UPDATE: Georgia State University Responds To ACLJ Letter Requesting Religious Accommodation for Jewish Students Who Have Conflict Due to Religious Observance of Passover

The ACLJ just sent a demand letter to the president of Georgia State University requesting that it provide religious accommodations to Jewish students who have a conflict between their finals and observing Passover.

Because Jewish observance of Passover is determined by the lunar calendar, it has no set date; and this year, Passover conflicts with Georgia State final exam period. Passover begins at sundown on April 22, 2024, and ends at nightfall on April 30, 2024. The university’s testing period is from April 23–April 30, 2024. Clearly, the testing period interferes with Passover. This means that Jewish students will not be able to fully devote themselves to studying for finals or fully immerse themselves in the traditions of Judaism. Some of those traditions include synagogue services, special meals, and abstaining from travel, technology, electricity, and work. Jewish students who observe these customary religious practices will consequently be unable to prepare for their exams, go to campus, or even use their electronic devices to read and study necessary materials.

As we explain in our letter, the observance of Passover this year is especially important to the Jewish community:

Jewish students, across the country, have faced increasing hostile environments on university campuses, and that hostility greatly increased in the fall of last year. As you are aware, on October 7, 2023, the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group Hamas perpetrated the barbaric slaughter of over 1500 men, women, and children, in the deadliest attack against Jewish people since the Holocaust. They raped, tortured, mutilated, killed, and defiled the corpses of everyone from infants to the elderly, and they filmed themselves doing it to further victimize members of the families and of the broader Jewish community. As President Biden described it, these were acts of pure evil. Incredibly, however, on campuses across the country, a number of student groups and individuals stood up to defend the terrorists, including by denying that Hamas did the very things they proudly and openly filmed themselves doing. This depraved antisemitic support for an organization whose charter literally calls for the extermination of every Jewish person in the world – including on your campus – is both shocking and terrifying. Jewish students watching the mass denial of the slaughter of their people were and are rightly terrified.

This first Passover following the horrific attack on Israel and the Jewish people is especially meaningful to many Jews, and even those who do not generally take part in the full religious observance of Passover will want to do so this year.

For these reasons, among others, our letter requests that Georgia State acknowledge publicly that a conflict exists, provide a reasonable remedy to Jewish students, and explain how and when the issue will be resolved.

It is our hope that this matter will be quickly resolved and that Jewish students at Georgia State will be allowed accommodations to practice their faith during this year’s Passover. If not, Jewish students would ultimately be disadvantaged over any other students at Georgia State – as they struggle with the particular dilemma of not being able to prepare for or take their finals this semester if they would like to practice their religion’s traditions.

As an avid defender of religious liberty, the ACLJ has taken action on numerous occasions to stand in the gap and protect Jewish students and professors from harassment and discrimination using Title VI of the Civil Rights of 1964. We will continue to stand in that gap.

UPDATE 04.11.2024: Georgia State University responded today to our letter and acknowledged the importance of "recognizing religious beliefs and providing accommodations to allow students, faculty and staff to practice their respective beliefs." In direct response to our letter, the university sent out a campus-wide broadcast to remind students, faculty, and staff of their ability to seek religious accommodation. At the ACLJ, we will continue to defend the right of students to ensure that their religious beliefs are protected and accommodated on campus.