A Letter to the Department of Education (Office of Civil Rights) From 12 Jewish Organizations

Hat tip to the Orange County Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism

Twelve national Jewish organizations have sent a joint letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan asking that the Office of Civil Rights within DOE interpret Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to include cases of anti-Jewish harassment, intimidation and discrimination of college campuses around the nation. As of now, OCR, currently under the direction of Russlyn Ali, does not interpret the statute as including Jews.

http://octaskforce.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/zoa-12-major-jewish-organizations-letter-to-arne-duncan-the-secretary-of-the-u-s-department-of-education-protect-jewish-students-from-anti-semitic-harassment-intimidation-and-discrimination-unde/

For me, it is encouraging to see that 11 other Jewish organizations have joined with the Zionist Organization of America in this letter. In my view, the ZOA has been leading the effort to bring national attention to this on-going problem. As to what the DOE/OCR in this administration will do about it, I am not so optimistic.

Perhaps AIPAC (America Israel Public Affairs Committee) can take it up next week at their annual convention in Washington. I understand some folks from the administration will be attending or speaking.