Three Recommendations for University Administrators

American Jewish Committee (AJC) has three key recommendations for university administrators as the Fall 2024 semester gets underway to help ensure that Jewish students along with all campus citizens have a safer, more productive 2024-25 school year. Our recommendations are grounded in an approach that views administrators as vital stewards of their campuses’ long-term wellbeing, and universities as essential partners in a free and democratic society. AJC is well equipped and ready to work with you to help foster a more pluralistic, education-focused atmosphere for all. Contact us to learn more about how we can work together this academic year. 
 

1) Prioritize issue-neutral rules, and ensure that those rules are applied consistently, without exceptions. 

• Review, revise, and update codes of conduct to meet the demands of the current climate and its challenges, including regulations pertaining to virtual spaces and social media.
• Distill essential takeaways from your campus regulations and ensure there is an effective communication strategy in place to convey them consistently to all members of the campus community.
• Ensure there are clear and transparent mechanisms in place for reporting bias, harassment, and discrimination on campus. Consider designating a Title VI coordinator to work alongside your Title IX officer(s) to manage ethnic ancestry discrimination complaints.
• Follow through with enforcement and appropriate consequences for those who disregard campus policy and rules, including those who disregard protest regulations.
   

2) Clarify the rights and responsibilities of faculty.

• Remind faculty that their position of authority in the classroom comes with an important responsibility to foster an atmosphere of free and open exchange among students, especially on complex, controversial, and divisive topics.
• Encourage and incentivize your faculty, and especially junior faculty and advanced graduate students, to take seriously their professional responsibility to steward fact-based exchanges in the classroom that hone the skills of applying evidence to argument. Strongly discourage faculty from using their instructional authority to indoctrinate students to any one ideological or political worldview.
• Reinforce the importance of these same principles for faculty who supervise student clubs and extracurricular activities. Convey the importance of mentorship and supervision that imparts sound, balanced methodological standards to students who engage in activities like student journalism.
   

3) Ensure that minority groups, including Jews, have the resources they need to gather and conduct their activities safely this academic year.

• Ensure that there is adequate security for Jewish spaces and events, particularly around the one-year anniversary of October 7th as well as Jewish holidays, which begin early in the Fall.
• Prioritize educating student-facing staff, including Resident Advisors, about Jewish history, identity, and culture as well as Zionism, and emphasize the importance of maintaining an atmosphere free from discrimination and harassment for all students.
• Ensure that Jewish students are not being subjected to litmus tests about Israel or Zionism in academic and extracurricular spaces and take corrective steps whenever litmus tests manifest. 
   

This academic year, consider engaging in experiential learning by attending an off-campus event that allows you and your administrative team to get to know the Jewish community. AJC can help! Contact us to find out about opportunities in your area.