Administrators at USC called for a campuswide dialog on inclusiveness and tolerance this week following the resignation of a student leader who claims she was the target of anti-Semitic attacks stemming from her support for Zionism.
Rose Ritch stepped down Wednesday, Aug. 5, from her position as vice president of the university’s Undergraduate Student Government after students launched what she called “an aggressive social media campaign to impeach my Zionist ass.” Zionism is a religious and political effort launched by the global Jewish community to reestablish Israel as the central location for Jewish identity.
USC President Carol Folt sent a letter to the campus community Thursday calling anti-Semitism in any form unacceptable. In her message, Folt talked about Ritch’s “heartbreaking resignation letter,” in which she “described the intense pressure and toxic conditions that led to her decision, specifically the anti-Semitic attacks on her character and the online harassment she endured because of her Jewish and Zionist identities.”
The USC Students for Justice in Palestine issued a news release June 30 demanding the resignation of Truman Fritz and Ritch from their positions as president and vice president of the Undergraduate Student Government.
The statement said that Fritz and Ritch needed to be held accountable for the actions of other student leaders who they say made “classist, fatphobic, racist and anti-Palestinian comments, including texts that mocked people experiencing (homelessness) and social media postings that made light of violence against Palestinian people.”
Call for tolerance, inclusiveness
Folt said in her message that what happened to Ritch is “unacceptable.”
“Despite the significant progress we have made in cultivating and supporting a vibrant Jewish community on campus, we still wrestle with a history of anti-Semitism at USC,” she said.
To promote better understanding and inclusiveness, Folt said the USC Shoah Foundation has launched a university-wide initiative labeled “Stronger than Hate.” Folt said the program will work to counter hate with tangible actions, including meaningful exhibitions, programs and workshops. She said it is “designed to help foster a campus culture of connection and compassion that empowers us to listen, learn, heal and dream together.”
Hot-button issue
Over the years, the Israel-Palestine conflict, arguably the most complex present-day geopolitical issue, has whipped up emotions on college campuses, not just in Southern California but across the nation. On Dec. 11, President Donald Trump signed an executive order during a Hanukkah celebration at the White House extending civil rights protections to Jews. The order specifically targeted the pro-Palestine Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) Israel movement on many of the nation’s elite college campuses, including many in Southern California.
In the larger community outside of campus, even among Jewish and Muslim community members who often support each other and are frequently seen partnering amicably for social justice causes, the Israel-Palestine conflict remains a topic that is circumvented, precisely to avoid bitterness and the controversy it tends to generate.
While Jewish people point out Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, supporters of Palestine argue that criticism of Israel’s policy’s and actions, particularly human rights violations against Palestinians, is not anti-Semitism. The line between the criticism of Israel and anti-Semitismhas been called into question as the debate over this issue continues to rage.
While anti-Semitism or any form of bigotry should be “unequivocally condemned,” equating opposition to Zionism with anti-Semitism is unacceptable, said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Los Angeles chapter.
“Doing so would amount to infringement on free speech about a legitimate, political issue,” he said. “It seems to me that the bigger issue on campus is not Israel-Palestine, but complaints from the students about racism in America and the (student leaders’) lack of sensitivity on this issue. Bringing up a foreign geopolitical issue muddies these concerns that have been raised by students about racism in this country.”
Concern over reported harassment
In her letter, Ritch said she identifies as “queer, femme and cisgender,” all identities that made her electable. But those considerations were erased simply because she also openly identified as Zionist and supports Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
“I’ve been told that my support of Israel has made me complicit in racism and that, by association, I’m racist,” she wrote. “Students launched an aggressive social media campaign to ‘impeach my Zionist ass.’ … My Jewish and Zionist identity has helped shape every part of who I am, and they cannot be separated.”
The Anti-Defamation League welcomed Folt’s letter to the community in a tweet, but also expressed concern over anti-Semitic sentiments on campus.
“We are deeply concerned about the harassment Rose Ritch reports receiving as an elected representative of the student government at USC because of her support for Israel,” the statement said. “No one should be targeted or marginalized because of an important part of their Jewish identity.”
USC Hillel, a campus organization for Jewish students, called Ritch’s treatment “shameful.”
“We cannot, as a university community built upon values of acceptance, inclusion, and open dialogue, permit the targeting or harassment of students solely based on their identification as Zionist,” Executive Director Dave Cohn said in a statement. “We must closely and constantly guard the boundary between respectful disagreement and hostile anti-Semitic discrimination.”