Brooklyn College — which was recently ripped for campus anti-Semitism — scheduled “implicit bias training” for staffers on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year when many of the faithful do not work.
The training is mandated for those who serve on job search committees with one of the four Zoom sessions set for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, the morning of Yom Kippur.
“This biases the process against observant Jews and secular Jews who typically attend services on this one day of the year. Such Jews are afforded only three meeting opportunities, while all others are afforded four,” one Jewish professor said. “That sounds like implicit bias to me. Imagine, if that was done to a group that is viewed as a disadvantaged minority.”
Brooklyn College, which is part of the public City University of New York system, recently got a failing grade from the group StopAntisemitism. The report found that “Students feel the administration turns a blind eye to Jew-hatred” and they “DO NOT feel safe, saying they need to hide their Jewish identity as well as their support for Israel.”
The college disputed the findings.
CUNY was also the subject of a recent complaint filed with the US Department of Education alleging it has become a “pervasively hostile environment for Jewish students.”
The university announced last month that seven of its campuses including Brooklyn College were participating in Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative to address anti-Semitism.
A Brooklyn College spokesman said an additional training session was being offered on Monday.
“While classes are not held on Yom Kippur, the college is open on that day. In addition to these dates, staff or faculty can request an individual training session,” said spokesman Richard Pietras.
