Events
Dimitry Anselme, chief officer of growth & engagement, Facing History and Ourselves , speaking at May 6, 2024 School Symposium
- Summer Institute on Countering Antisemitism in Higher Education
- May 6, 2024: Symposium for Middle & High School Leaders and Educators
Spring 2024: Navigating Antisemitism on Campus and Beyond
Virtual seminars for higher education leaders and administrators in departments related to student and academic affairs, DEI and legal affairs, communications, development, president, provost, and deans' offices, etc.
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.