Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for The Hechinger Report, Jennifer Rich discusses religion, ethnicity and race in education and explains that a previously closed case brought against Rutgers University by a Zionist group is being reopened, likely impacting how history will be taught in schools. 

· What is the best way for educational institutions to approach religion, ethnicity and race in the classroom? How can schools ensure a safe environment for students of every religion and ethnicity?

· Read more about Betsy DeVos, the federal government and education priorities.

I regularly offer a course at my university called Teaching the Holocaust: History and Memory. I begin this class by asking my students how they would define Judaism. Most of the students aren’t Jewish. Responses usually include: a religion, a race, an ethnicity, a culture and a country.

I then share with my class that Judaism is a religion, a people, a shared memory and a code of ethics. This definition explains that Judaism is first and foremost a religion.

As I opened my annual discussion about Judaism this term, the question of what it is to be Jewish was making its way into the national news as The Department of Education reopened a casebrought by a Zionist group (a Zionist, most simply defined, is a person who believes in the creation and protection of the Jewish state of Israel) against Rutgers University.

The case considered whether allowing anti-Israel comments on the Rutgers campus created a hostile environment for Jewish students. The Obama administration closed the case, ruling that the Rutgers campus was not a hostile environment. Assistant Secretary of Education Kenneth Marcus said the department was reopening the case “on the basis of actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics” that would constitute a violation of federal discrimination laws, and thus fall under the agency’s description.

That is particularly alarming because it means the reopening of the case fundamentally challenges the definition of Judaism. And anti-Semitism too.

Read the full article about religion, ethnicity and race in schools by Jennifer Rich at The Hechinger Report.