As bad as the state of affairs appeared on college campuses prior to the October 7th massacre of Israelis by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s terror proxy Hamas that included BDS resolutions and interrupting Jewish speakers at campus events, the situation has gotten exponentially worse as antisemitism has exploded in ways many could never have imagined since that tragic day. The pathetic response – or lack thereof – by college presidents and other university administrators and boards of trustees, as well as the Biden administration that opted not to enforce President Trump’s first term executive order intended to protect Jews on campus, has in many ways greenlighted the terrorism supporters who seemingly have free rein to intimidate, harass, and assault Jewish students and faculty with little to no repercussions. With Trump back in office already signing new executive orders aimed at addressing this serious situation, there is hope that serious changes will be taking place to protect the civil rights, safety and security of Jews on campus. Ken Marcus has been on the frontlines of civil rights matters addressing rising antisemitism on college campuses for much of his professional career including serving as the Assistant Secretary of Education for its Office of Civil Rights in Trump’s first term. Please join us for an in-depth conversation with Ken Marcus discussing the status of the fight against antisemitism on college campuses including through lawfare, the filing of civil rights claims by victims with governmental agencies, threats to pull federal funds, the passage of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, and the enforcement of rules and regulations that have been ignored to date.
About the Speaker: Kenneth L. Marcus is founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law; Professional Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University Law School; Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Center for Liberty & Law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School; and author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism (Oxford University Press) and Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America (Cambridge University Press).
During his public service career, Marcus served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights; Staff Director at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and General Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
In academia, he formerly held the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair in Equality and Justice in America at the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College School of Public Affairs and served as Visiting Research Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism and previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Marcus was a litigation partner in two major law firms, where he conducted complex commercial and constitutional litigation. He also currently chairs the Executive Committee of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Civil Rights Practice Group.
He has published widely in academic journals as well as in more popular venues such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, and Politico. Mr. Marcus is a graduate of Williams College, magna cum laude, and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
