President Jehuda Reinharz, in an interview with the Justice Friday, discussed the anti-intimidation pledge he co-authored -- a statement that more than 300 college presidents have signed. The pledge appeared as a paid advertisement in the New York Times earlier this month. In all, 1,900 college presidents were invited to join the statement; however, many declined, saying that the pledge was not inclusive enough.The letter, Reinharz said, was issued in response to incidents in the United States and Canada perpetrated against Jewish students and supporters of Israel and coordinated by former Dartmouth President James Freedman. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been scheduled to speak at Montreal's Concordia University in September; however, a riot, at which one Jewish student was assaulted, brought university administrators to temporarily halt on-campus, non-academic activities associated with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Netanyahu's planned address.

In addition, several dozen incidents have been reported in the Bay Area -- including at San Francisco State University and the University of California-Berkeley -- this year. One incident, reported in several national newspapers, involved a crowd chanting anti-Semitic epithets, while other incidents have involved assault and graffiti, including swastikas drawn on a sukkah.

Justice: What exactly do you mean by "intimidation," and what incidents, if any, can you recall at Brandeis in the last year that qualify?

Reinharz: Brandeis is not included in this. I did not sign it because there were any incidents at Brandeis -- at least none that I know of. This had all to do with incidents that took place on campuses throughout the Midwest and West Coast, and even the East Coast. And, by "intimidation," I mean that students were either prevented from speaking on behalf of Israel or were physically intimidated.

Justice: What do you mean by "physically intimidated"?

Reinharz: Meaning 200 or 300 people surrounding 50 Jewish kids . saying Hitler did not finish his job, go back to the concentration campus, that's what I mean. I mean, swastikas at the University of Colorado, et cetera. And, not to speak of the incident at Concordia, where there was in fact great violence and in fact a speaker was prevented from speaking on behalf of Israel.

Justice: Do you believe any relationship exists between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism?

Reinharz: In some cases ... I don't think that anyone who is an anti-Israeli or an anti-Zionist is an anti-Semite. Those are two different kinds of sentiments and one can be an anti-Israeli without being an anti-Semite.

Justice: How does the University reconcile individuals' right to speak freely with rules against intimidation?

Reinharz: Students can talk about anything they want. (In regards to) verbal intimidation or abusive behavior towards someone or physical intimidation, I expect that all students -- no matter what the subject, no matter how heated the debate -- will behave themselves in a civilized and polite way. If somebody makes threats towards you or another person . those people must be brought up on charges.

Justice: Although Brandeis does not explicitly espouse any particular political ideology, do you believe that the University's actions may suggest a stance?

Reinharz: Let's look at the administration. The majority of the administration is not Jewish, so that has nothing to do with it. Let me repeat: This campus, this university, is welcoming of every group. I have gone out of my way to recruit students to this campus . (traveling to) Hong Kong and Thailand. And, I have gone out of my way to recruit students from the Middle East, which is why we have such a large number of Muslims on this campus

Justice: Freedman told the New York Times that he has not seen incidents directed against Arabs or Muslims to the same extent of those against Jewish students and supporters of Israel. What do you have to say about this?

Reinharz: If people have seen it, they should let me know. I am not aware of it either. Moreover, the Chicago Tribune of Oct. 17 quoted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, saying that they have received relatively few incidents directed at Muslims in the last year.

Justice: On this campus or elsewhere?

Reinharz: Well, I know of this one pamphlet that has been circulating here on the campus, but the point is that on any campus, including ours, there will be from time to time incidents offensive to other groups. I think what is important is to see how the administration reacts to those incidents. . It will happen because we have human beings here - of every stripe, of every moral fiber, and I can't control the impulses of every student on this campus. If I could I would make sure the only discussion on campus would be civil and respectful.

Justice: Do you think it is the University's role to do things like stop those flyers?

Reinharz: We are clearly trying to find out who wrote these flyers in the same way we're trying to find out who wrote these incendiary remarks about bisexuals and homosexuals, et cetera, et cetera. All of these things are of equal importance to us. Sometimes, we find them and if we were to find them only God would help them ... But, the fact of the matter is it's mostly cowards who do these kinds of things and they do this without attribution of name. I would say to students on this campus, if you feel strongly about a certain subject, put your name next to it so that we know who it is who has done it.

Justice: If the anti-Arab flyers had been signed, what would the University do?

Reinharz: We would take these flyers down ... We would have brought them up on charges immediately.

Justice: Charges of what?

Reinharz: What ever the Rights and Responsibilities Handbook states . It depends on the particular statements made, and I am willing to bet the students would not have stayed on the campus.

Justice: Can you say different things off campus that you cannot say on campus, legally? Would you believe that off campus flyers like that would be subject to action?

Reinharz: I do not know what the law says, but they are not permissible on our campus.

Justice: About a year ago, following the incident on WBRS's "The Men's Room," what do you feel has been accomplished in that direction?

Reinharz: Well, we have done a number of things. One, we have relieved Reverend (Nathaniel) Mays of all of his other duties . (to deal with) issues that deal with diversity.

I have just appointed a committee under Provost Mel Bernstein and Vice President (of Students and Enrollment) Jean Eddy. The committee made recommendations. I promised to take them seriously.

...And, I did what I said I would do. The entire senior administration underwent a diversity sensitivity training (which) sensitized them to deal with these incidents. On all the major issues the committee has recommended, we followed through. However, it requires the entire Brandeis community to participate in issues of coexistence to be successful. There is no ideal community anywhere in the world. It is a communal effort to try to achieve that goal of making the university inclusive. If everybody is not participating in this, it won't happen.

Justice: Some university presidents did not want to sign the anti-intimidation pledge because they said it was not inclusive enough. What do you have to say to that?

Reinharz: The penultimate paragraph of the statement states very clearly that we have included in the statement every person, group or cause -- and stated clearly that we will not tolerate intimidation against anyone. The presidents who did not sign seem not to have read the statement carefully enough. Who would we include in such a statement and how long would the list be?

Justice: Some would probably ask the question: Why Zionists and why Jews?

Reinharz: Because of specific incidents. Three hundred and ten presidents did not wake up one morning and say, "No, we have nothing better to do than write a statement." Apparently, 310 presidents were convinced that the incidents that took place were serious enough to warrant this kind of statement, but in order that some presidents would not ask that question, I also included that penultimate statement. It is very clear. All one has to do is know how to read and so my hope is that presidents of universities know how to read or that their lawyers, whom they no doubt consulted, would advise them on how to read the statement. And, if they did not sign it they probably didn't sign it for other reasons. Now, I don't know what they are. I've been interviewed last week by about eight college newspapers from all over the country and they ask me why their college presidents did not sign. I said, "Go ask your president." ... But, it's not for me to guess why they didn't sign.