The launch of the Brown Divest campaign is resulting in the rise of anti-Semitism on Brown’s campus. Leaders within Brown Divest are making anti-Semitic posts on social media and Brown Divest is promoting an event featuring anti-Semitic activist Marc Lamont Hill. These acts of hate have no place at Brown University.  We call upon President, Christina Paxson, to formally condemn anti-Semitism on Brown’s campus.

Students shared their experiences of anti-Semitism on campus and exposed the anti-semitism prevalent within the Brown Divest group on the popular campus anonymous Facebook page, Dear Blueno. Additionally, the Dear Blueno anonymous facebook page provides students the ability to share blatant anti-Semitic remarks without repercussions for their behavior.

1. One post said, “There is a person that has been in more than half of my classes during my time at Brown and I have heard very hateful/anti-Semitic things from them on several occasions. This person is actively involved with Divest.”
2. Additionally, “y'all say brown divest isn't anti-semitic, but I have seen a prominent support post something blatantly anti-semitic on social media. someone commented that ‘with all the support they're promoting for rosh hashanah, you'd think they'd help Muslims too. Damn looks like Zionist and Christian money runs deep’ the person replied ‘lowkey facts’. obviously, Islamophobic Brown admins are a BIG PROBLEM!!! and we should call them out!! but doing so by being antisemitic is terrible. conflating ‘zionist money’ with helping observant Jewish students get through the start of school and our most important holidays is such blatant antisemitism. i have screenshots. this perosn is a prominent voice for Brown Divest. Until Brown Divest investigates and publicly condemns this person, i cannot support them (even though I support their goals). and if one more non-Jew tries to explain to me, a Jew, what anti-semitism is, i'm gonna lose it”
3. On March 15 an anonymous student wrote, “I often hear the argument “Israel is the only Jewish state so it needs to exist.” As if each religion deserves its own state. Clearly you guys couldn’t handle running a state without turning it into the most oppressive country in the Middle East. It’s time to give the land back to its rightful people. #divest"

The Heritage Series at the Brown Center for Students of Color hosted an anti-Semitic event featuring Marc Lamont Hill and Sa'ed Atshan. CNN had to remove Marc Lamont Hill from his position after he said, “free Palestine, from the river to the sea.” The slogan, “from the river to the sea” is used by the terrorist group Hamas and other Palestinian nationalists in reference to the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state and the establishment of an Arab state in the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, in its place.

Please sign to urge President, Christina Paxson, to condemn these anti-Semitic attacks and to ensure the safety of Jewish students on Brown’s campus.