Antisemitism on campus: Jacky Rosen wants US government to fight back

U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., on Tuesday called on the Department of Education to combat the rise of antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel.

In a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Rosen called for the formation of a task force within the department that would issue guidance about the legal consequences of not ensuring Jewish students’ safety to college administrators.

“Schools have a legal responsibility to protect their students from discrimination, yet many university presidents and administrators have failed to forcefully condemn antisemitic speech and incidents on campuses in the wake of Hamas’ terrorist attack,” Rosen wrote in the letter.

On Oct. 7, Hamas — which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union — attacked Israel, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and taking more than 200 hostages.

Israel declared war and launched a ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza estimates that more than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed amid the conflict.

Rosen called for the department to assemble a meeting between campus administrators, law enforcement and Jewish organizations to develop strategies to prevent and respond to antisemitism.

In a statement, a spokesperson with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas said it was working with university police services to provide a safe environment for all its students.

“Although UNLV has not seen an increase in any hate speech on campus recently, we will continue to remain vigilant,” the statement read. “We thank Senator Rosen for her leadership on the issue of public safety on higher education campuses.”

University of Nevada, Reno Communications Director Scott Walquist said the university has a “unwavering commitment” to safety for its students and staff.

“We firmly uphold the principle that no one should engage in acts of violence, intimidation, or harassment against fellow community members. We also firmly reject any presence of hatred, bias, discrimination, Islamophobia, or anti-Semitism within our campus community,” Walquist said in a statement.

Remaining vigilant

The letter comes just a day after the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada announced a Las Vegas man had been arrested last week for allegedly sending several antisemitic and threatening voicemails to Rosen, who is Jewish.

In August, Rosen and a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to the DOE calling on the department to take additional steps to protect Jewish students on college campuses and detail the steps it has taken to help schools combat rising antisemitism.

Katrina Huddleston, director of Hillel Las Vegas, said Rosen’s letter was a great start.

“Having high level guidance for universities will help to create uniform policies that will help to protect all students on campuses. It is also important that Jewish students understand that their schools will protect them to the best of their ability from antisemitism and discrimination,” Huddleston said in a statement.

Hillel Las Vegas is a group focused on providing opportunities for Jewish students to feel connected to the Jewish community.

More could also be done by Congress to provide “non-censorial tools” to institutions of higher education to combat antisemitic discrimination, according to Joe Cohn, legislative and policy director at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

Those tools include closing a loophole that doesn’t prohibit discrimination based on religion in a certain provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and solidifying the standard for when speech is considered unprotected discriminatory harassment.

“Until Congress has done that, schools are at a disadvantage in combating discrimination,” Cohn said.

Cohn also warned that school administrators should be careful when weighing in on issues.

“Administrators should be careful not to weigh in in ways that chill dissenting voices, and they should be absolutely clear that the people have the free speech rights to weigh in on these issues how they see fit, so long as it’s within the confines of the First Amendment,” he said. “At the same time, they do have to absolutely protect the actual physical safety of all of their students.”

Contact Taylor R. Avery at TAvery@reviewjournal.com. Follow @travery98 on X.