The Sarah Lawrence campus. Photo: Wiki Commons.

Sarah Lawrence College, my alma mater, might be delaying or resisting a Congressional request to provide documents concerning antisemitism and the safety of Jewish individuals on campus.

On June 11, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce sent a letter to Sarah Lawrence College “requesting more details about the safety of Jewish students on campus.”

This Congressional committee gave the college a deadline of June 25 to provide these documents. This is the second time the committee has requested documents from the college.

On June 23, Sarah Lawrence College President Cristle Collins Judd sent an email to faculty and staff, writing:

It is important to be aware that processes such as a congressional inquiry take time. As we indicated in our discussions last semester, the “due date(s)” in the Committee’s letters are not hard deadlines, rather they are dates by which our outside counsel – on behalf of the College – engages with the Committee to understand the scope and exact nature of the inquiries.

A committee spokesperson told me, “As is true with school assignments, college admissions, and requests from Congress—a deadline means a deadline. We do expect a response to our requests by the deadline.”

The June 11 letter, written by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), details many concerns about antisemitism and Jewish safety at Sarah Lawrence, including the allegation that some of the college’s faculty have “celebrated violence against Jews in online posts.”

Citing one of my columns in The Algemeiner, the Congressional letter states:

Sarah Lawrence professor, Suzanne Gardinier, applauded the October 7th attack on Israel and denied that Hamas committed mass rape against Israeli women. She retweeted a post claiming that on and after October 7th, “there was no mass rape, it was all atrocity propaganda.”

The committee reiterated “its request for all documents related to disciplinary action taken against students or faculty involved in the November 2024 takeover and occupation of Westlands and the accompanying encampment.”

Westlands is the main administration building on campus and is described as “the heart of the Sarah Lawrence College campus.”

Additional information requested by the committee includes documentation and communications related to “the cancellation of classes by faculty or the modification of course materials in support of the Westlands occupation or encampment,” “social media posts by Sarah Lawrence faculty on platforms celebrating violence against Jews, Israelis, or Zionists, including posts that applaud the October 7th Attack,” “coordinated efforts to pressure students not to register for classes taught by Jewish professors,” and specific information related to bullying and  harassment, and information pertaining to the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.

The letter states:

Two days after the October 7th terrorist attack, Sarah Lawrence’s Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) [Briana Martin] invited Jewish students to attend a so-called “solidarity with Palestine” event sponsored by SJP, the same group whose members have allegedly harassed Jewish students on Sarah Lawrence’s campus. SJP’s own social media post advertising this event featured an image of a bulldozer on October 7th with the caption, “LONG LIVE PALESTINE.” The DEIB Director’s invitation allegedly caused significant distress to Jewish students as an apparent institutional endorsement of National SJP’s position celebrating the terrorist attack as a “historic win” [citations removed].

Briana Martin continues to appear on Sarah Lawrence’s website as director of DEIB, however, her email address is no longer listed on the site. The other four members of Sarah Lawrence’s diversity team have their email addresses listed on the website.

Just last week, Sarah Lawrence professor Samuel J. Abrams wrote that the college “has become an increasingly hostile place for Zionist and Jewish students, with open calls for violence against Jews becoming disturbingly common.”

According to Abrams, Jewish students and Hillel — “the national Jewish student-facing support organization that is on hundreds of campuses nationwide” — have repeatedly requested space in a new campus building and were denied. Abrams states that Hillel even offered to “pay the costs.”

As I have previously reported, being Jewish on the Sarah Lawrence campus is even hostile for some Jewish students who are not Zionists. A graduate of the college wrote on a social media alumni group, “i’m not a zionist but nevertheless … when i was at SLC someone graffitied a swastika onto my dorm and i had fake eviction notices slipped under my door, just because i celebrated jewish holidays. people threatened me because i went to hillel. it’s tough out there even for jews who 1000% support Palestine [sic].”

It is appalling that Sarah Lawrence College seems to think that Congressional deadlines related to Jewish safety on its campus are flexible or optional. I am ashamed of my alma mater.

Peter Reitzes writes about issues related to antisemitism and Israel.