NYU Proscribes Using ‘Zionist’ as Racial Slur

New York University has issued a new policy which acknowledges the “coded” subtleties of antisemitic speech and its use in discriminatory conduct that targets Jewish students and faculty.

On Friday, the university updated its Non-Discrimination and Harassment Policy (NDAH), including in it language which identified “Zionist” as a racial dog whistle that sometimes conceals the antisemitic intent of speech and other conduct that denigrates and excludes Jews.

The updated NDAH listed numerous examples of the use of “Zionist” in perpetrating discriminatory behavior, including, “excluding Zionists from an open event, calling for the death of Zionists, applying a ‘no Zionist’ litmus test for participating in any NYU activity, using or disseminating tropes, stereotypes, and conspiracies about Zionists” as well as “demanding a person who is perceived to be Jewish or Israeli to state a position on Israel or Zionism, minimizing or denying the Holocaust, or invoking Holocaust imagery or symbols to harass or discriminate.”

NYU went further, recognizing that Zionism is central to the identities of the world’s 15.7 million Jews, an overwhelming majority of whom believe the Jewish people were destined to return to their ancient homeland in the land of Israel after centuries of exile. “For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity. Speech and conduct that would violate the NDAH if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the NDAH if directed toward Zionists,” the university said.

The NDAH covered examples of behavior that have occurred across the US, both on and off college campuses, especially since the launch of the Israel-Hamas war in October.

In 2022, student groups at the University of California, Berkeley passed a bylaw, initiated by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which banned Zionists from speaking at certain events. In 2023, the founder of a radical pro-Hamas group stormed onto a New York City subway car and demanded that all “Zionists” deboard it. Just a month earlier at the University of Los Angeles, California, a pro-Hamas activist called someone a “Zionist pedophile rabbi,” abusing the man for no other reason that he appeared to be Jewish.

The update to the university’s rules came seven weeks after it paid an undisclosed sum of money to settle a lawsuit brought by three students who sued the school for responding, allegedly, to antisemitic discrimination “with deliberate indifference.”

In resolving the case, NYU avoided a lengthy civil trial which would have revealed precisely who and which office received but failed to address numerous reports that — according to the court documents filed in November — NYU students and faculty “repeatedly abuse, malign, vilify, and threaten Jewish students with impunity” and that “death to k—es” and “gas the Jews” were chanted by pro-Hamas supporters at the school. Because the details of the settlement are confidential, it is unclear whether the new rules are a direct consequence of it.

The suit was one of many filed against colleges and universities after an explosion of antisemitic conduct that followed Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. It charged that “pleas for help and protection” were ignored and that NYU administrators “gaslighted” Jewish students instead of punishing those responsible for the discriminatory acts to which they were subjected.

“The parties have agreed to a confidential settlement of the litigation, including monetary terms,” NYU spokesperson John Beckman said in announcing the resolution of the case. “None of the confidential terms detracts from NYU’s obligations to combat antisemitism under the agreement. As a result of the agreement, NYU is creating a new Title VI coordinator position — among the first major universities in the country to do so.”

Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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