February 6, 2025

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Rutgers Student Assembly Rejects Resolution Adopting IHRA

The Rutgers University Student Assembly (RUSA) has voted to reject a resolution adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

The decision in response to a resolution put forward by Kelly Shapiro, chair of the its Sexual Violence Education Committee and president of Students Supporting Israel (SSI), and Rutgers University Senate member Taylor Shaw, who is on its student affairs committee. It was supported by Rutgers Hillel, Rutgers Chabad, Rutgers Jewish Xperience and SSI.

“The IHRA vote obviously did not go our way, but we anticipated that was going to be the case,” said Rutgers Hillel President Mitch Wolf. “We are proud of all our pro-Israel members who stood up to argue for this, as well as other members of the community who showed up for the vote.”

The IHRA cites “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” and lists a belief in a world government controlled by Jews, Holocaust denial, accusations of dual loyalty and anti-Zionism as among the examples of antisemitism. A previous RUSA definition of antisemitism did not mention Israel.

A previously scheduled hearing on the matter near the end of last semester was cancelled for security reasons. Wolf said in the recent public hearing that steps were taken to ensure those on each side had a chance to speak. The resolution was criticized by opponents who said it conflated condemnation of Israeli actions with antisemitism.

In a statement, SSI expressed disappointment in RUSA’s lack of support for Jewish, Israeli and Zionist students and noted the many Jewish organizations on campus that had endorsed the resolution.

The adoption was requested following a tumultuous period on campus after the October 7, 2023 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas. Jewish students have previously told The Jewish Link that they had been subjected to antisemitic taunts and threats throughout the previous school year by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, particularly Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

An encampment, which had been on Voorhees Mall for four days, was ordered taken down by the university in May after word was received that students planned to disrupt finals, forcing the cancellation of a number of them. That action got SJP suspended for this academic year. The organization had already been suspended for a time earlier last year and had been on academic probation after blocking students from entering buildings and targeting Jewish students with hateful speech and other disruptive actions.

In another instance, a Rutgers student threatened an Israeli at the Jewish Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity by posting on the Yik Yak social media site, “There is an Israeli at AEPI; go kill him.” The student, Matthew Skorny, received only a one-semester suspension and was allowed to remain on campus under disciplinary probation for the remainder of the fall 2023 semester with the suspension enforced during the following spring 2024 semester.

The federal Department of Education recently settled its Title VI case against Rutgers in response to about 400 documented complaints of discrimination against Jewish, Israeli, Arab and Muslim students. Rutgers agreed to conduct a thorough review of the previous year’s student conduct violations, develop “conduct listening sessions” and conduct a campus climate assessment. The university was already participating in Hillel-led antisemitism training seminars.

“Thankfully, things are much better than it has been in previous semesters, but there is always room for improvement, obviously,” said Wolf, a senior finance and marketing major from White Plains, New York.

The IHRA has been adopted by 37 states and dozens of countries as well as the State Department. It has been passed out of committee in the New Jersey Senate. A large bipartisan cohort of state Assembly legislators are pushing to bring it up for a vote in the coming months.

Wolf said that despite the disappointment of not getting the support of RUSA, the campus Jewish community understands what the student assembly’s limitations are in deciding campus policy. “We are all about taking measures to support Jewish students at Rutgers. We generally feel safe here, but we feel there is a lot of work to be done by stakeholders to make the campus feel even safer.”


Debra Rubin has had a long career in journalism writing for secular weekly and daily newspapers and Jewish publications. She most recently served as Middlesex/Monmouth bureau chief for the New Jersey Jewish News. She also worked with the media at several nonprofits, including serving as assistant public relations director of HIAS and assistant director of media relations at Yeshiva University.

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