The Center for Constitutional Rights and seven other rights organizations today called on the Department of Education to address the use of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by Israel-aligned groups to suppress student speech advocating for Palestinian rights and critical of Israeli policies. See CCR's Press Release and the letters here.
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Join us April 24rd, 2013 at UC Davis Law School for a discussion on the concerted campaign to suppress students' First Amendment rights to criticize Israeli state policy. From Brooklyn College, to University of South Florida, from UC San Diego to UC Davis, students are facing legal threats and intimidation which mislabel their advocacy for Palestinian human rights as anti-Semitic. This intimidation chills speech on the Palestine-Israel question - one of the most important political debates of our time, and robs university students of robust intellectual debate essential in a democratic society. It also poses serious dangers to pro-Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students who are already at risk in an Islamophobic US political climate.
After a two-month investigation, the City University of New York (CUNY) General Counsel’s office issued a report late Friday vindicating student organizers of a February 7th event at Brooklyn College (BC) from accusations of anti-Semitic discrimination. Read more here.
The Center for Constitutional Rights and other civil rights groups have written to the Presidents of the Claremont Colleges in Southern California expressing alarm after a professor on campus cursed at a Palestinian student and called him a cockroach. The incident occurred during the Claremont Colleges Students for Justice in Palestine's mock Israeli checkpoint action. The Colleges' responses have suggested that there is more interest in blaming the students for alleged violations of the campus demonstrations policy rather than remedying the harms of racial bias and repression of speech. The letter emphasizes the Colleges obligation to protect students who advocate for Palestinian rights from intimidation and racial bias. See the full letter here.
Watch this break down of how civil rights law is being distorted to silence criticism of Israel. Michael Ratner, President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights provides an overview of the misuse of Title VI.
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Discussion at CUNY School of Law, Silencing Dissent: Efforts to Suppress & Criminalize Advocacy for Palestinian Human Rights in the U.S. April 1st.
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