Two Jewish students who say they were expelled from a sexual-assault survivors’ group over their pro-Israel views have filed a complaint with the Education Department calling for an investigation into the university.
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which represents the students and the group Jewish on Campus, said Thursday that the State University of New York at New Paltz allowed a “hostile environment to proliferate on campus for Jewish survivors of sexual assault.”
“This case involves a form of anti-Semitic discrimination that is increasingly prevalent on college and university campuses,” said Brandeis director of legal initiatives Denise Katz-Prober. “Students are being marginalized and excluded from campus activities on the basis of their Jewish identity, which in some cases is deeply connected to Israel.”
The complaint filed June 10 with the DOE Office for Civil Rights accused the university of violating Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on characteristics including race, color and national origin.
The students, Cassandra Blotner and Ofek Preis, said they were excluded from the student group New Paltz Accountability [NPA] after posting Instagram messages refuting the idea that Israel is a “colonial” state and that Israelis are “settlers.”
“Jews are an ethnic group who come from Israel. This is proven by genealogical, historical and archeological evidence,” said Ms. Blotner in a December post that was reposted by Ms. Preis. “Israel is not a ‘colonial’ state and Israelis aren’t ‘settlers.’ You cannot colonize the land your ancestors are from.”
She said the group’s leaders asked her to defend her views, which she refused to do, arguing that no other members were “asked to explain or justify their identities or subjected to questioning about core beliefs.”
Ms. Blotner, who co-founded the group in May 2021, offered to meet and discuss the post, but NPA leaders “refused the offer to meet and told her that Zionists were not welcome in NPA,” according to the complaint.
The students were also subjected to online harassment, with messages on Yik Yak threatening to “spit on” Ms. Blotner and saying that “this dumb b***h @cassie is literally a Zionist and like ur supporting mass genocide!!!!!!!”
Ms. Blotner said she reported the harassment and asked for a security escort, but the university declined and “advised her simply not to attend class,” the complaint said. She left campus over safety concerns and received incompletes in her courses.
“Expressing support for the Jewish homeland is core to my Jewish identity, the two are inseparable, and I shouldn’t have to shed that piece of my Judaism in order to advocate for survivors of sexual assault,” she said in a Thursday statement. “To then get canceled, stalked and harassed, well I can’t even put into words what a horrific and frightening experience this all turned into for me.”
Brandeis Center and @JewishonCampus_ File U.S. Ed. Dept. Complaint on Behalf of SUNY New Paltz Jewish Students over Anti-Semitic Harassment and Discrimination - https://t.co/PjM8YWL8aa
— The Brandeis Center (@brandeiscenter) August 18, 2022
In a Thursday statement, SUNY New Paltz defended its response, saying that it “provided access to resources and support for those impacted by the events of this past year.”
“We continue our active engagement to support our Jewish students and employees around the rise of antisemitism, to address antisemitism and bias concerns when they arise, and to continue dialogue and educational efforts,” said the university. “As a public institution, we value the First Amendment and uphold the free exchange of ideas.”
In February, SUNY New Paltz president Donald Christian issued a statement condemning anti-Semitism and declaring that excluding students based on various factors, including “personal identity,” is “incompatible with our campus values.”
At the same time, he said the student group was not an official campus organization “which limits the College’s ability to respond to their actions.”
Ms. Katz-Prober said that “universities often fail to recognize this form of anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination.”
“When Jewish students, like Ms. Blotner and Ms. Preis, are cast out of social justice spaces and campus activities because they express pride in their ethnic or national identity, that is a form of unlawful discrimination, not political speech,” she said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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