{"id":48493,"date":"2024-01-08T10:55:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T15:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/?p=48493"},"modified":"2024-10-16T11:14:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T15:14:00","slug":"jcrc-blog-antisemitism-and-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/2024\/01\/08\/jcrc-blog-antisemitism-and-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei\/","title":{"rendered":"JCRC BLOG: Antisemitism and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-48494\" src=\"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Linda-Geller_1200x630.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Linda-Geller_1200x630.png 1200w, https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Linda-Geller_1200x630-768x403.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">By Linda Geller-Schwartz<br \/>\nChair, Jewish Community Relations Council<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">Published January 8, 2024<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">What to do about our American Universities?\u00a0 When Ivy League presidents will not say that calling for a genocide of the Jews is against school codes, and when thousands of hostile, masked students are screaming \u201cFrom the River to the Sea: Palestine will be Free,\u201d what can <em><strong>we<\/strong><\/em> do to combat this antisemitism?<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">Alumni are cancelling their donations.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">There are Congressional hearings, resolutions and draft legislation.\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">The U.S. Department of Education has taken up some complaints against specific universities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\"><strong>All these are important actions, but do they strike at the heart of \u201cthe problem\u201d?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">A couple of weeks ago, David Bernstein, the founder of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, met with the board of Federation\u2019s JCRC in an informal conversation about this question.\u00a0 \u00a0He argued that we can fire university presidents, suspend students or faculty and withdraw donations, but this only addresses the visible part of the iceberg, not the 90% submerged below the waterline.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">It is this ideological 90% that is now the subject of much debate in the American Jewish community. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), as it has evolved in institutions in this country and elsewhere, has become the accepted worldview for those who are left of center. DEI, as a program, may sound benign. Few would contest that the world would be a better place if every one of us, regardless of our race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc., would be included fully and equally in our society. \u00a0Jews have a long history of fighting against discrimination and injustice, not just for ourselves, but for others who are being unfairly treated. But if this is what DEI really means, Jews should have felt an outpouring of support on university campuses after October 7, not the hostility or silence we actually experienced.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">Instead of being an expression of real diversity, DEI has now become wrapped up in anti-racism theory and oppressor\/oppressed analysis. At one point, <a href=\"https:\/\/pulsely.io\/blog\/addressing-intersectionality-in-diversity-and-inclusion-analysis\">intersectionality<\/a> \u00a0(a key concept behind DEI) was supposed to highlight how each person finds themselves in a different position of power in relation to others depending on that individual\u2019s whole complex of identities (race, gender, sexual orientation, class, etc.)\u00a0 For example, as a white Jewish woman, I am more privileged than a Black man, when driving alone at night. No one is going to arbitrarily stop or assault me for a DWB (\u201cDriving while Black\u201d). However, as a Jew, I definitely would not have been privileged if I had been sitting in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018. The scale of power, privilege and discrimination in society is complicated and cannot be reduced to a simplistic view of the world as a dichotomy of oppressors and oppressed, with the latter always being morally superior.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">Yet, current DEI programs do just that, meaning that there is no room for Jews (deemed as white and privileged) to suffer from antisemitism. As DEI is defined in most universities and in some corporate environments, antisemitism is not even identified as a problem that needs to be addressed. So, what can we do?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">There appear to be three choices:<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">(1) convince DEI administrators to change the way they view Jews<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">(2) try to transform DEI programs<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">(3) work to eliminate DEI from our educational institutions<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">We are starting to see an energetic debate over this issue within and outside the Jewish community.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">Prior to October 7, the ADL had been working with Hillel and Chabad at the national level to convince administrators on campuses to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jewishinsider.com\/2023\/12\/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-american-jewish-committee-anti-defamation-league\/\">adjust DEI programs<\/a><\/strong> to take account of Jewish students and their needs. They are trying to \u201cdecouple\u201d DEI from a strict anti-racist theory and make it truly diverse and inclusive. AJC is also taking \u201can engage-and-influence approach.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">Meanwhile, former ADL leader Abe Foxman and former AJC leader David Harris have <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/jewishinsider.com\/2023\/12\/former-adl-ajc-leaders-abe-foxman-and-david-harris-call-for-scrapping-dei\/\">given up on changing DEI<\/a><\/strong>, arguing that it is now completely subsumed within oppressor\/oppressed analysis and, as a result, we only get \u201cbias, illiberalism, reinforced, legitimized and institutionalized antisemitism in many institutions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">Author and journalist <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tabletmag.com\/sections\/news\/articles\/end-dei-bari-weiss-jews\">Bari Weiss<\/a><\/strong>, argues that the worldview behind DEI has now swallowed up our universities, cultural institutions, medical and law schools and \u201cnearly every major corporation\u201d creating illiberal environments prone to antisemitism. \u00a0She says categorically \u201cIt is time to end DEI for good.\u201d<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">Can we fix our universities without fixing DEI?<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">The Jewish community needs to decide whether DEI, somewhat changed or fundamentally transformed, is compatible with the inclusion of Jews on an equal footing with others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\"><strong>Does DEI have to be ended?\u2028<\/strong><br \/>\nFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken steps to weaken or eliminate DEI in educational institutions and in corporations in Florida. But if DEI is eliminated without replacing it with other programs and measures that address discrimination (including systemic discrimination), will this not be an equally regrettable situation?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk;\">The coming months and years will tell.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: ITCAvantGardeStd-Bk; font-size: 14px;\">Linda Geller-Schwartz is the Chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County. Prior to her retirement, Dr. Geller-Schwartz taught in the Women\u2019s Studies and Sociology Departments at Florida Atlantic University. She earned her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Toronto and her M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and Political Science. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Linda Geller-Schwartz Chair, Jewish Community Relations Council Published January 8, 2024 &nbsp; What to do about our American Universities?\u00a0 When Ivy League presidents will not say that calling for<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/2024\/01\/08\/jcrc-blog-antisemitism-and-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei\/\">+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[249,1],"tags":[407,408,409,410],"class_list":["post-48493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jcrc-blog","category-uncategorized","tag-dei","tag-diversity","tag-equity","tag-inclusion"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48493"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48513,"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48493\/revisions\/48513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jewishpb.org\/fed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}