Minnesota University Settles Anti-Semitism Case by The Associated Press St. Cloud State University [in St. Cloud, Minn.] agreed [on Dec. 3] to pay nearly $1 million over the next five years to settle allegations of anti-Semitism among administrators and professors. The lawsuit alleged department administrators disparaged classes taught by Jewish professors to persuade students not to take the courses. The lawsuit also said Jewish faculty members were paid less, denied promotions, and not given full credit for their teaching experience. [St. Cloud State University] settles lawsuit By Eric O'Link University Chronicle, SCSU, Dec. 5, 2002 A landmark event took place in Minneapolis Tuesday: the first class-action lawsuit regarding anti-Semitism in an American university came to a proposed settlement totaling more than $1 million. The lawsuit was filed against SCSU. In October 2001, former SCSU faculty member Arie Zmora and faculty members Laurinda Stryker and Geoffrey Tabakin, along with student Robbi Hoy, filed a lawsuit against SCSU on the grounds of anti-Semitism. Hoy's case was settled separately; she received a letter of apology from the university and $7,500. Zmora, Stryker and Tabakin settled for more — $314,678 in total. Zmora will receive $165,000 from the university; Stryker will receive $80,000 and one year of paid leave; Tabakin will receive $20,000 and half-time reassignment for two semesters. The plaintiffs' attorneys will take $265,000. The remainder of the settlement money would pay for Stryker's and Tabakin's reassignment time. As another part of the proposed settlement, SCSU will create a new Jewish Studies and Resource Center. The center's purpose will be to coordinate activities relating to Jewish heritage and history for faculty, staff, students and community members. Per the settlement, for at least five years, the center would be funded at approximately $125,000 per year. The settlement would further split a $50,000 fund among 28 other faculty members who have filed discrimination or retaliation complaints related to anti-Semitism in the last three years. SCSU has also agreed to: * Implement mandatory diversity training for faculty and staff that includes a component on anti-Semitism; * Clarify notice procedures in faculty searches; * With the plaintiffs, select a consultant to evaluate the structure and staffing of the university's Affirmative Action Office; * Make several changes in the university's procedures to handle discrimination complaints; and, * Create a peer review process that will be available in all faculty retention, tenure or promotion disputes SCSU, however, does not have to admit to any wrongdoing. "Part of the legal settlement recognizes no admittance of wrongdoing," said Lisa Helmin Foss, SCSU director of marketing and communications. "The university thought it was important to bring a resolution to this situation so we tried to develop an agreement with everyone involved." The proposal is set to be approved by U.S. District Court Judge Joan Ericksen Lancaster in February. Zmora was a professor in SCSU's history department from 1998 until 2000, when his fixed-term contract expired. He claims he was not hired for a tenure-track position because he is Jewish. He also said while at SCSU he had been subjected to racial slurs and was told not to give a presentation about the Holocaust. Stryker defended Zmora; she was subsequently recommended not to be kept on the faculty by her department chair and dean. Tabakin claims to have been discriminated against in pay, promotions and transfers. "If a university is not celebrating diversity, freedom of speech and intellectual diversity, then it really is not a university," Zmora told University Chronicle. "You cannot exercise intellectual censorship in an institution of higher learning." When Zmora was still at SCSU, in February 2000, he proposed to give a presentation about the Holocaust, featuring his mother, a Holocaust survivor. "An ex-chair of the department came to me and she told me that I should not speak about the Holocaust," he said. "When I told her about my mother's survival and the fact that many of my family were destroyed by the Nazis, she said to me, ‘You know, the SS were wonderful people; they did not participate in the Holocaust.' I was so shocked I almost lost consciousness." Zmora also said a different person in the history department told him several times that the office of a former Jewish faculty member had to be fumigated when the man left his position at SCSU. Zmora said that, as he was preparing to leave the university in 2000, the issue of fumigating his office -- because he was "dirty" and "a practicing Jew" -- was supposedly brought up during a meeting in the office of the history department chaiZmora went on to say that in addition to his right to free speech, he had issues with accountability at SCSU. People who are perpetrators need to be held accountable, he said. He cited Richard Lewis, dean of the College of Social Sciences, as the primary problem. "First and foremost among (perpetrators) is the dean of the social sciences division, who is the architect, the mastermind behind some of these firings of Jewish faculty in the history department," Zmora said. "He is directly responsible for the removal of four individuals." Zmora said that Lewis "really runs the university. I believe the president is afraid of this guy." When asked, Lewis declined to comment for this story. Zmora also said he knew of fear in the SCSU Affirmative Action office. "The Affirmative Action officer (at the time, Laurel Allen) told me she was afraid to conduct an investigation," he said. "This is bizarre, and I think it's appalling." Allen resigned last spring; the Affirmative Action office has since been ordered to reorganize. Zmora now calls for action, not rhetoric: "The president of the university can claim that, ‘I'm a minority, I experienced discrimination.' In reality, he needs to act." Zmora said he felt the proposed Jewish Studies and Resource Center was a step in the right direction, but that Jewish studies should be integrated into the curriculum, not exist as a separate entity. He also said that the proposed settlement is a compromise; he wanted to return to SCSU to teach, but "they didn't want me back." "I had a wonderful time at St. Cloud State," he said. "I love to teach — I had some great students — and they didn't want me because I was effective as a teacher. "I was proud to be a voice for all of the silent people who were terminated, ambushed and ridiculed at St. Cloud because their only crime was that they are Jews. Hopefully now with public scrutiny, public exposure and the jurisdiction of the federal court over St. Cloud State University, maybe things will change." The SCSU Jewish Faculty Association reacted to the settlement with a statement that read, in part, "From what we understand, the settlement represents the administrators' accountability for campus climate. By finally making these problems public, it will help everyone understand that anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance are not acceptable at St. Cloud State University." SCSU President Roy Saigo also issued a statement about the settlement. "I want to make it clear that my administration and I strongly oppose anti-Semitism and any other form of discrimination and deeply regret whenever anyone feels they have experienced discrimination on this campus," a portion of the statement read. "We are participating in the agreement in order to make a good-faith effort to communicate to all people, and especially those who identify with the Jewish religion, that they are welcome at SCSU." "The president came with a statement about the fact, finally, that he regrets acts of anti-Semitism," Zmora responded. "That was a written statement; I would have liked to hear him say it loud and clear to the people." The settlement money would come out of the university's general budget, but would not lead to more reductions in classes or student services. "Every year there is money set aside for unexpected things that happen, such as this," Foss said. "The university is required to have a reserve to handle unexpected costs so when something unexpected happens, it does not impact other areas of the university." Foss said details for the proposed Jewish Studies Center are far from complete. "It's too early to discuss that," she said. "It has not been decided. We were working with a consultant over the summer and talking with a number of people on campus about how a center could be developed and how the Jewish faith can be incorporated into the curriculum. Now that the settlement is complete we will take a better look at this again." In an unexpected twist just hours after the proposed settlement was announced, a number of SCSU faculty members received an e-mail message from an unidentified source. The e-mail pointed its readers toward a Web site with a supposedly "anti-racist, anti-bigotry, anti-prejudice" look at Jewish influence in society and politics. The e-mail said, "Since the faculty at St. Cloud State has fallen prey to the heavy hand of the Jewish/Zionist lobby, and you are going to be subject to the heavy hand of Jewish Thought Control, you might find our online clearing house about Jewish power, Jewish racism, Israel and so forth of value as you struggle with the Jewish Thought Police." Many faculty members who discovered the e-mail in their inboxes Wednesday morning were upset and disturbed by it. Andrew Larkin, president of the SCSU Faculty Association, called the e-mail "inflammatory" and "anti-Semitic," and said, "It's not acceptable to be writing things like that." It was determined that the likely source of the e-mail was not in any way related to SCSU or the local community. The sender did not hack into the faculty list serve, but instead sent the message to individual faculty members through a single list called "St. Cloud Faculty Members." It is probable that the person who sent the e-mail gathered faculty e-mail addresses from an online directory. Though many were bothered by the message, Larkin said neither the Faculty Association nor the university would take any action. Faculty members were free to respond as they saw fit. "It's just odd that it came out at the same time that we get a settlement on the Jewish court case," Larkin said.