Ken Marcus Steps Down from DOE-OCR

Hat tip JNS




Ken Marcus


I am cross-posting an article by Jonathan Tobin  for the Jewish News Syndicate on outgoing head of the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights, Ken Marcus. In the interest of full disclosure, I have had the pleasure of meeting Ken on a couple of occasions, and like Mr Tobin, I consider Ken to be the victim of unfair attacks.

https://www.jns.org/opinion/why-the-human-rights-community-opposed-a-foe-of-college-anti-semites/

As two-time head of the DOE-OCR, Marcus defended the rights of all against discriminatory treatment, but it was because he included Jewish students among those who needed protection, that he incurred the wrath of the pro-Palestinian movement and others who masquerade as human rights activists.

Back in 2007-08, many Jewish students at UC Irvine were complaining (justly) that they were being bullied and intimidated by pro-Palestinian activists on campus while the university looked the other way. With the help of the Zionist Organization of America and the Independent Orange Country Task Force on Anti-Semitism, Jewish students were able to bring about an investigation by the DOE-OCR. Eventually, the case failed for a variety of reasons, including the timeliness of the complaint and the fact that there was no complaint of discrimination based on nationality in that none of the complaining students were Israelis-only American Jews.

The latter issue is because when the Civil Rights Act was passed, religion  was not included. Congress did not want to get in the middle of religion due to the separation of church and state issue.

Mr Marcus was instrumental in getting the DOE to recognize religious discrimination so that Jewish students (and Muslim students as well) could file complaints. It has helped enable President Trump to bring pressure on universities that ignore campus anti-Semitism. For that, he deserves great credit. It has, however, brought him scorn from the anti-Semites who yell about free speech even as they deny free speech to their opponents and disrupt Jewish events on campus. In short, Mr Marcus' critics are hypocrites.

Mr Marcus is returning to the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. I wish him well.