Presidential Task Force on Strengthening Community and Combating Antisemitism
Presidential Task Force on Strengthening Community and Combating Antisemitism
The Presidential Task Force on Strengthening Community and Combating Antisemitism, formally named the Presidential Task force on Addressing Antisemitism, was launched in spring 2021 in response to regional and national attacks on members of the Jewish community, including those in Pittsburgh, Jersey City, and Chabad of Poway in San Diego County, as well as bias-motivated incidents on and around the SDSU campus. According to the Anti-Defamation League, since tracking began in the late 1970s, the Jewish community experienced the highest level of antisemitic incidents in 2019. SDSU is committed to improving our campus culture to ensure that all Jewish students, faculty and staff feel welcomed, supported and respected. The task force group was renamed as the Presidential Task Force on Strengthening Community and Combating Antisemitism in Fall 2024.
Presidential Task force on Addressing Antisemitism 2023 Report (PDF)
Accomplishments and Achievements
SDSU has taken a series of concrete steps to strengthen safety, accountability and belonging for Jewish students and the broader campus community.
- Expanded the jurisdiction of the student code of conduct to include Chabad and Hillel, ensuring accountability for misconduct at Jewish student centers adjacent to campus.
- Updated the religious holidays accommodation policy to protect major Jewish observances and require reasonable accommodations for all students.
- Integrated antisemitism awareness and reporting mechanisms into student orientation, campus equity training, and leadership programs.
- Collaborated with the California State University Chancellor’s Office to add examples of antisemitism to the systemwide discrimination prevention program.
- Published a campuswide religious holidays calendar and a spiritual life webpage with Jewish holidays.
- Established annual Jewish Heritage Month programming and campuswide messaging.
- Included Hillel in SDSU’s Community Center Consortium.
- Participated in the Interfaith, Spiritual, Religious and Secular Campus Climate (INSPIRES) Index Campus Scorecard.
- Responded quickly and strongly to reports of antisemitism incidents on campus and in the neighborhood affecting our campus community.
- Worked with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to demonstrate a high rating on its “Campus Antisemitism Report Card”.
SDSU offers a variety of academic programs that deepen understanding of Jewish history and culture.
- SDSU is home to a Jewish studies program with both a major and a minor, requiring Hebrew proficiency and covering Jewish civilizations, beliefs, traditions and cultural expressions.
- Jewish Studies courses prepare students for careers or graduate study in education, social services, advocacy, foreign service, arts, museum work and related fields.
- Visiting Israeli scholars and artists hosted each year through the Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative.
Educational programming and public events have been central to raising awareness, building community and addressing antisemitism on campus. The following are examples of past events and learning opportunities, including lectures, offered to our campus community:
- The Antisemitism Crisis in Our Community lecture
- Antisemitism Professional Learning Community (with ADL and the Center for Inclusive Excellence), with sessions on:
- Jewish history
- Contemporary data, intersectionality
- anti-Zionism vs. antisemitism
- Antisemitism Past and Present lecture
- Reading circles, including Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel and The Conflict Over the Conflict by Kenneth Stern
- Faculty have participated in national and international institutes on antisemitism and to discuss and learn effective practices to improve climate and sense of belonging on campuses.
- Faculty have developed and incorporated new coursework on antisemitism.
SDSU has built systems to ensure students can safely report bias, discrimination or threats, and that action can be taken quickly.
- SDSU Safe app: Provides an additional avenue for real-time reporting.
- Center for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination.
- Inclusive SDSU reporting portal: Allows anonymous submissions and is promoted widely each year.
SDSU actively supports and partners with Jewish organizations, ensuring shared cultural, academic and community programming.
- Collaboration with Hillel, Chabad and SDSU’s Jewish Studies program on events and academic initiatives.
- Visible involvement of university leadership in Jewish student-led programming and activities.
As part of the work of the Task Force, SDSU has routinely reinforced its values and commitments through policies, public statements and resolutions.
- SDSU’s Principles of Community explicitly denounces antisemitism and anti-Zionism (defined as denying Israel's right to exist).
- The task force has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
- The SDSU University Senate has passed multiple resolutions condemning antisemitism with broad support.
- SDSU continues to advance structures, supports and protocols that promote belonging and safety for all members of the SDSU community.
Purpose and Activities
Part of SDSU’s ongoing efforts to embed diversity and inclusion in everything that we do includes condemning antisemitism and working in solidarity with our Jewish community.
Priorities for the Presidential Task Force on Strengthening Community and Combating Antisemitism include the following actions:
- Creating a protocol for responding to antisemitism in collaboration with Inclusive SDSU.
- Assessing opportunities to address antisemitism across the curriculum.
- Providing recommendations on content related to antisemitism and creating a safe and supportive environment for Jewish students in New Student Orientation, and onboarding for faculty and staff
- Identifying opportunities to improve campus climate.
- Amplifying accomplishments of SDSU’s Jewish students, faculty, and staff throughout the year.
- Increasing awareness of campus-wide events that promote learning about Jewish culture, history, and diversity.
- Producing an annual report on incidents of antisemitism along with the activities of the task force.
Committee Members
The Presidential Task Force on Strengthening Community and Combating Antisemitism is a multi-discipline body composed of faculty and staff.
Randall Timm
Co-Chair
Senior Associate Assistant Vice President,
Student Affairs & Campus Diversity
Peter C. Herman
Co-Chair
Professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature
Current Members
- Fabienne Perlov, Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
- David Cline, Professor, Department of History
- Rabbi Chalom Boudjnah, SDSU Chabad
- Yiftach Levy, Information Technology Consultant
- Karen Parry, Executive Director of Hillel, San Diego
- Rabbi Scott Meltzer, Lecturer, Study of Religion
- Maya Gerassi, Undergraduate Student
- Shira Cohen, Professor, Fowler College of Business
- Sara Brown, Regional Director American Jewish Committee, San Diego
- Ori Lerer, Undergraduate Student
- Gary Rotto, Director of Federal Relations
- Stefan Hyman, Associate Vice President, Enrollment Services
- Peter Atterton, Faculty, Philosophy
- Daniel Frey, Undergraduate Student
- Uri Halle, Police Officer
In the Spring of 2024, Members of the Presidential Task force on Addressing Antisemitism adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism to inform the work of the task force group. This adoption, which is specific only to the work of the task force, supports the group's charge of "Assessing opportunities to address antisemitism across the curriculum." By using this widely recognized definition, members of the task force aim to enhance efforts in combating antisemitism effectively and consistently. The IHRA definition provides a framework to identify and address many contemporary forms of antisemitism, including those that may manifest in subtle or indirect ways.
Past Members
- Past Co-Chair, J. Luke Wood, Vice President for Student Affairs & Campus Diversity and Chief Diversity Officer
- David Cline, Professor, Department of History
- Rabbi Devorah Marcus, Temple Emanu-El
- Jonathan Graubart, Professor, College of Arts and Letters Political Science
- Risa Levitt, Professor and Chair, Department for the Study of the Religion
- Hillary Levison, Director of Annual Giving, SDSU Alumni
- Anna Maya, Undergraduate Student
- Elana Metz, Student
- Scott Walter, Dean of the University Library
- Sophie Parker, Student
- Mara Parker, Public Affairs Specialist
- Jack Schmidt, Student
- Norah Shultz, Professor, Sociology
- Ari Weizman, Student
