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Follow Up Letter to Johns Hopkins University Regarding Antisemitic Twitter Posts by TA

December 16, 2020



Ronald J. Daniels

President

The Johns Hopkins University

3400 N. Charles St., 242 Garland Hall

Baltimore, Maryland 21218


David Yarkony, Ph.D.

Chair and D. Mead Johnson Professor of Chemistry

The Johns Hopkins University

3400 N. Charles St., Remsen 310

Baltimore, Maryland 21218


Dear President Daniels and Professor Yarkony,


We write on behalf of the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department and the StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism, divisions of StandWithUs, an international, non-profit education organization supporting Israel and combating antisemitism. We write to follow up on our letter of December 3, 2020 (see attached), in which we alerted you to [name redacted], a graduate researcher and teaching assistant in Johns Hopkins University’s chemistry department. [Redacted] allegedly posted a series of racist and antisemitic statements on a Twitter account indicating an intent to penalize and discriminate against all Jewish, Israeli and Zionist students in violation of school policies and federal laws, such as Title VI.


We write once again to ask that your administration immediately investigate whether [redacted] has violated applicable rules, laws, and provisions, and if so, to immediately take corrective action. This is a matter of urgency: the semester ends on December 23 and [Redacted] will likely begin grading students at that time. Likewise, to the extent possible under the law, we request that you provide some transparency regarding this investigation to assure that no student has previously suffered or will suffer academic harm due to unlawful discrimination on the basis of national origin, ethnicity, race or religion by one of your instructors.


We would appreciate a substantive response by Wednesday, December 23, 2020. In the absence of such response, which would have demonstrated that your administration is treating this issue with the seriousness it deserves, we believe it will be necessary and appropriate to share this matter of great concern with the broader community.


Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter.



Sincerely,


Roz Rothstein

CEO and Co-Founder

StandWithUs


Yael Lerman

Director

StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department


Carly Gammill

Director

StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism


Cc:


Sunil Kumar, Ph.D

Provost


Paul Pineau

Vice President and General Counsel

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