Misunderstood, Overlooked, and Marginalized: The Construction of Jews and Antisemitism in EDI Policies and Plans in Canadian Higher Education
Abstract
Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is a leading framework for addressing social justice issues in Canadian higher education. After October 7, 2023, occurrences of antisemitic incidents have surged on campuses in Canada. Yet, antisemitism is often not included or minimally mentioned in the existing EDI frameworks. The task of the EDI policies and plans is to ensure equity, diversity, and inclusion for all historically, persistently, or systematically marginalized groups. We examine the ways in which current EDI policies and plans include antisemitism and Jewish identity, analyzing EDI policies and plans collected from 28 universities across Canada. The content analysis reveals three patterns: (a) marginalization of antisemitism, (b) construction of Jewishness as a religious identity, and (c) coupling of antisemitism and Islamophobia. We argue that, at a time of growing divisiveness, politicization, and misinformation, universities who are committed to EDI should create a truly inclusive campus for people from diverse backgrounds and positions.
Metrics
Published
2025-05-29
Keywords
antisemitism, equity, diversity, inclusion, EDI, higher education, policy, Jewish identity
Issue
Section
Articles
DOI
License
Copyright in the article is vested with the Author under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
