Why does the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), a nonprofit academic organization that says it commends efforts to “combat discrimination and harassment against Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and other students on U.S. college campuses,” oppose the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2018? At JNS.org, Campus Watch Fellow A.J. Caschetta examines MESA’s justification and finds it wanting.
In response to the near doubling of anti-Semitic incidents for the second year in a row, Congress has drafted the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2018, or AAA. MESA’s president and executive director responded with a sophomoric letter to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, dated June 4, 2018, warning that the law will have a “chilling effect” on free speech and hinting that mysterious forces “outside of academia” are behind it.
