An education program developed at UC Berkeley aimed at stamping out antisemitism on campus is finding a national audience, with help from a $25,000 grant and a video that strives to put a complex history into simpler terms.
The Antisemitism Education Initiative(link is external) began in 2019 and is coordinated by the UC Berkeley Chancellor’s Committee on Jewish Life and Campus Climate, the Center for Jewish Studies(link is external), the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies(link is external), Berkeley Hillel(link is external), and the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art & Life(link is external)
The initial goal was a simple one, according to Berkeley Law Professor Steven Davidoff Solomon(link is external), who started the initiative with UC Berkeley history Professor Ethan Katz(link is external) and Berkeley Hillel Executive Director Adam Naftalin-Kelman(link is external): To educate students and other members of the school community about the roots of antisemitism and modern examples of anti-Jewish bias.