Jewish students at Rutgers are accusing the Biden administration of breaking a sweetheart deal with the university that allows for a persistent culture of anti-Semitism.
After receiving 400 reports of hate incidents on campus between July 2023 and June 2024, Rutgers will take a series of steps to combat discrimination on campus, according to the agreement announced Jan. 2 by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. You have to get drunk. This is almost three quarters. Among them, discrimination and harassment against Jews and Israelis were alleged.
In one such incident, a student posted inflammatory posts on social media encouraging violence against Israelis attending the university and posted information on how to find them. Another report found that a Jewish student’s dorm room had been vandalized, with a swastika painted on the outside of the dorm and a mezuzah defaced. Members of a Jewish fraternity claimed in another report that they had been threatened because of their faith.
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A “Glory to our Martyrs” sign is placed in a tree on the Rutgers Newark campus. (Christopher L. D’Alessandro)
As part of the settlement, Rutgers agreed to issue a statement to students, faculty and staff saying discrimination will not be tolerated on campus and to review past reports of discrimination to determine whether further action is needed to comply with Title IX. .
But many students at Rutgers believe the consensus needed to protect them from the relentless onslaught of anti-Semitism unleashed on campus since Oct. 7 falls far short of the consensus.
Camilla Vaynberg, vice president of Rutgers Students Supporting Israel, told Fox News Digital that the measures agreed to by Rutgers will not stem the tide of anti-Semitism on campus and may not be implemented even after current president Jonathan Holloway steps down. Below.
“I personally think the university is moving on from the problem, which is something we have promised to do before.” Vaynberg said.
“Will the agreement reached between (Holloway), his faculty, and the Department of Education remain the same regardless of who takes his position?”
“A lot of what Rutgers has agreed to includes ‘statements’ and ‘reviews,’ but they have been saying right and wrong and reviewing them since October 7, and yet the incidence of anti-Semitism at Rutgers continues to rise.” Ben Stern, 20, a sophomore at the school majoring in political science, told Fox News Digital.
“DOE received over 400 complaints of discrimination in one year, and on the way out the door signed yet another toothless agreement that literally protects no one. This is official. This administration has completely failed the American Jewish community. “Yes.” National Jewish Advocacy Center Director Mark Goldfeather said:
“I think this agreement falls far short of what is needed to address the problem of anti-Semitism at Rutgers,” Stern lamented.
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Rutgers University students set up a Gaza solidarity camp at the University of New Jersey on the Rutgers-Newark campus in Newark, USA, May 21, 2024. (Photo: Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Some critics argue that the agreement is an attempt by the Biden administration to prevent the incoming Trump administration from taking even more punitive action against colleges and universities.
“It is shameful to neglect universities, including Rutgers, in the final days of the Biden-Harris administration.” Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, said in a statement Thursday.
At the Fight Against Anti-Semitism conference in Washington, D.C., in September, Trump pledged that his administration would strip accredited universities and federal aid if they did not stop teaching “anti-Semitic propaganda.”
“The Biden administration has proven once again that it provides no dam against anti-Semitism in the United States. “It’s no coincidence that they announced their long-awaited decision just two weeks before they left office,” said former Rutgers Hillel director Andrew Getraer.
“It’s a weak deal,” Rutgers junior Joe Gindi told Fox News Digital.
“I am incredibly disappointed that the Biden administration has cut off the deal with Rutgers, which is far from an end to the hatred at our state university,” Guindy said.
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Rutgers students occupy a tent and hold a rally outside Murray Hall as part of a protest in support of Palestinians affected by the war in Gaza. (Alexander Lewis / MyCentralJersey / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Jewish students have been sounding the alarm about persistent anti-Semitism at the university since Hamas launched a genocidal attack on October 7 that killed more than 1,200 people and kidnapped hundreds more.
LGBTQ Orthodox Jewish student Rivka Schafer sued her school after their faces appeared on an anti-Israel flyer posted right in front of her dorm.
“The message to Schafer and other Jewish students was clear: ‘Don’t support Israel. We know where you sleep,’” their complaint read.
New Jersey lawyer Rajeh A. Saadeh, a member of Rutgers University’s Center for Security, Race and Rights, regularly shared disgusting videos of Hamas terrorists killing IDF soldiers on his Instagram and declared in the caption “hunting season,” the New York Post reported reported. .
Rutgers, the Biden White House and the Department of Education did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
