Penn should do more to combat anti-Jewish bias on campus and reissue a statement opposing divestment from Israel, a university task force says
One report from Penn's University Task Force on Antisemitism created in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel calls for bolstering Jewish Studies, and mandatory education on unconscious bias.
After a tumultuous year marked by heated protests over Israel’s war with Hamas, the University of Pennsylvania should bolster its Jewish Studies program, incorporate antisemitism into mandatory education on inclusion and unconscious bias, and strengthen efforts to recruit Jewish faculty and students, a new report from a university commission says.
The report, released by the university Thursday, was issued by the University Task Force on Antisemitism, a group formed by then-Penn president Liz Magill amid pressure to do more to combat anti-Jewish bias at the Ivy League school following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas. Magill resigned in December after backlash over her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus.
The report doesn’t recommend specific changes to the university’s guidelines on open expression following the police-led disbanding of a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus earlier this month. The task force disagreed on whether to call for regulating the participation of people unaffiliated with Penn in campus protests and prohibiting the wearing of masks during protests “for the purpose of concealing one’s identity.” Of 33 people arrested during the encampment dismantling on May 10, nine were Penn students.
But it called for heightened awareness and identification of antisemitism, and provides a list of examples it said could be incorporated into inclusivity training. Among the examples listed is “discriminating against, excluding, or denigrating a person simply for identifying as a Zionist” — drawing a distinction between criticizing Zionism as a movement or ideology, and mistreating a person for being a Zionist, which is “discrimination based on creed,” the report said.
The report — which also calls for Penn to reissue “a clear statement on its opposition to divestment, sanctions or boycotts against Israel” — was released along with a report from the Presidential Commission on Countering Hate and Building Community.
Penn several times has said it opposes divestment regarding Israel. On May 10, Interim President J. Larry Jameson, in announcing that university police had brought an end to a pro-Palestinian encampment, on campus said Penn would not give in to the group’s demand to divest from entities engaged with Israel.
“Penn remains unequivocally opposed to divestment,” Jameson said.
And in a statement to The Inquirer earlier that month, the school said: “The University of Pennsylvania strongly opposes sanctions, boycotts, or disinvestment targeted against Israel. We have been clear about this issue for more than a decade.”
The Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine group, which has joined student protesters to call for divestment, did not immediately return a call for comment.
The Presidential Commission on Countering Hate and Building Community, convened by Jameson in December, was charged with addressing bias, hate, and discrimination on campus and made broad recommendations, like adopting a university values statement, and equitably supporting students and faculty across Penn’s “decentralized” system.
But it also made specific suggestions — like creating a Middle East and North Africa cultural space; requiring a new seminar course for all undergraduates “focusing on a challenging topic and emphasizing productive dialogue,” with possible topics of war ethics, reproductive rights, or free speech; and creating an interdisciplinary research center for the study of hate and intolerance.
In a statement Thursday, Jameson said the reports were “the product of the rigorous, civil, and intellectual debate at the heart of Penn’s excellence.”
“The thoughtful recommendations contained within these reports offer concrete guidance for actions Penn can and will take now, as well as aspirational goals that will inform our institutional priorities for the future. The reports are both reaffirming and complementary,” Jameson said. “They contain shared themes, such as affirming Penn’s values and clarifying University policies and reporting, and offer distinct ideas for building community, investing in research and scholarship, and supporting the student experience.”
He said some of the recommendations were already underway, while “other elements of implementation lie ahead of us and will benefit from further input as we assess which strategies make sense for Penn.”