University of Pittsburgh creates Working Group on Antisemitism
"It was clear to the university that a more targeted effort was necessary, and so they decided to take it on directly.”
For many, the Dec. 4 announcement by University of Pittsburgh Faculty Assembly President Robin Kear came as a surprise.
During the assembly’s final meeting of the fall 2024 semester, Kear announced the creation of a university level Working Group on Antisemitism. The new body, which has a two-year mandate, replaces the ad hoc committee on antisemitism that had been proposed by Kear and Vice President Kristin Kanthak during their Nov. 16 faculty assembly meeting.
A resolution for the ad hoc committee had been introduced at last month’s faculty assembly meeting but was tabled after a motion by Bridget Keown, co-chair of the assembly’s Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Committee. Keown asked for more time to allow EIADAC and other committees to review the proposal and make recommendations they deemed necessary, including requiring the ad hoc committee to create a definition of antisemitism before it began its work.
“We have decided to withdraw that resolution in favor of a different, broader direction that I believe is beneficial,” Kear said, introducing the working group. “It is authorized by the chancellor, the provost, and it is in collaboration with the university senate president.”
The new working group, she said, will engage proactively with the university and broader Pittsburgh community to “analyze and help address antisemitism, demonstrating our steadfast commitment to combating antisemitism and fostering an inclusive environment where all community members feel valued and respected.”
Kear said that the group is charged with assessing and analyzing the state of antisemitism at the university within a national context, with particular attention to Western Pennsylvania and the city of Pittsburgh and will assess the school’s role in addressing this challenge. It will examine university procedures, programs and support systems and explore options for improving their development, implementation and enforcement.
The working group will consider the role of off-campus actors and events on the experience of university students, faculty and staff—an important consideration given the role of outside groups last year in the creation of anti-Israel protests and encampments on university property, some of which resulted in arrests—to create a safer environment.
Addressing many of the fears leveled at the ad hoc committee, Kear said that the working group will not be empowered to set limits on free expression or protected free speech. Nor will it be authorized to impose restrictions on “teaching, scholarship, programming or other activities at the university that fall under the protections inherent in the university’s definition of academic freedom.”
Kear said that the yet-to-be-created group will be well-resourced and will be co-chaired by Jennifer Murtazashvili, director of the university’s center for governance and markets, who had been selected to co-chair the ad hoc committee, as well.
Murtazashvili told the Chronicle that she views the creation of the working group as positive. And it demonstrates the importance and centrality of the issue to the university.
“As the issue gained more attention,” she said, “it was clear to the university that a more targeted effort was necessary, and so they decided to take it on directly.”
Murtazashvili said the working group will have more gravitas than the ad hoc committee because it is supported by the university’s administration who is taking ownership of the issue.
“This seems like an openness for some kind of dialogue on policy issues,” she said, “which I think is very positive.”
And, she said, the administration is allowing the group to lead the way, identifying issues where there should be greater clarity.
Rachel Kranson, director of the university’s Jewish Studies and associate professor of religious studies, said that the university is still very early in the process of creating the working group, so it isn’t sure how the group will function, but she said she felt it vital that her department be involved.
“It feels important that its members involve Jewish studies faculty who have real expertise in the study of antisemitism, who teach about antisemitism in our classrooms and can bring nuance and deep historical knowledge to the discussion.”
Murtazashvili said she expected the composition of the group to be decided soon and for work to begin sometime in January.
In an interview with the Chronicle, Kear said she expected it to include not only Jewish groups on campus, as well as faculty and administration members, but also community representatives from outside the University of Pittsburgh and from Jewish groups around the city and region.
Because of that, she expects the group to have a broader impact than a typical faculty assembly ad hoc committee.
“I think it’s a really good way to move forward,” she said.
Pitt student Heaven-Leigh Scalf, a Jewish freshman, was more tempered in her response.
“I think that Pitt has a spectacular way of avoiding actual issues and pretending they’re doing more than they are,” she said.
She said she’s unsure if the working group will make a difference at the university, especially if outside groups and individuals are consulted.
“Opening it up to everyone has a way of slowing down anything actually happening,” Scalf offered. “Because it’s not just faculty, it’s not just administration. It’s not just people affiliated with Pitt who know what’s going on with antisemitism on the campus.”
Antisemitism, she said, was too pressing of an issue to be dealt with effectively and in a timely manner by a large working group.
In the light of the attacks on Jewish students on campus, she said, the university can’t spend “a couple of months dallying on it.”
Murtazashvili, though, said that the group will be both nimble and responsive to what’s happening in real-time on campus and that it will also take “into consideration the broad historical context, the community context, to really understand whether something is systemic. I think taking that into account is important, but we’ll also be responsive to issues when they arise.”
In a statement to the Chronicle, the university said its administration unequivocally condemns antisemitism and is committed to real action, noting its concern over the antisemitic experiences endured by Pitt students from “actors unaffiliated with the university.”
“The Working Group on Antisemitism will, therefore, engage proactively within the University and also the broader Pittsburgh community to analyze and help address antisemitism, demonstrating the University’s steadfast commitment to combating antisemitism broadly and fostering an environment where all community members feel safe, valued and respected,” the statement concluded. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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