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The Tennessee Senate Education Committee held a hearing on Wednesday where a new bill — SB 1209 — to address and prohibit antisemitic discrimination in the state’s public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education was presented.
After the discussion, the bill — the full text of which is available HERE — was advanced with a unanimous 9-0 vote.
The legislation — sponsored by Senator Paul Rose, with companion legislation in the Tennessee House of Representatives sponsored by Representative Rusty Grills — defines antisemitism using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, including its 11 contemporary examples.
The IHRA antisemitism definition was already adopted by Tennessee in 2022 via HB 2673, passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Bill Lee.
A total of 37 U.S. states have adopted the definition, according to a database compiled by the Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) by CAM.
SB 1209 requires the integration of the definition into student, faculty, and employee codes of conduct or anti-discrimination policies. The bill also gives teeth to Title VI by directing the Tennessee Department of Education and each institution of higher education to designate a Title VI Coordinator to monitor, review, and investigate antisemitic complaints and incidents of discrimination, in public K-12 and post-secondary schools, and requires the coordinator to submit an annual report to the State Attorney General and the General Assembly.
The legislation is backed by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), and Jewish community activist David Soffer spoke on behalf of CAM at Wednesday’s hearing at the State Capitol in Nashville.
“While Tennessee may not face the same intensity of antisemitic activity as states like New York, California, or Massachusetts, it is unfortunately not immune,” Soffer said in his testimony. “We believe that Tennessee, as a state, must act decisively to address this growing concern.”
“Passing SB 1209 will send a powerful message that Tennessee is taking proactive steps to protect its Jewish community,” he noted. “It will also demonstrate to the rest of the nation that Tennessee is committed to combating hatred in all its forms and ensuring the safety and dignity of all students, faculty members, and staff members.”
Jason Diebner, a Jewish student at the University of Texas, shared with the committee his personal experiences with on-campus antisemitism in the aftermath of the October 7th massacre.
“Just two days ago, I returned from Poland, where I walked through the concentration camps, Auschwitz and Majdanek,” he said. “I want to remind everyone in this room — the Holocaust did not begin with gas chambers. It began with dehumanization. With fear. With the silencing of identity.”
“We must recognize the dangerous parallels we’re seeing today,” he continued. “‘Never again’ is not just a phrase from history — it is a responsibility in the present. That’s why SB 1209 matters. It ensures that Jewish students, faculty, and staff — like all others — are respected, protected, and valued on campus.”
The legislation is supported by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the University of Memphis, the two largest higher education institutions in Tennessee.
CAM is leading an organized effort to engage and educate state legislators across the United States on antisemitism-related issues and potential policy remedies, such as the bill now under consideration in Tennessee.
Similar legislative initiatives have also been put forth in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma in recent weeks.
