February 28, 2024

Jonathan Greenblatt
CEO and National Director
ADL
605 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10158-3560

Dear Mr. Greenblatt:

Thank you for your February 6 letter. Stanford is committed to an educational environment in which Jewish students, and all students, can thrive and fully participate in the offerings of the university in an atmosphere free of harassment and discrimination. Combating antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias is a core element of this commitment and of our ongoing work.

As a general practice, Stanford does not complete surveys requested by advocacy organizations. We do want you to be aware of the efforts we are undertaking to support our students and therefore are sending this overview, which contains links to additional information that can be found on our website.

Even before the horrific events of October 7, Stanford had begun work to confront antisemitism in the university. In 2022, Stanford’s president publicly apologized on behalf of the university and pledged to act on recommendations of a task force report that identified efforts to limit admission of Jewish students in the 1950s. The president also accepted a series of recommendations at that time to enhance contemporary Jewish life on campus.

Since October 7, we have undertaken numerous additional initiatives. Among them:

Last fall, we accelerated the work of the university’s existing Jewish Advisory Committee through the creation of a new Subcommittee on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias. This faculty-led group is actively engaged in soliciting input from across our community and developing recommendations to combat antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias on our campus.

Stanford has publicized resources for students to obtain support for a range of challenges they may face in the current environment nationally and on campus. Our support system includes a close partnership with our local chapter of Hillel, which plays an important role in supporting and advocating for members of our Jewish community. Our infrastructure supporting Jewish life and scholarship at Stanford also includes the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, the Israel Studies Program of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, our campus rabbi who serves as associate dean of the university’s Office for Religious & Spiritual Life, and others.

Providing for the physical safety of our community has been a top priority throughout this period. Since October 7, we have added dedicated security at Hillel, at our free-speech area on campus, and at numerous campus events in an effort to support the peaceful expression of free speech in an atmosphere of safety. Disruptions of university events also have led to citations by law enforcement and referrals to university disciplinary processes.

We have publicized and administered a process for the reporting of incidents of bias, discrimination, or harassment based on protected identities, including antisemitic incidents. Reports are reviewed based on the requirements of the First Amendment and Title VI, and reports of potentially unlawful conduct are forwarded to our Department of Public Safety for law enforcement investigation and to the appropriate university disciplinary process for adjudication. Students also may file complaints of violations of the student code of conduct directly with the Office of Community Standards for review and adjudication.

The open exchange of divergent viewpoints is central to the life of an academic community, and Stanford additionally is subject to a California law that prohibits private universities from disciplining students for constitutionally protected speech. Within this context, however, we have been working assiduously to encourage respectful, reasoned, evidence-based dialogue.

University leadership also has worked to make clear on numerous occasions that we reject antisemitism in our community. Statements of the president and provost, commentary before our Faculty Senate, and posts on social media have conveyed this stance. As our provost stated in one of these venues, “I want to be unequivocally clear that Stanford stands against antisemitism and recognizes the deep historical roots of this form of hate and the ways in which Jewish students, faculty, and staff are affected by this historical legacy and its current manifestations.” When protesters, including those believed to be from off-campus, shouted at attendees outside a recent antisemitism forum where the president and provost were speaking, the university issued a statement saying, “While we respect the right to peaceful protest, hateful language such as ‘Go back to Brooklyn,’ which is a personal attack based on identity and stereotypes, is beneath all of us, and it harms the ability to have the reasoned exchange of ideas and debate that is central to the university.”

The university’s trustees have not received a formal proposal to boycott Israel; in 2015, the last time the trustees were presented with a request for divestment of endowment of holdings of specific companies doing business in Israel, the board declined to take action on it. With respect to training, much of the training on our campus is decentralized, but the subcommittee we have established is considering questions of training and education on a university-wide basis.

We recognize that the work we have undertaken must be ongoing and necessarily will require additional efforts. For the next phase of our activities, we are looking to the forthcoming recommendations of the Subcommittee on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias. I hope this information and the additional underlying information on the web are helpful to you.

Sincerely,
Richard P. Saller