Diversity officer at 'America's wokest university' faces calls to be sacked after claims she said 'wealthy and privileged' Jewish students don’t need help
Students BANNED from saying 'illegal immigrants' by woke university
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A diversity officer is facing the sack after she allegedly said Jewish students were "wealthy and privileged" and did not need support.
Rachel Dawson, from the University of Michigan, purportedly said during a conference that the college was "controlled by wealthy Jews" and that "Jewish people have no genetic DNA that would connect them to the land of Israel."
Dawson, who ran the university’s multicultural initiatives, has been accused of anti-Semitism and placed on leave by her employer. Some senior officials believe she should be sacked.
Her comments were unearthed in a Freedom of Information request by The New York Times. This led to a complaint by the Anti-Defamation League of Michigan and an investigation by the university.
The University of Michigan campus
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The University of Michigan was previously dubbed "the wokest university in America" for its DEI policies, and has spent more than $250million on inclusivity initiatives since 2016.
Last week, the university’s board scrapped rules that required staff to discuss how they would advance diversity when applying for jobs.
Dawson’s role included overseeing mentoring and retention schemes for racially, culturally and economically diverse students.
Mark Bernstein, one of the regents, wrote to the university’s president about Dawson, arguing that she had not been "held accountable in any meaningful way" and that anything less than firing her would "make a mockery" of efforts to tackle antisemitism and promote diversity.
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Students demonstate during a Pro-Palestinian protest during the University of Michigan's spring commencement ceremony
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The investigation, by an outside law firm, concluded that it was "not possible to determine with certainty" whether Dawson had made the remarks because there was no recording of the conversation.
Her lawyer, Amanda Ghannam, told The New York Times that it was "deeply troubling" that her client could be sacked "based on one conversation in somebody’s private capacity."
The University declined to comment.
It comes as universities across the US continue to face calls to take a hard line against antisemitism, after widespread Gaza protests on campuses across the country earlier this year.
The home of one member of the university’s board of regents has been painted with pro-Palestinian graffiti.
It comes as staggering 77 per cent of university staff believe academic freedom has become more restricted on campus over the past decade, according to a major new survey.
The global poll, conducted by Times Higher Education, revealed particularly strong concerns in the United States, where 83 per cent of academics reported diminishing free speech.
British universities showed similar trends, with 80 per cent of UK-based staff reporting increased limitations on academic freedom.
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