UMich fires DEI official over alleged anti-Semitic comments

Rachel Dawson, former executive director of the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, was fired from the university on Dec. 10 after she was accused of making anti-Semitic comments at a diversity conference in March. In a complaint filed by the Anti-Defamation League of Michigan and obtained by The New York Times, Dawson allegedly said Jewish students are “wealthy and privileged” and do not need diversity services like those her office provides. The complaint also accused Dawson of saying that Jewish people “have no genetic DNA that would connect them to the Land of Israel” and that the university is “controlled by wealthy Jews.” Dawson’s attorney, Amanda Ghannam, said she feels Dawson’s First Amendment rights were violated and that her client plans to take legal action against the university.

The incident occurred at the American Association of Colleges and Universities Conference on Diversity, Equity and Student Success March 21-23 of this year. Naomi Yavneh Klos, a professor at Loyola University New Orleans, and another Jewish professor from an unknown university spoke with Dawson about the topic of anti-Semitism at the university. Klos told The New York Times she heard about a Jewish student’s negative experience at the university and wanted to ask about the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s commitment to Jewish students. After her conversation with Dawson, Klos said she filed a report with the Anti-Defamation League.

After receiving a letter from the Anti-Defamation League in August, the university hired an outside law firm, Covington and Burling LLP, to investigate the incident. In a company memorandum dated Sept. 25, the company said Dawson denied those comments and instead offered her own recollection of the conversation. Ghannam claimed that Dawson never said that Jews had no genetic connection to Israel, but that many groups of people had connections to the region.

In emails obtained by The New York Times, Jon Kinsey, the university’s vice president and secretary, told the Board of Regents in October that Dawson had received a warning and would undergo anti-Semitism training.

Ghannam said her client was informed on Oct. 28 that the case was being reviewed. In an email to The Michigan Daily, university spokesman Kay Jarvis confirmed Dawson’s termination and said her actions violated the mission of OAMI and the university.

“MS. Dawson was fired by the Provost because her behavior as a university representative at a conference and during a protest on campus was inconsistent with her job responsibilities, including leading a multicultural office whose mission is to support all students, and represented extremely poor judgment,” Jarvis wrote .

Daily new editor Marissa Corsi can be reached at [email protected].

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