We, the Genocide and Holocaust Studies Crisis Network and allies, urge all universities to refuse to adopt the problematic and confusing International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance [IHRA] Working Definition of Antisemitism. We urge university administrators across a broad spectrum to join in asserting that protest and criticism of state violence constitute protected speech on campuses.
We, the Genocide and Holocaust Studies Crisis Network and allies, are a group of scholars with expertise in histories of antisemitism, genocide, the Holocaust, the history and sociology of fascism, and hate speech. We come from diverse backgrounds and carry diverse religious, social, and political identities. Based on our extensive research, we urge all universities to refuse to adopt the problematic and confusing International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance [IHRA] Working Definition of Antisemitism. We urge university administrators across a broad spectrum to join in asserting that protest and criticism of state violence constitute protected speech on campuses.
Conceived as a legally non-binding definition of antisemitism in 2016, the IHRA definition is now in the process of being adopted into law by our states, the federal government, and our universities. By accepting the IHRA’s conflation of criticism of Zionism, Israeli state policies, and violence against Palestinians with antisemitism (i.e. anti-Jewish prejudice), university administrations have harmed students, faculty, and community members — many of them Jews — who rightfully protest Israel’s destructive assault on Gaza. Citing its chilling effect, even its co-author, Kenneth Stern, has repudiated the IHRA definition’s current uses.
The IHRA definition constitutes an attack on constitutional rights to free expression and has functioned to discipline, detain, expel, and deport students and scholars. University administrators have the power to come together and assert that the actions of Mahmoud Khalil, Badar Khan Suri, Rümeysa Öztürk, and others wrongfully arrested simply for expressing their political views, are not antisemitic.
We request that you use your authority as university administrators to reject the misperceptions that impede free inquiry into the complexities of Jewish and Palestinian histories. Labeling anti-Zionist Jews as antisemitic, for example, encourages the erasure of a long history of Jewish anti-Zionist organizations and political parties. By generating a false understanding of antisemitism, universities allow attacks on anti-Zionist Jews for the way they identify as Jews. This very real antisemitism puts Jews in danger. The IHRA definition of antisemitism also sanctions Palestinians for merely describing the reality of systemic Israeli racism that they face, and it thus silences, excludes, erases, defames and/or dehumanizes Palestinians and their narratives. Finally, the adoption of the IHRA definition risks curtailing faculty members’ freedom to teach these histories that have been studied and documented extensively, including by Jewish and Israeli scholars.
Universities should be safe and welcoming environments for all students. We believe that it is the university’s responsibility both to prevent and respond appropriately to discrimination and racism of all kinds, to protect Native people, Muslims, Jews, Arabs, Black people, Asians, Latinos, people with disabilities, and LGBTQI+ people. That responsibility also includes recognizing the right of students to take part in peaceful protest.
We hope that you share our vision for a university where academic freedom, political expression, and the protection of marginalized students and faculty are paramount. It is time to work towards restoring universities as spaces where complex histories can be studied freely and all legitimate scholarly and political opinions can be heard. We request that you work together across universities to realize this vision, which institutions articulate but have not done enough to protect. Rejecting the IHRA definition is one concrete and powerful step towards making this goal a reality.
The list of signatories and the signature form are available here