AJC Urges Yale to Reconsider Decision to Terminate YIISA

[Ari Gordon <gordona@ajc.org>]

AJC Urges Yale to Reconsider Decision to Terminate YIISA

June 7, 2011 - New York - AJC is surprised and saddened and by the decision of 
Yale University to close one of its premier projects, the Yale Initiative for 
the Interdisciplinary Study of Anti-Semitism (YIISA). The pending closure of 
the five-year-old institute was reported in The New York Post.

"We hope Yale will review this unfortunate decision so that YIISA's critical 
work can continue," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "In our 
experience working with YIISA, AJC has been impressed by the level of scholarly 
discourse, the involvement of key faculty, and the initiative's ability, 
through conferences and other programs, to bring a wide range of voices to the 
Yale campus."

Harris added that YIISA has been an important resource for understanding 
anti-Semitism, especially in its contemporary manifestations. "YIISA has made 
considerable contributions to the study of this immense contemporary challenge 
and lent Yale's considerable reputation to an issue that remains quite 
serious," he said.

"If Yale now leaves the field, it will create a very regrettable void," 
concluded Harris.

>Posted by:
>Ari M. Gordon
>Special Advisor 
>Interreligious and Intergroup Relations
>American Jewish Committee
>165 E56th Street
>New York, NY 10022
>(212) 891-6717