education for civil rights, recently acknowledged the “distressing rise in reports of anti-Semitism on campuses across the country.” Dozens of U.S. congressmen had brought this “very serious problem” to Lhamon’s attention, earlier this year, in a joint letter urging federal officials to attend more expeditiously to campus anti-Semitism.
The federal investigation into the University of Vermont is unusual in its breadth and scope. The Brandeis Center and JOC had described an environment of harassment and intimidation that has existed at UVM for years, but which intensified last year when a teaching assistant repeatedly instigated hate against Jewish Vermont students who express support for Zionism, even threatening to lower their grades. Two student groups deliberately excluded Jewish students who expressed support for Zionism. The Hillel building was vandalized and pelted for over half an hour.
In the face of these charges, President Garimella should have taken prompt and effective action, as required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination at federally funded universities. He did not do so. Instead, Garimella blamed the Jewish whistleblowers, as well as the media, for bringing Vermont’s problem to light, claiming that the Jewish whistle-blowers, rather than their assailants, have been “harmful to UVM.”
Such victim-blaming encourages further harassment and signals that the university is abandoning its support for a portion of its student body. “Instead of summoning the courage that other university leaders across the country have shown in acknowledging the problem or offering support for Jewish students who are fearful about identifying publicly as Jewish,” the Jewish organizations explained, “the UVM president’s statement doubles down and refuses to take responsibility.”
Ironically, Garimella’s ill-fated statement reveals UVM’s bungled response. For example, when a Vermont teaching assistant announced that it would be “good and funny” to lower the grades of Jewish Zionist students, Garimella was satisfied that grades were not actually lowered and students were not harassed in class. Even if this were true, it misses the point.
The instructor had repeatedly baited Jewish students, suggesting private and public condemnation for those who admit that their families live in Tel Aviv, who have taken Birthright trips to Israel, or who want to understand “‘both sides’ of the Arab-Israeli conflict.” She even threatened to penalize them “just cuz I hate ur vibe in general.” Such threats unavoidably intimidate Jewish and non-Jewish students who wish to travel internationally, or who want to understand different viewpoints. They also encourage others to harass Jewish students, especially those for whom Israel is an integral part of their identity.
It is saddening that the University of Vermont refuses to take anti-Jewish bias as seriously as it does other forms of hate or bias. At a time of rising anti-Jewish incidents worldwide, universities must not leave any of their students unprotected. As the U.S Commission on Civil Rights announced last year, “anti-Semitic bigotry disguised as anti-Zionism is no less morally deplorable than any other form of hate.” If it is to achieve even minimal compliance with federal civil rights law, or even the requirements of basic dignity, university leaders must acknowledge the problem they face. Then, they must roll up their sleeves and get to work on solving it.