The ADL Mountain States Region sent a letter to Colorado College administrators on May 17 in response to a letter sent to the Colorado College Community on May 16 from the Office of the President. ADL Mountain States Regional Director, Scott Levin, expressed concern about the administration’s capitulation to protesters on campus. He also stated ADL’s concern about reported incidents of antisemitism on campus and offered ADL’s resources to assist the campus in creating a safe and inclusive environment for Jewish students, faculty and staff. Read the letter:
May 17, 2024
Song Richardson, President
Manya Whitaker, Interim President-Elect
Colorado College
14 E. Cache La Poudre St.
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
President Richardson and Interim President-Elect Whitaker:
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is a leading anti-hate organization. Founded in 1913, ADL’s timeless mission is “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.” Today, ADL continues to fight antisemitism and extremism of all kinds.
I am the Director of ADL’s Mountain States Region, which includes Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. It was my privilege last week to join with Senior Associate Regional Director Jeremy Shaver in conversation with Dr. Whitaker about issues of antisemitism on the Colorado College campus. I know that Jeremy has also provided Dr. Whitaker with resources.
I am sorry to have to write today in response to a message you sent to the Colorado College community on May 16, 2024. The offers you made in the letter appear to be a capitulation to the demands of students who violated school policies. While we understand your desire to restore calm and take back control of your campus, your agreement welcoming students to seek expungement of their records and to meet with the Colorado College Investment Committee rewards rules violations by students who fueled antisemitism on campus.
This is extremely troubling, and we fear it creates a dangerous precedent. Protestors at Colorado College, especially those who established an encampment on campus in violation of time, place, and manner restrictions established by Colorado College, must be held to account, not rewarded for their conduct. We fear your message will only serve to incentivize those that will break rules in the future with the knowledge that Colorado College will eventually surrender to some of their primary demands.
Your message also appears to confirm some of the worst biases against Israel, the world’s only Jewish state. For instance, you refer to “more than 35,000 Palestinians . . . killed and 78,827 injured in the Israel Defense Forces’ response to Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.” While the outcomes of war are always difficult, presenting these numbers without distinguishing between the deaths of combatants and civilians, or at least noting that a significant portion are armed combatants, is problematic.
It was also very disappointing that in your message, you failed to mention that Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, the European Union, and others. It would also have been important to note that Hamas hides its terrorists and weapons in dense urban areas under homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques. You also failed to recognize the estimated 100 hostages still held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
Unfortunately, your message buys into allegations of genocide, ethnic cleansing, terrorism, and human rights violations. These are mendacities regularly leveled against Israel. Even a cursory amount of scholarship would demonstrate that Israel does not meet the legal requirement for such accusations, which are increasingly being lodged by those who are biased against the Jewish state.
Most disappointing is that while you have rewarded students who had violated campus rules and regulations, you have ignored the needs of Jewish students, faculty, and staff, who increasingly are at risk of harassment, intimidation, and worse on campus. Your message fails to mention the antisemitism that has been directed to Jews on campus (including the students who have been targeted by those who blame them for the actions of Israel), or the professors who feel they must not attend Faculty Senate meetings out of fear for their physical and mental well-being.
I would be remiss if I failed to also point out the irony of your encouragement to bring speakers to campus. Members of our team were invited by Jewish students on campus to present on how to have difficult conversations with those with whom you disagree. All people of good conscience should have found the topic worthy but as your campus security personnel may have told you, the venue for the meeting on campus had to be moved twice for security reasons because of the actions of protestors.
Moving forward, I hope that you will prioritize support for the Jewish members of your college community. Jewish students and faculty report being in fear on the Colorado College campus, and parents question whether they should be sending their children to a school where they do not believe the administration has their backs. If you need assistance in determining how best to address antisemitism and better support Jewish students and faculty at Colorado College, we would be glad to help you as you chart the course of action to be taken.
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at your convenience. If you prefer to call, please feel free to call me on my cell phone. The number is set forth in my email.
Very truly yours,
Scott L. Levin
Regional Director
Anti-Defamation League Mountain States Region