Republicans continue to grill school leaders on one issue through a series of congressional hearings on what public schools and universities are doing to combat anti-Semitism.
Why don't we fire educators accused of anti-Semitism?
The accusations came amid a wave of demonstrations and discussions about the Israel-Hamas war at public schools and university campuses. Republican lawmakers leading the hearing argued that school administrators are not doing enough to discipline employees for conduct that ranges from protected free speech to anti-Semitic hate speech and harassment.
But even defining what activities or speech is anti-Semitic is hotly debated among Jewish families and organizations.
School leaders had mixed reactions. Some companies have promised to name and police individuals, while others have refused to provide information on employee discipline.
At one of the hearings held on Capitol Hill this month, New York City's school superintendent repeatedly invoked the legal phrase “due process.”
“We don't have the authority to fire someone just because I don't agree with them,” said Chancellor David C. Banks. “It doesn't work that way in our school system.”
The differing approaches to Congressional questioning and discipline itself by public school and university administrators reflect how discipline has become one of the thorniest challenges for schools trying to navigate tensions over the Israeli-Hamas war. There is.
As complaints mount about teachers promoting protests and professors sparring with students online, leaders are faced with a serious and complex set of concerns. They include heated debates over the gray areas of free speech rules, employee union rights and controversial phrases like “from the river to the sea.”
To some Jewish students and parents, administrators have had enough to reprimand or even fire staff for allowing hostile views of Jews to fester in classrooms and lecture halls. not going. But for some Arab and Muslim families, many leaders go too far, violating educators' rights and unequally enforcing discipline-worthy rules.
Tensions over discipline are likely to resurface on the national stage later this month when the presidents of three more universities, Rutgers University-Northwestern University and the University of California, Los Angeles, are next to testify in Washington.
At a public hearing last month, Columbia University President Nemat Shafik said two named professors were being investigated for making “discriminatory statements.” One of them described the Hamas-led attack on Israel as a “resistance attack” in an article, but she said she would never work at the school again.
Nine days later, the university's Senate accused authorities of violating the professors' due process rights and privacy.
“These actions show little respect for clearly established protocols,” the Senate-approved resolution reads.
Columbia leaders' approach in Congress was in stark contrast to public school leaders' testimony in separate hearings. Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Enikia Ford-Motell said California has strict confidentiality rules governing personnel details, and noted the wide range of disciplinary actions taken against district employees. He repeatedly refused to release even specific details.
The contrasting strategies partly reflected the gulf between the legal and professional standards of public school districts and institutions of higher education. While most professors have extensive rights to academic freedom, school teachers, as public servants, are far more constrained in their teaching choices and comments.
Some episodes center around overt hate speech and anti-Semitic tropes. But much of it is about how teachers have discussed war in history and social studies classes, or how their political actions, such as helping organize a strike for a ceasefire in Gaza, have influenced students' education. The story revolves around more delicate situations, such as whether or not it will have such an impact. View.
In Berkeley, for example, the Brandeis Center, a Jewish civil rights organization, filed a complaint earlier this year accusing the school district of disciplining teachers, including those who branded or called out Hamas attacks as “resistance.” He partially claimed that he had “rejected” the Israel has become an “apartheid state” in the classroom.
Rachel Rahman, the center's vice president and general counsel, said many Jewish families feel that if another group were similarly targeted at their school, “there would be consequences.” .
“The purpose is not to silence speech,” Rahman said. “The question is what is appropriate in the classroom based on the school’s own rules and California’s own laws.”
A similar standoff this week saw Republicans ask New York City Schools Superintendent Banks why he reassigned rather than fired the principal of a high school where students violently protested a Jewish educator who posted pro-Israel posts. It was revealed when questioned. Social media.
Banks reiterated that all school employees are entitled to due process. In heavily unionized cities like New York, most teachers and principals are entitled to a hearing to respond to accusations of misconduct before officials impose disciplinary action, such as firing.
When it comes to sensitive issues like the Israel-Hamas war, it may not be surprising that some families “may never feel that sanctions weren't appropriate,” said the former Omaha school superintendent and superintendent. says expert Cheryl Logan.
However, district leaders must strike a delicate balance. “People have private lives and work in public schools,” she said.
Some states, such as Massachusetts, have broad restrictions on all government employees from engaging in political activities during work hours. For example, teachers are not allowed to print pro-Palestinian demonstration pamphlets on school computers or attempt to promote pro-Israel views during class.
Still, experts said the rules for teachers giving speeches online or outside of school hours could become even more vague. Additionally, many school districts have traditionally given educators leeway to show support for specific political or social causes, such as Black Lives Matter or Ukraine at war with Russia.
These questions of what is permissible have been integrated into the recent conflict in Montgomery County, Maryland, where three teachers were suspended for using controversial language to describe the war in Gaza. , the county was sued.
One of the teachers, who often wore a “Liberate Palestine” button to school, received complaints from staff that he had included the controversial phrase “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea” in his internal signature. , was placed on leave. According to his complaint, he sent an email to his co-worker. Some Jews consider this phrase anti-Semitic. The teacher saw this as “an aspirational call for freedom and dignity for the Palestinian people,” according to the complaint.
Zainab Chaudhry, Maryland director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said there was a “blatant double standard” in which teachers who support the Palestinian cause do not receive the same due process rights as teachers who support Israel. He said he was concerned.
“I have never seen this level of suppression of free speech,” she said, adding that one of the big challenges is “there are no clear guidelines on what is acceptable and what is not.” added.
Banks told a New York City Assembly subcommittee on education this week that the expression “river to sea” cannot be used in schools. The New York Civil Liberties Union later said many educators were unaware of the rule and believed a strict ban would likely be unconstitutional.
As the prime minister testified in Washington, a group of pro-Palestinian teachers demonstrated on the steps of the city's Ministry of Education headquarters. Among them is Pam Spohn, a former Bronx teacher who said her mission as an educator is to expose her students to the world.
Spohn said she often explores “controversial historical and current issues” in the classroom and is lucky to work in a school where there is “freedom.”
But today she said:
Olivia Bensimon Contributed to the report.
