Past Events & Webinars
- July 14-17, 2024: JCC Executive Seminar
- June 3-7, 2024: Summer Institute on Countering Antisemitism in Higher Education
- May 6, 2024: Symposium for Middle & High School Leaders and Educators
Webinars: Navigating Antisemitism on Campus and Beyond
Student and Faculty Misconduct on Campus and Free Speech
November 20, 2024
Chancellor Emeritus and constitutional law scholar, Mark Yudof, joined Rachel Fish in conversation about the challenges university leaders encounter on many campuses today: How do university administrators respond to student and faculty misconduct and address actions and speech that seek to incite hate toward Jewish and Zionist students and faculty? How do institutions of higher education continue to prioritize the value of freedom of speech while ensuring that a hostile environment is not created on campus? When is otherwise protected speech subject to time, place and manner restrictions?
Mark G. Yudof received his BA and LLB degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. After serving as a law clerk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, he spent two years at the Harvard Center for Law and Education. For 26 years he held various posts at the University of Texas, including professor of law, dean, and provost. He subsequently served as president of the University of Minnesota, chancellor of the University of Texas System, and president of the University of California. He currently serves as chair of the strategic planning and budget committee of the Academic Engagement Network.
Rachel Fish, PhD, serves as special advisor to the Brandeis University President's Initiative on Antisemitism and is co-founder and president of Boundless, an independent think-action-tank promoting Israel education and combating Jew-hatred. In addition, she teaches Israeli history and society at The George Washington University as Visiting Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development.
Previously, she was the executive director of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, senior advisor and resident scholar at the Paul E. Singer Foundation in New York City, and executive director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University, where she trained the next generation of academics in the field of Israel Studies.
Fish completed her dissertation titled, “Configurations of Bi-nationalism: The Transformation of Bi-nationalism and Palestine/Israel 1920’s-Present,” on the history of bi- nationalism and alternative visions for constructing the State of Israel. She has served on the faculty at Brandeis University, Harvard University, and The George Washing University, written articles for several publications in the mainstream press and academic journals, and co-edited the book “Essential Israel: Essays for the 21st Century.”
When is Anti-Zionism Antisemitism?
October 1, 2024
What is antisemitism, and how is it different from other kinds of racism? What forms does it assume and what are its primary tropes? When is anti-Zionism antisemitic and when is criticism of Israel antisemitic?
These questions and more were explored in this presentation, along with an understanding of how this impacts campus discourse among faculty and students.
Presented by Ron Hassner, Chancellor's Professor of Political Science and Helen Diller Family Chair in Israel Studies at the University of California Berkeley. He is also the faculty director of the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies and is the editor of the Cornell University Press book series “Religion and Conflict.” Prof. Hassner studies the role of ideas, practices, and symbols in international security with particular attention to the relationship between religion and violence.
Making Sense of Freedom of Speech, Academic Freedom, and Title VI
May 8, 2024
Presented by Alyza Lewin, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (“LDB”), a non-profit organization established to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all. The Brandeis Center conducts research, education, and legal advocacy to combat the resurgence of anti-Semitism on college and university campuses. It empowers students by training them to understand their legal rights, and educates administrators on best practices to combat racism and anti-Semitism on campus. Ms. Lewin is also a co-founder and partner in Lewin & Lewin, LLP where she has specialized in litigation, mediation, and government relations. Her experience includes criminal defense, civil litigation, and anti-discrimination matters.Ms. Lewin received her B.A. from Princeton University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. Ms. Lewin has also been trained as a mediator by the American Arbitration Association and the Center for Dispute Settlement.
Teaching the Arab-Israeli Conflict
April 17, 2024
This talk will share the unique characteristics of the approach to teaching the Arab-Israeli conflict adopted at Brandeis University some 19 years ago. It will argue that this unique approach accounts for the civilized conversation and the lack of any emotional explosions in the classroom at Brandeis since 2005. It will also suggest that with some adjustments this approach can be applied to teaching other sensitive subjects such as those related to issues of gender and ethnicity.
Presented by Shai Feldman, the Raymond Frankel Chair in Israeli Politics and Society at the Crown Center for Middle East Studies and Professor of Politics at Brandeis University.
From 2005 to 2019, he was the founder and Crown Family Director of the Crown Center. From 1997 to 2005, he served as head of Tel Aviv University’s Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies. He was a senior research associate at the Jaffee Center since its establishment in late 1977. In 2019-2022, he served as President of Sapir Academic College in Sha’ar Hanegev, Israel. Since 1997, he has also served as Board Associate of Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Prof. Feldman's numerous publications include six books, the most recent of which is "Arabs and Israelis: Conflict and Peacemaking in the Middle East," with Abdel Monem Said Aly and Khalil Shikaki (second edition, London: Bloomsbury, 2022). He holds a PhD in political science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Universities, and Terror Financing
March 13, 2024
This talk delved into the financial aspects of individuals and entities associated with terrorist groups and, in turn, their connection to national organizations influencing campus politics and student groups.
Presented by Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research, Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Previously, Dr. Schanzer worked as a terrorism finance analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he followed and froze the funding of Hamas and Al-Qaeda. Jonathan has held previous think tank research positions at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Middle East Forum. He has written hundreds of articles on the Middle East and U.S. national security.
His most recent book is "Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War" (FDD Press 2021). His other books are "State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State" (Palgrave Macmillan 2013), "Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle for Palestine" (Palgrave Macmillan 2008), and "Al-Qaeda’s Armies: Middle East Affiliate Groups and the Next Generation of Terror" (Washington Institute for Near East Policy 2004). Dr. Schanzer earned his PhD from King’s College London. He speaks Arabic and Hebrew.
The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century
February 28, 2024
This seminar examined the nature and sources of institutional antisemitism in higher education, its relationship to a more general rejection of racism, and opportunities to challenge it.Antisemitic ways of thinking are well entrenched in some places at the highest levels of academia. This fact is generally and angrily denied. Antisemitic ways of thinking are tolerated and protected by individuals and institutions that are not themselves antisemitic, but which constitute the powerful mainstream of universities. This culture in universities devalues opposition to antisemitism as unsophisticated and conservative. Antisemitic discourse is not recognised as such but it glows with radical and anti-establishment excitement; it is presented as liberational while Jews and their Zionism are associated with oppression and injustice. Antisemitism is often less suspect in academia than is opposition to antisemitism.
Presented by David Hirsh, Academic Director of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism (LCSCA) and a Senior Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London.
The published monograph version of his PhD was "Law against Genocide", 2003; he published "Contemporary Left Antisemitism" in 2018 and "The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century" in 2024.