Kenneth L. Marcus

Kenneth L. Marcus is an internationally recognized expert in civil and human rights, as well as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism on and off university campuses. He is the founder and chairman of The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. The New York Times has called him “The Man Who Helped Redefine Campus Anti-Semitism.”

During his public service career, Mr. Marcus served as Assistant US Secretary of Education for Civil Rights; Staff Director at the US Commission on Civil Rights; and General Deputy Assistant US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.

He formerly held the Lillie and Nathan Ackerman Chair in Equality and Justice in America at the City University of New York’s Bernard M. Baruch College and served as Visiting Research Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University, among other academic appointments.

Mr. Marcus is author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism (Oxford University Press) and Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America (Cambridge University Press). He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism and previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal for the Study of Anti-Semitism. He has published widely in academic journals as well as in more popular venues such as The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, USA Today, and Politico.

Earlier in his career, he was a litigation partner in two major law firms, where he conducted complex commercial and constitutional litigation. He is a graduate of Williams College and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.