Two Stanford University mental health professionals, both Jewish, are accusing the school of promoting anti-Semitism and creating a hostile and unwelcoming environment in its internal anti-racism program.
The complaint, filed last month and made public Tuesday, alleges that the University's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) program has "maligned and marginalized Jews, by castigating them as powerful and privileged perpetrators who contribute to systemic racism. The DEI committee has advanced anti-Semitic tropes concerning Jewish power, conspiracy, and control and endorsed the narrative that Jews support white supremacy. The DEI program has excluded anti-Semitism from the program's agenda, silencing and intimidating Jews who have spoken up to challenge the program's failure to discuss incidents of Jew-hatred at Stanford."
The complaint was levied by Dr. Ronald Albucher, former director of Stanford's Counseling and Psychological Services student program from 2008 to 2017 and current staff psychiatrist and Clinical Associate Professor in the medical school and Sheila Levin, clinical care manager and eating disorder specialist at the school's counseling program.
They are seeking financial damages and policy changes in the DEI program.
Among the instances mentioned in the letter was a "Zoom bombing" last May where perpetrators hijacked a Stanford community meeting and played racist audio messages and displayed racist images such as Nazi swastikas. When Levin expressed her outrage about the incident during the next DEI meeting, she was "ostracized and verbally harassed" and co-workers accused "her of possessing the privilege – that they insisted people of color do not possess – of feeling outraged about racism."
During the same meeting, Dr. Albucher and Lewis were "subjected to anti-Jewish stereotypes" as participants "invoked the anti-Semitic trope that Jews are wealthy and powerful business owners."
The group also ignored a similar incident when Swastikas were found at Stanford's Memorial Church last summer, which Dr. Albucher and Lewis claim sent "a message to Jewish staff that the victimization and safety of Jewish people was not worthy of concern."
Both Dr. Albucher and Lewis have stopped attending the weekly DEI meetings.
Stanford is investigating their complaints and is reorganizing its DEI program, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
"Stanford forcefully rejects anti-Semitism in all its forms," a university spokesperson told the paper.
