Thread Anti-Semitism on College Campuses
Anti-Semitism on College Campuses
Replies to: Anti-Semitism on College Campuses
TheGreyKing 2045 replies98 discussionsForum Champion Williams College Posts: 2,143 Forum Champion
I never imagined that standing up for the right to offer the opinion that Israel has a right to exist— and by implication, that people of Jewish ethnicity have a right to exist— would become a defining issue of the college experience. Anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses is much, much stronger than I had ever realized.
A ray of hope has been the outpouring of support for vocally pro-Israel students at various colleges from a range of alumni, media, social media, etc., along with some fellow students and professors. Word spreads fast! They may be a minority on campus, but they are not alone.
A tragedy of the current era is the divisions among students belonging to various minority groups, who should be natural allies trying to make the world a more accepting place for ALL peoples. I liked the Tower article link I shared above, because it delves into some of the origins of this surprising division between Jewish liberals and other liberals that has left Jews on the outside, as the one ethnic group that the far-left and the far-right both hate.
websensation 2058 replies37 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 2,095 Senior Member
I feel that unless there is one nation with all population under earth, these divisions will continue.
tpike12 488 replies9 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 497 Member
It's being tried in America right now and failing miserably, so I'm quite dubious it would be successful on a global scale. I just can't imagine Chinese, Russians, Americans, etc submitting to global governance.
Knowsstuff 3421 replies11 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 3,432 Senior Member
@eastcoast101. Interesting. My daughter went to Illinois Wesleyan then transferred to Beloit college. Neither a hot bread of Jewish students but also never any antisemitism. No Bds either. She helped in making a Passover seder but for all that wanted to partake not just the handful of Jews on Campus. I think learning about each other is the key to understanding each other.
She also did study abroad in Indonesia and the most sweet and lovely people in an mostly Muslim country. They are pro Palestinians causes but not necessarily against the Jewish faith.
For what I read the pro Bds is Iran controlled and supported. The ambassor of Israel was at our shul last year and said as much about this topic.
It amazes me that antisemitism is being normalized in our society.
Coloradomama 2644 replies29 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 2,673 Senior Member
I can remember in the 1980s, at MIT, the Roman Catholic priest, a liberal Paulist, got together with the MIT Rabbi and offered a class on the Talmud/Old Testament. It as attended by Catholic, Christian and Jewish students. Those
were the days we talked to each other! I cannot remember if Muslim students were attending but they would have been welcome by these two learned men at MIT, who were great teachers.
JHS 18300 replies70 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 18,370 Senior Member
It's being tried in America right now and failing miserably,
I couldn't disagree with this statement more.
ucbalumnus 76519 replies665 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 77,184 Senior Member
Coloradomama wrote:
I can remember in the 1980s,
What I remember in the 1980s was that the loudest voices on Israeli - Palestinian politics were the most bigoted ones.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2019/05/15/williams-college-rashida-tlaib-israel-and-the-importance-of-history/
AriBenSion 54 replies2 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 56 Junior Member
Wow @TheGreyKing - so according to the William's student newspaper Israel's rights are no more righteous and worthy of defending than those of straight white men. Those students really do see the world through one perspective. Good luck to them when they graduate and come out of their simplified bubble.
brantly 3731 replies66 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 3,797 Senior Member
Does this type of SJP/BDS activism exist in the U.S. outside the bubble of college campuses? I am talking specifically about the "activism" that translates into harassment of Jewish students. Does it move into the workplace?
SJPers at elite colleges will be working side by side with Jews of all ages in banks, government, consulting companies, etc. They'll be attending graduate or professional schools with Jews. How will the harassing behavior fly in those settings? It would be troubling if they attempted to grab the microphone away from a Jewish colleague giving a presentation, or interrupted a Jewish doctor giving grand rounds, or if they slipped eviction notices under the doors of their Jewish colleagues' offices or homes. Or if they vacated a corporate lunch table when a Jewish colleague came over to join them (as was done repeatedly at Oberlin, according to reports). What about affinity groups or cultural groups at work? Google is famous for this. Are SJP/BDS activists at Google disrupting the "Jewglers'" (that's what they call themselves!) activities? Jewlgers around the globe build a Sukkah inside the offices. Passover services were disrupted by BDS activists at University of Michigan. Do the activists dare do that at Google?
I wonder if there are reports of what happens with these SJP/BDS activists after college?
ETA: Actually, I answered my own question. There was the medical resident who stated she would sabotage Jews' medical treatment at her hospital in Ohio. She was fired.
https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Cleveland-Clinic-medical-resident-says-she-will-give-Jews-wrong-medicines-575972
@AriBenSion - Just want to clarify: the comments you allude to were comments made in an op-ed sent in by some students at the college, not by the student editorial board of the student newspaper. The student newspaper's reporting on this issue was balanced and fair. And they received and published op-eds from students both for and against WIFI.
But yes, the College Council's singling out of WIFI, as the only group in at least the last recorded decade of the college's history not to be accepted as a registered student organization, was very disturbing.
writingpumpkin03 138 replies6 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 144 Junior Member
@AriBenSion @TheGreyKing The administration at Williams recently bypassed the student government and gave WIFI official RSO status. Considering that the president herself teaches Jewish history at the college, this decision was not at all surprising, and it does send a message of support to students who may have felt unsafe due to the controversy.
^Yes, WIFI has now become an RSO through a different process, involving administrators as well as students.
It is a real learning experience to see that, as a student, your voice can make a difference. The students who spoke up for their beliefs and did not back down when faced with opposition, soon received an outpouring of support from media, alumni, etc., from throughout the U.S. and even in Israel, that changed the dynamic and allowed WIFI to be recognized.
Evidence of the power of a free press in preserving people's rights in a democracy: twice in the past few weeks, the press and the alumni were updated by the college sooner than the students were. Today was the second time that the college sent a message to alumni on this topic, which indicates how concerned the college must be about perceptions of it following this incident.
For anyone reading this thread with any anxiety about whether to apply to Williams, please be reassured that it is a great place to go to college. In addition to the fact that there has been similar anti-Israel sentiment at many other colleges, it is also true, as the rabbi at Williams wrote in the letter to alumni, that "Williams continues to be a school that supports the flourishing of Jewish life, as the vibrancy of programming run at the JRC and across campus, run by student leaders in WCJA and in other groups, amply demonstrates."
@TheGreyKing Those are good points to make! Williams is not at all unique with regards to these incidents happening on campus, and it is evident that the college cares about the opinions of students and alumni.
Events at NYU:
https://jewishjournal.com/news/nation/297574/pro-israel-students-file-complaint-against-nyu/
The reason my original post in this thread introduced an exploration the experience of anti-Israel sentiment as related to anti-Semitic sentiment on campus is that one is almost always based in the other, despite assertions to the contrary.
Here is a quote from a recent college discussion:
"One student acknowledged the "horrible conditions that Jewish people experienced" during the Holocaust, but claimed that Palestinians currently were "even experiencing worse." Why? Unlike the seemingly unending Israeli occupation of the West Bank, "the purpose of these [World War II] ghettos were basically to control, segregate, and separate the Jewish people for short periods of time."
.... a student at one of the nation's best colleges publicly describing the World War II experience of European Jews as even partly a short-term problem of living in ghettos is shocking. That other... students could take from such an assertion a possible reason to avoid recognizing a Jewish campus group is remarkable.
...critics preemptively denied allegations of anti-Semitism. The student who made the assertions about World War II assured the council, "I have a lot of Jewish friends." Another dismissed anti-Semitism as a possible motive, since "the Arabs are actually Semites, so the term anti-Semitic is not very accurate to describe whatever people use it to describe." In a revealing admission, however, the council's note taker excluded "clearly anti-Semitic things" from his minutes of the April 23 council meeting.
Source of quote: https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/284998/separate-and-unequal-on-campus
Between these quotes, and experiences recounted above by students in other colleges, including the exclusion of a Jewish student from a UC council solely because she was Jewish, eviction notices slipped under Jewish students' doors at some colleges, and the physical assault of a Jewish student at NYU, it is obvious that anti-Semitism is a growing problem on college campuses.
Interestingly, these include colleges where otherwise students preach acceptance of minority groups and awareness of microaggressions against members of those groups. Much of the anti-Semitism is being perpetrated by students who consider themselves progressive. Jews: the one group the far-left and the far-right can agree to hate.
warblersrule 9970 replies170 discussionsSuper Moderator Posts: 10,140 Super Moderator
TheGreyKing wrote:
Interestingly, these include colleges where otherwise students preach acceptance of minority groups and awareness of microaggressions against members of those groups. Much of the anti-Semitism is being perpetrated by students who consider themselves progressive.
Unfortunately, you're right; there's pockets of intolerance everywhere. Trans students often report very similar experiences, receiving thinly veiled disgust or appalling ignorance even from professed progressives, staunch feminists (e.g. "gender-critical" feminists/TERFs), and other people under the queer umbrella.
I wonder if it would be worthwhile for prospective students to investigate the percentage of Jewish students on campus before deciding if a college is a good fit. Some of the elite colleges have noticeably lower percentages of Jewish students than others (e.g. Penn has 10 times as many Jewish students as nearby Swarthmore, 17.4% vs. 1.8%).
It sounds like many of the students in the quotation above need a good history class.
kanfly 36 replies2 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 38 Junior Member
@warblersrule I don't think it is the percentage of Jews that makes the difference when it comes to anti-Semitism. NYU has a large proportion of Jews and one of the worst anti-Semitism problems on campus right now. A lot of it comes down to the administration and culture of the campus.
Penn has 10 times as many Jewish students as nearby Swarthmore, 17.4% vs. 1.8%
Something is off in your numbers. Swarthmore has much, much more than 1.8% Jewish students. Swarthmore is quite small -- only about 1,600 students total. If its Jewish population were 1.8%, that would amount to fewer than 30 Jews. Trust me, there are many more than 30 Jewish students at Swarthmore (and lots more Jewish faculty, too).
For that matter, 17.4% seems awfully small for Penn, but I can't say it's completely wrong. The presence of lots of Jewish graduate and professional students (and faculty) means that there is a large, vibrant Jewish community there -- actually multiple large, vibrant Jewish communities. In the past 50 years, Penn has only had one non-Jewish president!
Sunny66 273 replies14 discussionsRegistered User Posts: 287 Junior Member
@warblersrule Swarthmore is 16% Jewish according to The Forward and other sources. But agree there are anti-Israel movements there as at other colleges/universities.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Is something wrong with me for not wanting to go to Michigan?
Michigan was one of my top schools when I was applying for college. I ended up getting into Michigan early action and went on a campus day in January…
dunnowheretogo on May 25 May 25
University of Michigan Class of 2023 EA Results Thread
Thought I'd copy over from Stanford to help out anyone wanting to see more, especially those who were deferred or are looking to apply in coming year…
markus1463 on June 13 June 13