Georgia Public Schools Must Address Antisemitism

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp on January 31 signed into law a bill requiring all agencies, including public schools, to include antisemitism in any definition of nondiscrimination. The bill doesn't include its own definition, but instead refers to the definition and examples set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and a later 2019 Presidential Executive Order.  

That IHRA definition refers to “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities."   Examples included in the IHRA document, and thus incorporated into the new Georgia bill, include denying the Holocaust, “classic” anti-Semitic claims, and applying a double standard to actions by the State of Israel.

We certainly can expect free speech challenges to this law in short order. Until the courts weigh in, public schools need to be certain that their student conduct codes and staff handbooks address concerns of antisemitism along with other types of harassment and prohibited conduct. In this area as with all other controversial topics, public schools also must leave room for free speech by students and teachers.  

The guidelines from Mahanoy Area School Dist. and earlier First Amendment cases in public education still remain our best dividing line. Schools can prohibit behavior and speech that substantially disrupts the school environment, that is targeted at an individual, that is vulgar or obscene, or is contrary to the school's mission. We need to include antisemitism in those categories of prohibited behavior. Otherwise, however, we have to teach our children how to have respectful discussions of very difficult issues.

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