The federal government’s ability to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic discrimination on college campuses has been under threat for four years due to the Biden administration’s failure to issue new guidance on defining anti-Semitism.

That’s the assessment of a leading authority on anti-Semitism and civil rights, Kenneth Marcus, who during the George W. Bush and Trump administrations worked to clarify protections for Jewish students under the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Now he fears that if Vice President Harris is elected president, the policy — which has served as a crucial legal basis for Jewish students to combat anti-Semitism since Oct. 7 — could become less effective in the next four years . Or worse: canceled.

“The failure of the Biden-Harris administration to have the courage to be firm, forceful and explicit in its discussion of the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism raises real concern that a Harris administration might not follow through and use the definition the way it could be used. the order contemplates,” Mr Marcus told The Sun.

This policy dates back to 2004, when Mr. Marcus, while working as deputy secretary of the Department of Education, established in an official letter that Title VI protected the rights of ethnic groups sharing a religious faith, including Jews. Later coined the “Marcus Doctrine,” this policy was maintained under the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations.

This policy was strengthened in 2019 when the Trump administration issued an executive order affirming protections for the civil rights of Jewish students and calling on federal agencies to “consider” proposals from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. definition of anti-Semitism which identifies denying Jews the right to self-determination as a potentially anti-Semitic act.

His efforts have been praised by many Jewish groups, including the World Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, the Zionist Organization of America and the Anti-Defamation League.

Although the Biden administration has not rescinded the executive order, it has, for years, delayed issue new Title VI guidance based on Trump’s executive order. The Ministry of Education first promised to issue a new rule in September 2020, before extending the deadline to January 2021, then to December 2022, and so on. “It’s not like it would have taken that long to write the rule,” Mr. Marcus told The Sun. I left a copy in my office when I left.

If the Biden administration delays forever, the fate of this policy will rest in the hands of the next president. Mr. Marcus, for his part, is less confident that a Harris administration will take on the role and codify protections for Jewish students.

Although Ms. Harris has issued statements condemning anti-Semitism on campus, she has also, over the past year, defended anti-Israel agitators on campus, saying at one point: “They are showing exactly what should be to be human emotion, in response to Gaza. .”

“I think we should legitimately be concerned that hard-fought protections could be rolled back in a future administration — and that future administration could be the Harris administration,” he told the Sun, adding that “we don’t have certainly heard nothing from the American administration.” she who would inspire confidence.

These protections have become even more important as the October 7 Hamas attack and subsequent war in Gaza caused an unprecedented increase in cases of harassment, intimidation and assault against Jewish students. Title VI is, in Mr. Marcus’s words, “the central pillar” of most lawsuits brought by Jewish students against their universities.

At least 14 universities are facing lawsuits over their handling of anti-Semitism on campus after October 7 – including Harvard, Columbia, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania. Not to mention the dozens of Title VI administrative complaints filed with the Office for Civil Rights. “The stakes are high,” says Mr. Marcus.

Trump, on the other hand, “made, by far, the most significant progress in the fight against anti-Semitism on campus” during his presidency, Mr. Marcus says. He also, during his presidential campaign, on several occasions promised forcefully combat anti-Semitism if elected, even threaten to revoke university accreditation and federal support if they fail to resolve their Jew-hatred issues.

Meanwhile, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer is sitting on a bill that could make or break the executive order. The bill, known as the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, would require the Department of Education to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism.

Although the measure passed the House with bipartisan support, Mr. Schumer – currently the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in America – blocked it from entering the upper chamber. Although a regulation issued by the federal government would give the policy a firmer footing, the bill, Marcus said, “would do the job.”