by Mick Rhodes | editor@claremont-courier.com

and

Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened a Title VI investigation of Pomona College in August 2024 after the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, the Anti-Defamation League, Hillel International, and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP brought a complaint against Pomona College alleging Jewish students experienced antisemitism on campus and the school failed to protect them. As terms of a December 10 settlement of the case, Pomona agreed to implement a number of policy changes requested by the complainants.

The following is a transcript of a December 17 email exchange with Deena B. Margolies, staff attorney with Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law.

Courier: The May 2023 statement from the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism that’s to be incorporated in future Title VI trainings reads in part, “… when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, this is antisemitism.” Could this be taken to mean people who say, “Israel is committing genocide in Gaza” could be punished for antisemitism?

Margolies: No. Criticism of Israel’s government or its policies — including harsh criticism — is not, by itself, anti-Semitic and is not prohibited under the settlement, Title VI, or federal guidance.

However, context and conduct matter. As the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism and OCR guidance explain, speech may cross the line into anti-Semitism when Israel is singled out because of hostility toward Jews, or when anti-Israel rhetoric is used as a vehicle to target Jewish students based on their shared ancestry, ethnicity, or national origin.

The settlement does not punish political speech, which is spelled out in the FAQs. It addresses harassment, discrimination, and exclusion — for example, situations where Jewish students are:

• Shunned, threatened, or excluded from campus spaces because of their real or perceived connection to Israel;
• Pressured to disavow Israel or deny Jewish historical ties to the land as a condition of social acceptance; or
• Targeted with conduct that creates a hostile environment under Title VI.

Title VI regulates discriminatory conduct, not viewpoint expression.

Courier: Does the settlement treat “anti-Zionism” as automatically antisemitic or punishable?

Margolies: No. The settlement does not state that all anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, nor does it prohibit holding or expressing anti-Zionist views.

What the settlement acknowledges — consistent with federal guidance and well-established social science — is that many Jewish students experience anti-Zionist conduct as an attack on their Jewish identity, particularly when that conduct targets them because of who they are rather than what they believe.

This distinction is critical. A person is free to oppose Zionism as a political position. What institutions may not permit is:

• Harassing or excluding Jewish students because they are Zionist;
• Treating Zionism as a litmus test for whether a Jewish student is acceptable, welcome, or “safe” to associate with; or
• Using “anti-Zionism” to justify conduct that, in practice, targets Jews as Jews.

Unlike “Christian nationalism,” Zionism for most Jews is not merely a political ideology — it is tied to Jewish peoplehood, history, ancestry, and collective identity. Title VI protects individuals from discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnicity, even when that identity has political or national dimensions.

Courier: Is there evidence that Zionism is integral to Jewish identity for most Jews?

Margolies: Yes. This is not a rhetorical claim — it is supported by extensive empirical research.

Multiple nationally respected surveys show that a strong majority of Jews view their connection to Israel as an important or essential part of their Jewish identity, including:

• A Pew Research Center study finding that approximately 80% of U.S. Jews say caring about Israel is an important or essential part of being Jewish [viewable at pewresearch.org/religion].
• American Jewish Committee surveys reflecting similar findings about Jewish identity, peoplehood, and connection to Israel [viewable at ajc.org/AntisemitismReport2024].

Judaism is not solely a religion. Jews are also a people with a 3,000-year history rooted in the land of Israel, and for many Jews, that history, culture, and collective memory cannot be separated from Jewish identity itself.

What we are seeing on campuses today is not simply debate about Middle East politics. Jewish and Israeli students are increasingly being pressured to erase or disavow core aspects of their identity in order to avoid ostracism. That is precisely the type of harm Title VI exists to prevent.

Courier: What is the settlement trying to achieve?

Margolies: The settlement’s purpose is straightforward:

To ensure that Jewish and Israeli students can participate fully in campus life without being targeted, excluded, or harassed because of their shared ancestry, ethnicity, or national origin — including their connection to Israel — while fully preserving freedom of expression and academic inquiry.

Students should not have to choose between being accepted on campus and being openly Jewish.

That principle is not controversial. It is the law.