Description
The author of the essay is discussing the problem of civil rights protections for Jewish students in the United States. The author argues that the problem is not simply a lack of resources or a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of a coherent understanding of what it means to be Jewish and of anti-Jewish hatred. The author also argues that this lack of understanding is due in part to the fact that Jewish Americans are not considered a race or national origin group under federal law. As a result, Jewish students have difficulty accessing civil rights protections that are available to other groups.
What does it mean to be Jewish? This ancient question has become a pressing civil rights controversy. Despite a recent resurgence of anti-Semitic incidents on American college campuses, the U.S. Department of Education's powerful Office for Civil Rights has been unable to protect Jewish students. This failure has been a problem not of execution but of conceptualization. The OCR has been unable to address anti-Jewish harassment because it lacks a coherent conception of either Jewish identity or anti-Jewish hatred. Given jurisdiction over race and national origin but not religion, federal agents have had to determine whether Jewish Americans constitute a race or national origin group. They have been unable to do so. This has led to enforcement paralysis, as well as explosive internal confrontations and recriminations within the federal government. This book examines the legal and policy issues behind the ambiguity involved with civil rights protections for Jewish students. Written by a former senior government official, this book reveals the extent of this problem and presents a workable legal solution.
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