Mark Weitzman: “Defining Antisemitism and Why It Matters”

Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, will give a talk entitled “Defining antisemitism and why it matters,” at Western Washington University on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 in Academic West Room 204 at 4:00 p.m. as part of continued efforts to implement recommendations from the University’s Task Force on Preventing and Responding to Antisemitism. The presentation is free and open to the public. Weitzman is a member of the official US delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Authority (IHRA) where he chairs the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. He spearheaded IHRA’s recent adoption of the Working Definition of Antisemitism, which is the first definition of antisemitism with any formal status and was the lead author of IHRA’s Working Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion, which was also adopted by the 31 member countries of IHRA. During his talk, Weitzman will introduce the working definition of antisemitism that the Task Force is moving forward with in implementing recommendations. Dr. Sue Guenter-Schlesinger (Vice Provost for Equal Opportunity & Employment Diversity at Western), will introduce Weitzman and provide an update on the work of the Task Force. Weitzman’s presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.