Ve
ION CAMPUS
ir CENTER FOR JUDAIC STUDIES*
Wayne State University
THE PROSECTS FOR PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST:
PAST AND PRESENT
Two Lectures By:
ITAMAR RABINOVICH
Dayan Center
Tel-Aviv University
"Labor, Likud and the PLO Initiative"
SUNDAY • SEPTEMBER 24, 1989 • 7:30 p.m.
MIDRASHA COLLEGE OF JEWISH STUDIES
21150 West 12 Mile • Southfield
"The Creation of the State of Israel:
Revisionist Perspectives and History"
MONDAY • SEPTEMBER 25, 1989 • 3:00 p.m.
WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
105 Manoogian Hall
Admission Free
Inquiries 577-3015
*The Center is a cooperative venture of the University and
the United Jewish Charities in cooperation with the Jewish
Welfare Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
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SOCIETY 44
tion of the issue of religious
holidays there should be few
problems. And yet according
to Richard Lobenthal,
regional director of the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai
B'rith, his office frequently
receives complaints from
Jewish college students. "We
get lots of complaints. I would
say that last year we got
somewhere under 50 formal
complaints," he explains, "but
any single complaint about a
policy might affect hundreds
of students."
Lobenthal describes how
the ADL looks at the issue of
the rights of Jewish students
(and faculty) when it comes to
receiving fair play in the
university environment. "It is
not our intent to require the
state to observe Jewish holy
days. But it is our intent to
make certain that Jewish
students aren't disadvantag-
ed by their observance of
these days."
Lobenthal adds that there
are differences of opinion
when it comes to determining
what the term disadvantage
means. What some would see
as a minor inconvenience
may be seen by others as a
major obstacle.
Lobenthal says problems
frequently arise in spite of the
formal guidelines that have
already been established by
the institutions themselves.
"Most schools have policies
which deal with the issue
adequately," he explains.
"But some departments or
some individual faculty are
either unaware of the policies
or uncaring, or in rare in-
stances, hostile to it."
University administrators
agree that when a conflict has
been brought to their atten-
tion it's almost always resolv-
ed. "If students have conflicts
we will be pro-active in work-
ing it out," explains EMU's
Smith. "I have heard of no
unresolved instances," con-
curs U-M's Harrison.
"In every instance in which
Hillel has been involved a
satisfactory resolution to the
student's problem has been
achieved," says Brooks. In an
average year U-M Hillel gets
about half a dozen such cases.
MSU's Finkelstein says last
year "some Jewish students
complained that professors
didn't recognize that Passover
was a full holiday. It was
resolved by going either to
the departmental chairperson
or the university om-
budsman."
Not all conflicts are as easi-
ly resolved. Loebenthal says
that it's not uncommon for
state universities to hold
registration on the high holy
days. "In many instances the
school has adopted policies to
make certain that Jewish
students aren't disadvantag-
ed . . . but disadvantages oc-
cur." Students — often out-of-
staters or freshmen - have
not been informed of school
policies or are unnaware of
the in-place remedies.
Insuring that the needs of
the majority and the minori-
ty are equally met in the
university setting depends
upon more than administra-
tive rules or regulations.
"The major holidays are easy
to keep to note of," explains
Carolyn Balducci, lecturer in
creative writing at U-M, "but
it's up to the students to
determine whether or not
they're going to observe the
holidays and to make ar-
rangements with their pro-
fessors, as they would with
any similar circumstance like
a death in the family or a
health problem." Balducci,
who's taught for more than a
decade, admits that students
often neglect to communicate
their needs when it's ap-
propriate to do so. "Students
need to be more direct. They
need to tell us that they're
taking a day off. They have to
give us half a chance."
Lobenthal concurs. "I think
it's the obligation of the stu-
dent to advise faculty
members that he or she will
be absent for religious
reasons."
University staff say that
the more religiously obser-
vant the student the more
likely he or she will inform
faculty about the intended
absence.
Students aren't the only
ones who help universities
respond to the religious needs
of students and faculty. "We'll
try our best by making facul-
ty aware of the holidays, most
directly by sending a five-year
calendar to somebody in ad-
ministration," explains
Michelle Blumenberg, pro-
gram director at EMU's
Hillel.
Other Hillels and the
Detroit ADL have worked
with university administra-
tors trying to fine tune some
of the present policies and in-
stitutionalize informal ones.
Some state legislators have
gone a step further. They
believe educational institu-
tions should show more than
just good faith. Three years
ago the state of Massachu-
setts passed a law that re-
quired secular educational
and training institutions to
excuse students who were ab-
sent because of their religious
beliefs. Schools were also re-
quired to allow students to
make up any missed exams.
It doesn't appear likely that
such legislation will be pro-
r-'