For Immediate Release
September 5, 2024
Media Contact
Samantha Kupferman, West End Strategy Team
skupferman@westendstrategy.com
202-215-9260
Nexus Task Force developed the resource for campus administrators to recognize and respond to antisemitic incidents, safeguard free speech and keep Jewish students safe.
WASHINGTON — The past year has seen student protests culminate in arrests, canceled graduation ceremonies, and lasting consequences for freedom of speech on campus. In response, the Nexus Task Force has created a set of guidelines to help administrators identify and address antisemitism. These guidelines are rooted in the experience and subject matter expertise of task force members, all of whom are leading scholars at universities where protests have taken place.
The Nexus Task Force is part of the Nexus Project, which works to empower policymakers and communities to combat antisemitism while challenging the misuse of antisemitism accusations in order to foster nuanced dialogue and promote unity against all forms of hate and discrimination.
The new guide, “A Campus Guide to Identifying Antisemitism in a Time of Perplexity,” is designed to equip administrators, educators, and students with the guidance and resources necessary to recognize and address antisemitic behavior and rhetoric in all its forms, aiming to protect both students’ safety and free speech. The goal is to help universities discern between antisemitic threats or discrimination, on the one hand, and legitimate, even if harshly expressed, political words or actions, on the other.
Unlike many other campus-oriented resources, the Nexus guide takes a distinct approach by not reflexively equating criticism of Israel or Zionism with antisemitism. Instead, it provides a comprehensive framework for identifying antisemitic speech and actions, with particular attention to college campus protests and academic freedom. This approach acknowledges the risks of antisemitism being weaponized on both the right and the left and aims to provide clear guidelines for distinguishing between legitimate criticism and antisemitic behavior.
David Myers, lead author of the Nexus Task Force guide and Distinguished Professor at UCLA, emphasized the critical need for guidelines for universities to identify antisemitism in today’s increasingly polarized world: “American universities are facing a crisis — a fraying of trust leading to an unraveling of the fundamental tenets that underpin their mission. The guidelines presented by the Nexus Task Force are an attempt to address this issue and provide administrators with the clarity they need to ensure campuses are safe for Jewish students and faculty while also fostering an environment that allows for constructive discourse and protest. Having a clear set of guidelines for administrators to follow is the most effective antidote to the reactive behavior that pervades campus environments in the aftermath of a controversial incident regarding free speech — and ideally can help to prevent these controversial incidents from happening in the first place.”
Developed to alleviate misunderstandings when responding to antisemitism in educational, political, and social settings, the campus guide draws from the lived and professional experiences of university professors at a number of institutions including some that were at the forefront of last year’s protest movement.
The Guide offers a focused approach to help administrators distinguish between controversial but permissible political expression and speech that crosses into potentially dangerous or threatening territory. It recognizes the difficulty in making judgment calls and seeks to provide nuance in determining what speech is antisemitic and what is not. It emphasizes that context matters, and that intent and impact are key ingredients in determining whether a statement is antisemitic, while acknowledging that there is no single objective tool for measuring either.
The release of these guidelines marks a significant milestone in the ongoing effort to support robust education about what antisemitism is and what it is not. For more information on the Nexus Project or to speak with the leadership of the organization or Guide authors, please contact Samantha Kupferman at skupferman@westendstrategy.com.
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The Nexus Task Force, affiliated with the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, promotes a greater understanding of issues at the intersection of Israel and antisemitism. The Task Force created The Nexus Document, which has been embraced as a valuable tool for raising awareness and was included in the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. The Task Force is part of The Nexus Project, a coalition of community leaders, activists, scholars, and clergy, which equips policymakers with tools to combat antisemitism and counters efforts to exploit false accusations of antisemitism.