'Clearly We Have An Awareness Problem': Kathy Manning Laments Lacking Antisemitism Reporting Options

3 months ago

During a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC) questioned witnesses about reporting options for instances of antisemitism.

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00:00I have found the failure of our universities to protect Jewish students and faculty members

00:06from discrimination and harassment since October 7th to be enormously concerning, disappointing,

00:14and problematic for the future of our democracy.

00:17And your testimony has given us concrete examples of this failure and the impact on real people.

00:26The examples that you have stated of the kinds of harassment you have experienced

00:33is simply unacceptable, and we cannot allow the continued normalization of anti-Semitism

00:41on campuses and in the workplace.

00:44And sadly, we've learned that anti-Semitism in the workplace has become more open and

00:51pervasive.

00:52A recent study published in the academic journal Associus found that more than half of Jewish

00:58respondents experienced discrimination at work.

01:02And another survey found that 25% of hiring managers are less likely to advance Jewish

01:09candidates.

01:10So this issue goes beyond the college campus, and it is critical that employees understand

01:17how to file complaints, and that the EEOC have the resources they need to resolve these

01:25complaints in a timely and effective manner.

01:29Professor Golden, I want to start by thanking you for sharing your heartbreaking story.

01:36Your account was incredibly painful to hear, and I'm sure it must have been much more painful

01:42to live through.

01:44You filed a discrimination complaint initially with Mount San Antonio College.

01:50Is that correct?

01:51Yes, it is.

01:52And when you started working there, were you ever told that you could file a discrimination

01:57complaint with the EEOC?

02:02I don't remember exactly.

02:05I may have been informed that there were outside processes, but I don't think that the specific

02:12organization was told.

02:14And were you aware of the differences between filing with the OCR, the Office of Civil Rights,

02:22and filing with the EEOC?

02:24Definitely not.

02:25That was not clarified.

02:26And Professor Keating, thank you for sharing your story as well, also so disturbing.

02:32And I want to ask you the same question.

02:33Were you ever told about the option or your ability to file an EEOC complaint on the basis

02:41of religious discrimination?

02:42No, ma'am.

02:44I was not.

02:45And were you aware of the differences between filing with the Office of Civil Rights and

02:49filing with the EEOC?

02:52I was not.

02:53I have since familiarized myself with that policy.

02:55I think this reflects an issue similar to the one that we've seen with students who

03:01faced anti-Semitic discrimination, many of whom did not know that they could file an

03:07OCR complaint.

03:09And clearly, we have an awareness problem.

03:12And I know that the OCR has attempted to put into place an awareness campaign.

03:21And Ms. Emery Aras, are you aware that any such campaign, awareness campaign, has been

03:28put into effect by the EEOC?

03:32We know that EEOC has done educational efforts to help employers, including institutions,

03:40learn about their services.

03:42And we think this issue of underreporting is a central one, although we did not focus

03:48specifically on that in this employment discrimination work.

03:52In past work, we've looked at hate crimes on college campuses.

03:56And in that work, we found that underreporting was a significant issue.

04:01And according to the Department of Justice, with hate crimes, they expected that about

04:05half of hate crimes were not being reported.

04:08Thank you.

04:10And in your written testimony, you noted that there are cases where faculty file with OCR,

04:16and those cases then have to be turned over to the EEOC.

04:20Is that correct?

04:21Yes.

04:22And many of those cases were not referred within the 30 days required by federal law.

04:28Is that also correct?

04:30Required by policy.

04:31Correct.

04:32By policy.

04:33Thank you.

04:34Were they referred due to lack of resources at both OCR and the EEOC?

04:40We did hear from OCR that they were concerned about resources, and that that was a factor

04:45on their end.

04:46And we know that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of cases filed at OCR.

04:52Is that correct?

04:53That is correct.

04:54They have also experienced a significant decline in investigative staff during the same time

04:58period.

04:59Would you say that increasing federal funding to OCR and EEOC, and expanding their staffing

05:05capacities and their staff training, could help with the potential correction to this

05:10problem?

05:11Although I wouldn't be able to comment on budgetary issues, I do think that it's important

05:16that both OCR and EEOC implement our recommendations, and we think that they have the technology

05:22to do so.

05:23It seems clear that there are several key problems here.

05:26OCR and EEOC don't always know what to do when they face discrimination.

05:30They don't know whether to file with OCR or the EEOC.

05:34If they file at OCR and it doesn't have the capacity to send their cases to the EEOC on

05:39a timely basis, those cases may fall through the cracks.

05:44So clearly I'd like to close by saying we need to fund the OCR and the EEOC, as my colleagues

05:50and I have been demanding for months.

05:52And I will close by again calling for the majority to increase, rather than cut these

05:58agencies' budgets, if they really want to do better by Jewish students and faculty.

06:04And I yield back.

'Clearly We Have An Awareness Problem': Kathy Manning Laments Lacking Antisemitism Reporting Options

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