The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA) was an academic center at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. Founded in 2006, it was the first university-based center in North America dedicated to the study of

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. Professor Charles A. Small was YIISA's inaugural director. In 2011, Yale's decision to close YIISA sparked protest from the

American Jewish community American Jews (; ) or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by culture, ethnicity, or religion. According to a 2020 poll conducted by Pew Research, approximately two thirds of American Jews identify as Ashkenazi, 3% iden ...

. After YIISA's subsequent closure, Yale opened the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism under the direction of Professor

Maurice Samuels Maurice Samuels (born August 9, 1968) is the Betty Jane Anlyan Professor of French at Yale University. He graduated with a BA (''summa cum laude'') in 1990 from Harvard University, where he also earned his MA (1995) and PhD (2000). Before moving t ...

History

Charles A. Small, founder of the

Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) is an American non-profit organization that produces academic research, seminars, and conferences to study antisemitism. In recent years, its research has focused specifically ...

(ISGAP), developed the idea for a university-based center for studying antisemitism in the summer of 2004 after attending an international meeting on antisemitism at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. There, he met scholars with no institutional home. According to Small, the institute's goal was to provide academic evidence of antisemitism in the more extreme forms of anti-Israel advocacy.

agreed to host the institute and officially launched the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA), the first university-based institute in North America dedicated to the study of antisemitism, on September 19, 2006 with Small as the inaugural director. At Yale, YIISA was part of the Institution for Social and Policy Studies. The initiative launched with a series of seminars by scholars such as

Ruth Wisse Ruth Wisse (; Yiddish: רות װײַס; Roskies; born May 13, 1936) is a Canadian academic and political activist. She is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University ''emerit ...

, former CIA director

James Woolsey Robert James Woolsey Jr. (born September 21, 1941) is an American lawyer who has served in various senior positions. He headed the Central Intelligence Agency as Director of Central Intelligence from February 5, 1993, until January 10, 1995. He ...

, and former Canadian minister of justice

Irwin Cotler Irwin Cotler (born 8 May 1940) is a retired Canadian politician who was Member of Parliament for Mount Royal from 1999 to 2015. He served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal government of Paul ...

. YIISA was the fourth university-based center studying antisemitism in the world, joining institutes at

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

in Germany, and

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...

and

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

in Israel.

Closure

In early June 2011, Yale University notified YIISA that the center would be closed at the end of July. A Yale spokesman stated that the cancelation was allegedly due to the initiative not meeting academic expectations, other reports believed that the closure was political and related to the institute's work on Muslim antisemitism. Jewish advocacy groups such as the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...

and the Anti-Defamation League criticized Yale's decision, praising YIISA's academic contributions to the contemporary understanding of antisemitism. Walter Reich, a member of YIISA's board of advisers and a former director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum wrote that the closure came on the tails of a "firestorm" which ensued after YIISA hosted a conference in August 2010 entitled "Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity", where some of the speakers highlighted instances of antisemitism in the Arab-Muslim world. Scholar

Amitai Etzioni Amitai Etzioni (; Hebrew: אמיתי עציוני; né Werner Falk; 4 January 1929 – 31 May 2023) was an Israeli-American sociologist, best known for his work on socioeconomics and communitarianism. He founded the Communitarian Network, a ...

argued that Yale should not have closed the center in response to political pressure. Other scholars, such as

Antony Lerman Antony Lerman (born 11 March 1946) is a British writer who specialises in the study of antisemitism, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, multiculturalism, and the place of religion in society. From 2006 to early 2009, he was Director of the Insti ...

and

Robert Wistrich Robert Solomon Wistrich (April 7, 1945 – May 19, 2015) was a scholar of antisemitism, considered one of the world's foremost authorities on antisemitism. The Erich Neuberger Professor of European and Jewish history at the Hebrew Universi ...

, welcomed Yale's decision to close YIISA, arguing that YIISA was politicized and struggled to establish academic rigor.

Successor program

On June 20, 2011, less than three weeks after Yale's announcement, Yales provost

Peter Salovey Peter Salovey (; born February 21, 1958) is an American social psychologist and former academic administrator. He served as the 23rd president of Yale University from 2013 to 2024. He previously served as provost of Yale University from 2008 ...

announced the creation of the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism (YPSA). In the wake of the YIISA decision, Salovey said a group of faculty members expressed interest in creating a new initiative. Professor

, director of the new institute, said research would be devoted to both contemporary and historical antisemitism, stating, "Like many, I am concerned by the recent upsurge in violence against Jews around the world." Small, YIISA's director, expressed skepticism regarding the new program, accusing it of being too historically focused: "Anti-Semitism is a 21st-century relevant issue. To focus on its roots and history, glosses over issues scholars must address today, especially when it comes to the threat of contemporary radical Islamist anti-Semitism."

References

External links

Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism
{{authority control Yale University Antisemitism research institutes Research institutes established in 2005 2005 establishments in Connecticut