NEA Hit with Discrimination Complaint

"The charge documents several incidents of anti-Semitic discrimination, harassment, and intimidation at the NEA’s 2025 Representative Assembly (RA): 

• Jewish delegates were physically surrounded and shouted at by anti-Israel advocates.
• When a Jewish delegate at the RA referenced the murder of an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor in the Boulder, Colorado anti-Semitic attack, her comment was met with clapping and laughter by other delegates.  
• Anti-Israel delegates at the RA physically intimidated and disrupted the Jewish Affairs Caucus when the Executive Chair tried to speak to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Caucus. 
• The NEA removed metal detectors and reduced security at the event despite reports by Jewish members of intimidation and harassment and a realistic fear of violence.

The NEA took other recent actions that contribute to the hostile environment against Jewish members:  

• The NEA’s handbook removed Jews as the primary victims of the Holocaust."

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under the Law has filed a charge with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest union, alleging discrimination against its Jewish members. As I read the notice, which I received today, Jewish members have been the targets of discrimination and insults, which are listed in the notice. I also note that under the NEA's system of racial classifications (which they shouldn't be engaged in to begin with), Jews are lumped together as "white", which the NEA reportedly does not consider a "protected group" (rather, presumably, a "privileged" group), something that does nothing to foster overall harmony, in my view.

"The NEA’s written policies require the use of unlawful racial and ethnic classifications and preferences to exclude members, and as many Jewish members do not fit into one of the NEA’s preferred minority categories – the NEA classifies them as 'white' – they are excluded from governance positions and deprived of other NEA benefits."

The press release by the Brandeis Center can be accessed here. It also links to the formal charge.