Stanford University’s newly formed Antisemitism Committee’s co-chair has resigned after being called out for having aligned with anti-Israel groups, and concluding in a 2017 paper that antisemitism was not a problem on college campuses.
Professor Ari Kelman, the short-lived faculty co-chair of Stanford’s Antisemitism Committee, has a record of downplaying the issue of antisemitism on campus, as well as allying with anti-Israel groups, according to a report by Jewish Insider.
Kelman, along with other Stanford faculty members, also reportedly wrote a 2017 paper, titled, “Safe on the Sidelines,” which concluded that antisemitism is not a problem on college campuses because “different representations of campus culture come from the difficulties in defining what counts as political speech and what counts as antisemitism.”
Additionally, Kelman served on the academic board of Open Hillel, which is organized by major Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) lobby groups, and has worked to overturn Hillel International’s guidelines that prevent partnering with anti-Zionist groups or individuals.
Kelman was later pushed to resign from his role co-chairing Stanford’s Antisemitism Committee, according to a report by Jewish Telegraph Agency.
“Stanford appointed BDS supporting Prof. Ari Kelman to chair its anti-Semitism committee. Amid criticism from brave Stanford students and alum, with an assist from the Caroline Glick show, he resigned!” Jewish News Syndicate editor Caroline Glick wrote in a Tuesday X/Twitter post.
Stanford appointed BDS supporting Prof. Ari Kelman to chair its anti-Semitism committee. Amid criticism from brave Stanford students and alum, with an assist from the Caroline Glick show, he resigned! Never think you can’t make a difference. You can. Just stand up.…
— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) December 26, 2023
Kelman, meanwhile, told Jewish Insider that he hasn’t been on the board of Open Hillel for over a decade, adding, “I don’t recall doing anything as a board member, either.”
“I don’t think I ever attended a board meeting, even,” the professor added. “Mostly my service was in the form of advice I gave to individual students.”
After being asked whether he supports allowing the anti-Israel group Jewish Voice for Peace — which advocates for the BDS movement that seeks to eliminate the world’s only Jewish state — to be included in the Hillel umbrella, Kelman said, “I’m not in a position to say what Hillel ought to do.”
With regards to Stanford’s newly created Antisemitism Committee, the professor in question said that “while there’s some flexibility in our range, our main focus [of the committee] is on antisemitism, in all of its forms, on our campus and in the larger Stanford community.”
Kelman went on to say that the situation on campus regarding antisemitism has changed since 2017. “America has experienced a significant increase in antisemitism since then,” the professor told Jewish Insider. “The goal of that paper was to understand from the position of Jewish undergraduates on college campuses in California how they were experiencing antisemitism and anti-Zionism on campuses. What we found was that they were not concerned for the most part.”
But when it comes to defining antisemitism, Kelman has previously argued that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism is “flawed and overly expansive” and “silences Palestinian voices,” Jewish Insider reported.
“I still believe that it does [silence Palestinians],” Kelman said. “I don’t think the IHRA definition is operationally appropriate in the context of the university.”
The klieg lights have been shining on college campuses across the U.S. since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack against Israel, which galvanized students across the country into putting on anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrations — in which terrorists were referred to as “resistance fighters” and Israel was blamed the attacks against itself — opening the eyes of many with regards to how widespread antisemitism currently is on college campuses.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and X/Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.