{"id":62017,"date":"2018-06-08T17:05:26","date_gmt":"2018-06-08T15:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=62017"},"modified":"2018-06-08T06:16:24","modified_gmt":"2018-06-08T04:16:24","slug":"15-05-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=62017","title":{"rendered":"The Senate confirmed Kenneth Marcus, a leading advocate against campus antisemitism"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>Kenneth<\/a><\/strong><\/span> Marcus Confirmed to Education Department\u2019s Top Civil Rights Post<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Shiri Moshe<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Kenneth Marcus speaking at the Louis D. Brandeis Center\u2019s fourth annual National Law Student Leadership Conference. Photo: Louis D. Brandeis Center.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Kenneth Marcus, a leading advocate against campus antisemitism, to serve as assistant secretary at the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) in the Department of Education.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legislators approved Marcus with a party-line vote of 50 to 46, concluding a nearly eight-month confirmation process marked by Democratic opposition. He will assume his post under Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, replacing acting OCR chief Candice Jackson, who has also faced\u00a0strong criticism<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>from Democratic lawmakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marcus previously\u00a0assumed the same role under President George W. Bush in 2003, before serving as staff director of the US Commission on Civil Rights between 2004 and 2008. Under his guidance, the OCR\u00a0extended<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0protections afforded under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to members of groups that \u201cexhibit both ethnic and religious characteristics, such as Arab Muslims, Jewish Americans and Sikhs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He continued his advocacy after leaving government and founding the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a Jewish civil rights group, in 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a momentous occasion not just in the fight against antisemitism, but against all forms of prejudice and hate,\u201d said Alyza Lewin, LDB\u2019s chief operating officer, following Marcus\u2019 confirmation. \u201cI cannot imagine anyone better qualified than Kenneth for this position.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His advancement was similarly praised as \u201ca new chapter\u201d by Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who expressed confidence that the US Department of Education \u201cwill start being responsive to antisemitic incidents that impact Jewish students on our nation\u2019s campuses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many talented lawyers, but Ken Marcus also brings a high level of ethics to his task,\u201d Cooper told The Algemeiner. \u201cWe wish him well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Eric Fusfield, director of legislative affairs at B\u2019nai B\u2019rith International, likewise commended Marcus for being a strong \u201cvoice in the fight against antisemitism and other forms of bigotry and hatred on university campuses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While calling the partisan vote \u201cunfortunate,\u201d Fusfield told The Algemeiner he expects Marcus \u201cwill do a lot of positive things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are points of disagreement between him and the Jewish community, we\u2019ll make our voice heard, but I think we\u2019re in a good place to start with, in large part because there is no greater expert on the issue of antisemitism,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019ve had so much difficulty explaining to university educators and others exactly what antisemitism is, and we don\u2019t need to explain that to Ken Marcus, because he\u2019s written a book on the subject.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Marcus \u2014 who authored Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America in 2010 and The Definition of Anti-Semitism in 2015 \u2014 has frequently spoken out against what he described as rising antisemitism on American college campuses, which he blamed in part on the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. Some tactics used by BDS supporters \u2014 including harassment, vandalism, and even assault \u2014 represent \u201ca violation of the civil rights of Jewish students,\u201d he argued in September 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet Marcus warned last year that the OCR \u201chas been paralyzed\u201d when it comes to addressing antisemitism.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason for OCR\u2019s powerlessness is that it is ill-equipped to recognize antisemitism when it sees it,\u201d he argued, before endorsing the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (AAA), a bill that calls on the Department of Education to adopt the definition of antisemitism put forth by the State Department in 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n

These positions have helped bolster opposition to Marcus from pro-BDS groups including Jewish Voice for Peace and Palestine Legal, which claim that he seeks \u201cto censor and chill speech supporting Palestinian rights on college campuses.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The American Civil Liberties Union rejected Marcus on similar grounds, warning that the AAA relies on a definition of antisemitism that includes demonizing, delegitimizing, and applying double standards to Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe bill could be interpreted to prohibit vigorous campus speech, protest, and other forms of advocacy critical of Israel, which would plainly violate the First Amendment,\u201d the ACLU argued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marcus has also drawn criticism from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR), a coalition of over 200 national groups that said in a February letter to senators that Marcus had failed \u201cto articulate clear support for robust civil rights enforcement during his confirmation hearing,\u201d and questioned his commitment to protecting undocumented, LGBTQ, and disabled students, as well as students of color.<\/span><\/p>\n

LCCHR \u2014 which counts several Jewish organizations among its ranks \u2014 further warned that Marcus \u201chas sought to use the OCR complaint process to chill a particular political point of view, rather than address unlawful discrimination\u201d \u2014 referencing complaints LDB filed against alleged antisemitic harassment at three University of California campuses, which were later dismissed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet the American Jewish Committee \u2014 a founding member of the LCCHR \u2014 took exception to this characterization, noting that Marcus only argued that \u201csome extreme criticism of Israel constitutes antisemitism,\u201d and has \u201crepeatedly made clear that he did not believe that \u2026 mere criticism of Israel was actionable under Title IV.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Kenneth Marcus Confirmed to Education Department\u2019s Top Civil Rights Post Shiri Moshe Kenneth Marcus speaking at the Louis D. Brandeis Center\u2019s fourth annual National Law Student Leadership Conference. Photo: Louis D. Brandeis Center. The Senate on Thursday confirmed Kenneth Marcus, a leading advocate against campus antisemitism, to serve as assistant secretary at the Office of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62017"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62031,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62017\/revisions\/62031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}