US evaluating antisemitism complaint against Oberlin College

• Published date: 30 September 2021
• Author: BENJAMIN WEINTHAL

The Jerusalem Post reviewed a copy of the December, 2019 government letter. Oberlin College graduate Melissa Landa, who founded Alliance for Israel to counter the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign targeting the Jewish state and hostility toward Jewish students for their pro-Israel views, filed the formal complaint.

When asked about the complaint, an Education Department spokesperson said on Wednesday, "Thank you for your inquiry. OCR is unable to confirm the receipt of complaints or provide information about pending investigations."

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The spokesperson referred the Post to a link of open investigations but it remains unclear if the case has been investigated or is still pending.

Oberlin College's president Carmen Twillie Ambar and the college's communications department did not immediately respond to Post queries.

"Oberlin's unwillingness to protect its Jewish students from harassment and intimidation is reprehensible. For six years and throughout two Oberlin administrations, Jewish students and alumni who support Israel have reported to me that they were either forced into silence, coerced into anti-Israel activity, or left with no alternative but to transfer to another institution," Landa said on Wednesday.

She added that "The US Department of Education has a responsibility to conduct a thorough investigation of the discrimination that Jewish students at Oberlin College endure and to begin to help mitigate that discrimination by requiring the College to adopt the IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition of antisemitism."

Landa submitted a running list of outbreaks of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel incidents from 2014 to 2017.

Andrew Patinkin, class of 2019, told the The Jewish Press that "Many Oberlin students say that Israel is an oppressive state, and they "repeat a lot of misinformation and falsehoods in the name of 'combating oppression.' Unfortunately, this attitude towards Israel is so pervasive that even some Jewish students have taken to decrying Israel because it makes you a 'better ally' to a marginalized group, i.e. the Palestinians…In the eyes of these students, if you do not actively denounce Israel and its actions, you are a lesser ally and 'fail' to understand the ways that oppression works, thereby making you a horrible person."

Landa's complaint contains detailed...