LOS ANGELES — The debate over what constitutes anti-Semitism has spilled into Stanford University's student government election, with a Jewish student claiming that she was asked how her Judaism affects her view of divestment from Israel, morphing what was a contest about campus issues into a fierce discussion on identity and loyalties.
Like other candidates, Molly Horwitz, a junior from Milwaukee, was eager to receive an endorsement from the Students of Color Coalition, an umbrella group that has helped dozens win seats in the student senate. Ms. Horwitz, who was adopted from Paraguay, wrote extensively in her application about navigating both Jewish and Latino circles. Like many other students, she had paid close attention to the campus debate over divestment earlier this year.
But Ms. Horwitz said that what happened in the interview with the student coalition left her shocked and horrified. After talking about issues such as student mental health services with the eight representatives, Ms. Horwitz said, the interview changed topic: "Given your Jewish identity, how would you vote on divestment?"
"I was really taken aback by the question, and it took me a minute to process it, so I asked for clarification to make sure I knew what they were really asking," Ms. Horwitz said in an interview. "They said they saw in my application that I had a strong Jewish identity, and how would that impact my decision?"
Ms. Horwitz said that she responded by explaining that while she was supportive of the process the student senate had used to vote in favor of urging Stanford to divest, she opposed divestment and found the ultimate outcome of the vote disappointing. "There was an awkward silence, and the interview ended a minute later," Ms. Horwitz said. Although she did not receive the group's endorsement, she is still a candidate in the election, which begins Thursday.
Tianay Pulphus, the president of the campus chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., said that Ms. Horwitz's charge was "baseless."
"At no point was she asked whether her Jewish identity impacted her view on divestment," said Ms. Pulphus, a senior who was one of the students who conducted the interview. "We ask all candidates how they would navigate issues that have come up in the previous year. We in no way singled out a candidate based on their ethnic or religious identity."
Ms. Horwitz, like others interviewed, was asked about a range of issues including sexual assault and mental health services, Ms. Pulphus said, and her view on divestment was not the basis of the coalition's decision.
Stanford officials are investigating the incident, as well as charges that the Students of Color Coalition, a group that unites six campus groups representing blacks, Latinos, Asians and Muslims and that supported the proposal for divestment, asked its endorsed candidates to sign a contract promising not to affiliate with Jewish groups on campus. The coalition denied both charges in an article in The Stanford Daily on Tuesday, which was published along with an account by Ms. Horwitz.
This is not the first time the roiling debate on college campuses over divestment from Israel has led to charges of anti-Semitism. Earlier this year, students at the University of California, Los Angeles, asked a Jewish student who was a candidate for a campus judicial committee whether her religion would influence her decision-making. While that incident was captured on film and in official minutes, the case at Stanford is far more murky, with no official record.
"Allegations that any of our endorsees are precluded from affiliating with or receiving endorsements from other groups are unfounded," the Students of Color Coalition wrote. "We reject the notion that religious or cultural identification might prevent someone from being an effective senator. Such a stance is in direct conflict with S.O.C.C. values."
Stanford's undergraduate senate voted in February to ask the university to divest from companies doing business in the West Bank as a way of punishing Israel, but the university's board of trustees said Tuesday that such a decision would be divisive and it would not take up the matter again.
After her interview with the coalition, Ms. Horwitz filed a complaint with university officials, who met with her and promised a swift investigation.
Lisa Lapin, a Stanford spokeswoman, said that officials had found "conflicting accounts of what occurred" and expanded the investigation after The Stanford Review, a student publication that has criticized the Students of Color Coalition in the past, published an article about Ms. Horwitz. The article also said that the student group had asked candidates it chose to endorse to sign a contract prohibiting affiliation with Jewish groups, and Ms. Lapin said university officials were investigating that as well.
"This is a particularly important teaching moment," said Vlad Khaykin, the associate director of the Central Pacific Region of the Anti-Defamation League. "Having aspersions cast on their ability to reflect the interest of the student body on the basis that they are Jewish is obviously very troubling to us. The university needs to make it clear to students and student groups that singling out identity and questioning on those kind of issues is discriminatory."
But several students interviewed on campus said they did not see it as problematic to connect a stance on divestment with Judaism.
Julia Duncan, a freshman from the Bay Area, said that Ms. Horwitz and other candidates should have expected such questions.
"It's not entirely discriminatory to know your take on divestment," she said. "It is their money, and they do have their political agenda. And if their stance is pro-Palestine, I think it's a fair question."
During the debate over divestment earlier this year, Ms. Horwitz wrote several posts on Facebook against it. Miriam Pollock, a friend and campaign manager for Ms. Horwitz, said in an interview Tuesday that before Ms. Horwitz started gathering signatures for her campaign, the two scrubbed her Facebook page to hide all posts indicating support for Israel, including a photograph of a pair of shoes decorated to look like the Israeli flag.
"We did it not because she isn't proud — she is — but the campus climate has been pretty hostile, and it would not be politically expedient to take a public stance," Ms. Pollock said. "She didn't want that to be a main facet of her platform. Of course she was going to be honest if she was asked about her stance on divestment."
An earlier version of this article misspelled the surname of Molly Horwitz's friend and campaign manager. She is Miriam Pollock, not Pollack.
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