Dear Signatories of the “Stand Up DePaul” open letter,

Like you, we are committed to academic freedom, peaceful expression, and the protection of vulnerable students. We fully support these goals. We are, however, alarmed by what your letter leaves out.

Your letter makes no mention of DePaul’s own anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy, nor of the university’s legal obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect all students—including Jews and Israelis (a.k.a., “Zionists”)—from discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, shared ancestry, or national origin. Furthermore, DePaul University community members who wish to denounce American and Israeli government policies are not the only ones whose constitutional and scholarly freedoms need defending. Community members who wish to defend American and Israeli government policies must also be allowed these freedoms without the threat of physical violence. These omissions are not just disappointing. Considering recent events on our own campus, they are indefensible. Clarity and principle require consistency.

Since October 7, 2023, Jews and Israelis have faced an unprecedented wave of harassment and physical violence at DePaul University and in the surrounding Lincoln Park community. Multiple students as well as staff and faculty members have been verbally assaulted with slurs like “Zionist” or “[Expletive] Zionist,” shouted at them solely based on their perceived religion, ethnicity, or national origin—without regard for their actual political views. Jewish students have been physically attacked for exercising their First Amendment rights to defend American and Israeli government policies. Jewish residents have also been targeted with hate literature—stuffed in plastic bags alongside rat poison—distributed throughout the neighborhood. These are not isolated incidents. They reflect a climate of hostility.

This climate makes the omission of Jewish and Israeli students from the “Stand Up DePaul” letter especially troubling. While the letter names many groups rightly deserving of protection, it does not acknowledge the pervasive targeting of Jewish and Israeli students. In effect, the letter treats the safety and dignity of Jewish and Israeli students as less urgent or even less real. That silence is not neutral. It sends a message.

We also note with concern the letter’s rejection of widely accepted definitions of antisemitism, including the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition, which is used by the U.S. Department of Education to guide enforcement of Title VI protections. This definition explicitly affirms that criticism of American and Israeli government policies is not antisemitic, but it also recognizes that denying only Jews the right to self-determination or applying double standards to the world’s only Jewish state may cross the line into bigotry. Dismissing this framework entirely, as the letter does, signals an unwillingness to grapple with real patterns of antisemitic speech and conduct that students on our campus have directly experienced.

The omission of Jewish and Israeli experiences from the letter is particularly troubling within the current context of heightened political polarization surrounding higher education. When these experiences are overlooked, it can inadvertently lend credence to partisan narratives where concerns for Jewish students are utilized to advance broader partisan agendas without genuine consideration for the needs and desires of American Jews. Failing to adequately address the safety and inclusion of Jewish and Israeli students within academic spaces weakens our moral authority and risks allowing various political interests to exploit this vulnerability.

Thus, while the rights of protestors must be protected, so must the rights of students to attend class, live in dorms, and walk across campus without fear of harassment. These are not competing values. They are complementary. The call for justice should never depend on whose pain we choose to recognize. We can—and must—stand against repression while standing with all our students.

We urge our colleagues, and DePaul’s administration, to recommit publicly and unequivocally to protecting every student from harassment, including Jews and Israelis. And we call for the defense of all community members who wish to exercise their constitutional and scholarly freedoms without regard for whether their identities fit comfortably within favored activist coalitions.

Sincerely,

Jessica M. Choplin, Ph.D., Professor of Psychological Science

Craig M. Klugman, PhD is Vincent de Paul Professor of Bioethics & Health Humanities

Ellen Gutiontov, Executive Director, CIPLIT, Adjunct Professor of Law

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This statement reflects our individual views as the three faculty members currently serving as leaders of the Jewish Faculty and Staff Alliance, DePaul’s employee resource group for Jewish faculty and staff. We are submitting this response in our personal capacities, not on behalf of the group as a whole.

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Guest Letters

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