Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein, Director of the Center for Law and Justice Susan B. Tuchman, Esq., and Managing Director of ZOA Campus Jonathan Ginsburg issued the following statement:

On September 25, 2019 at the University of Illinois, at a mandatory meeting for all housing staff, a housing student-worker made a presentation to 11 other housing staff members that was shockingly anti-Semitic. After reviewing the presentation, entitled "Palestine and the Great March: Palestinian Resistance to 70 Years of Israeli Terror," the ZOA concluded that the presentation "promotes outrageous anti-Israel lies; it is a one-sided, hateful and vicious assault on the Jewish State of Israel, and a denial of the right of the Jewish people to live safely and securely in their ancestral homeland."

Chancellor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Robert Jones issued a message to the university community on October 9, alerting them to what happened, apologizing, and explicitly stating that "acts and expressions of anti-Semitism are acts and expressions of hatred and discrimination that are in direct opposition of our core values." He also identified several steps that the university will be taking to ensure that the campus is free from hatred and discrimination.

ZOA National President Morton Klein, Director of the Center for Law and Justice Susan B. Tuchman, Esq., and Managing Director of ZOA Campus Jonathan Ginsburg sent a letter to Chancellor Jones commending him for the steps he is taking, but urging additional actions, particularly given that the university has been plagued with other anti-Semitic incidents. The ZOA recommended that (1) the housing student-worker who made the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel presentation be terminated from his/her position; (2) the full-time staff member who was present at the presentation and permitted it to proceed be fired;  (3) the university use the U.S. State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism (which recognizes that some anti-Israel sentiment crosses the line into anti-Semitism) when it institutes the Chancellor’s planned anti-Semitism training for housing staff; and (4) the Chancellor issue another, more detailed message to the community, explaining what the presentation was and why it was anti-Semitic and wrong, and describing the additional steps the university would be taking to prevent such an incident from recurring.

"This hostile environment for Jewish students at the University of Illinois cannot continue. Given all these incidents, you not only have a moral obligation to act, but a legal one as well." The letter continued, "Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, you must ensure that the university takes prompt and effective steps reasonably calculated to end anti-Semitic harassment, eliminate a hostile anti-Semitic environment and its effects, and prevent harassment from recurring."

The ZOA offered to help Chancellor Jones as he moves forward following this horrible incident, and we look forward to seeing future actions that will help foster an open community, free of discrimination and hatred. 

To see the original letter sent to Chancellor Robert J. Jones, click here.