Politics

Hillel does not represent all Jewish students, Open Hillel informs federal court in Amicus Brief

July 30, 2018 — Open Hillel filed an amicus brief in Mandel v. California State University to inform the court that, unfortunately, Hillel does not represent all Jewish students. Rather, since enacting its Standards of Partnership for Israel Activities in 2010, Hillel International and its local affiliates have consistently excluded Jewish students on the basis of their political views.

Mandel v. California State University was filed by the Lawfare Project, an organization that uses lawsuits as a tactic to shut down speech that calls attention to Israel’s actions or protests Israel’s policies. The Lawfare Project relies on the claim that Hillel represents “all Jews on campus…regardless of political ideology” to argue that San Francisco State University necessarily discriminated against Jewish students by failing to ensure that Hillel was included in a campus Know Your Rights Fair.

As an organization dedicated to promoting pluralism and inclusion in the Jewish community, Open Hillel is uniquely positioned to address the specific issue of whether Hillel truly represents all Jewish students. Right now, it does not.

Open Hillel objects to Hillel’s claims to represent all Jewish students while simultaneously excluding many students from the Jewish community on campus and lobbying for political causes that students oppose. As long as Hillel’s claim remains unchallenged, Hillel will continue to misrepresent and marginalize Jewish students nationwide.

Open Hillel is a national, grassroots Jewish organization of students and community members advocating for open discourse, inclusion, and democratic accountability in the Jewish community.

One thought on “Hillel does not represent all Jewish students, Open Hillel informs federal court in Amicus Brief

  1. Why on earth would you want to give Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions the legal principle that discrimination against organizations representing minority groups isn’t really, you know, discrimination, because not every single member of that group agrees with the organization?

    This is an extraordinarily reckless legal stance. If it’s accepted, the right could exclude the NAACP and say, hey, we’re not racist, because . . uh. . Ben Carson and David Clarke!
    Nor would NOW represent women, nor would excluding or discriminating against Human Rights Campaign be homophobic, because they don’t represent all gay people.

    Rule number 1 of life: don’t give your enemies a weapon they can use against you.

    Open Hillel: remember the story of Samson. He won his final battle by tearing down the walls of the temple, but it didn’t end so well for him.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.