#KeepTheLightOn
The Time for Action is Now
We are a network of academics who stand against antisemitism on campus — and demand university leaders join us.
Open hate directed toward Jewish people on campus, inflamed by the Israel-Hamas war, has become permissible and even expected. Students should never be attacked for their Jewish or Zionist identities.
We are here to say: Antisemitism under the guise of activism is still antisemitism. Failure to condemn antisemitism condones antisemitism. Jewish students and faculty deserve to learn and teach without fear of harassment, discrimination, ostracism, or violence.
Our Core Principles
Antisemitism should have no place on campus. Antisemitism is contrary to the academy’s principles of inclusion, belonging, diversity, and community.
Jewish people are entitled to be full members of the campus community and should not face any pressure to refute or disavow the Zionist component of their identity in order to be accepted.
All members of the campus community have a right to feel safe on campus and to be treated with respect and dignity. While debate and dissent are fundamental to learning and the advancement of knowledge, antisemitic harassment and discrimination cannot be tolerated.
Open inquiry and free discussion and debate regarding Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the Middle East is crucial and should be encouraged. Divergent points of view should not be censored. Members of the campus community, including university leaders, can criticize, condemn, and actively challenge hateful and divisive speech that is antithetical to the values of civility and respect. Such criticism should not be misconstrued or misrepresented as silencing speech.
Academic boycotts are antithetical to a university's mission to produce, advance, and transmit knowledge. Efforts to boycott Israeli academic institutions or individual academics should be rejected, and no faculty member or student should be punished for engaging with Israeli academic institutions or Israeli academics.
Academic departments should not adopt a pedagogical mission or political stance that marginalizes and alienates any campus community. Academic units, and especially degree-granting departments, should refrain from imposing ideological orthodoxies about Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the Middle East.
Harm to Jewish people on campus must be taken as seriously as harm to any other protected class.