by HILLELS OF ILLINOIS and HILLEL INTERNATIONAL STAFF on September 25, 2024
After several years of negotiations, Hillel International, Illini Hillel, and JUF have reached an agreement with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) that reflects a shared goal of assuring a safe and welcoming environment for Jewish students on campus.
"We are proud of our campus community for this rejection of antisemitism and to UIUC leadership for their renewed commitment to the safety and security of Jewish students and their values," said Erez Cohen, Executive Director at Illini Hillel. "We remain steadfast in our continued commitment to work alongside UIUC during the implementation of their new policies and to help reaffirm their promise to protect the rights of Jewish students on campus."
The agreement comes in parallel with the recent announcement of a Resolution Agreement issued by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Right in response to a Title VI complaint filed in 2020. The complaint, filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under the Law and Arnold & Porter, alleged a hostile environment for Jews on the campus.
The university administration and Hillel International, Illini Hillel, JUF, and UIUC students--represented by Brandeis Center and Arnold & Porter--agreed to a comprehensive set of Mutual Understandings.
"I am thankful for the partnership with Hillel, and JUF, over the past several years to combat antisemitism on our campus," said University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Robert Jones. "We are deeply committed to…to working together to provide a safe and supportive educational environment for our entire Jewish student community and for all students at Illinois."
The recent landmark agreement re-affirms the University's commitment to the safety and inclusion of Jewish students in Urbana-Champaign. The agreement includes a declaration from UIUC that the protection for students offered by the University's nondiscrimination policy extends to harassment or discrimination of Jewish students--including harassment or discrimination based on Jewish students' connections to Israel and Zionism.
In fact, the university provided detailed examples of discrimination and harassment across protected classes as part of the policy. These examples specifically include antisemitic discrimination and/or harassment that may violate university policies such as:
● Verbal abuse or use of antisemitic slurs or stereotypes directed at an individual.
● Blaming a student for actions of other individuals of their actual or perceived shared identity, or for policies of a particular country or region that the student is actually or perceived to be from (e.g. blaming a Jewish student for Israel's policies).
● Physical assault, physical force, physical obstruction of an individual's path, intimidation, or stalking.
● Telephonic or social media display of derogatory, demeaning, offensive, or hostile messages or materials.
● Making statements orally or on social media that call for the destruction of a protected classification in whole or in part, whether explicitly or by implication.
Additionally, the University will publish a summary report of bias incidents every month, commit to mandatory antisemitism trainings for administration and students, and hire an individual with demonstrated expertise in campus antisemitism to enhance compliance and recommend changes to university practices, and policies.
"This agreement will protect Jewish students--both now and in the future--and JUF is proud to have played a role in making it happen," said JUF President Lonnie Nasatir. "JUF is committed to ensuring that every member of our community can proudly and safely participate in Jewish life, and nowhere is that more important today than on college and university campuses."
