THE JEWISH NEWS

FEBRUARY 12, 1993

A Toast
To Jewish Living

Facing The Challenges, Rewards Of College Life

By RICHARD LOBENTHAL

In most cases, talking about anti-
emitism on campus is examining
ampus life through a microscope.
Mile ant-Semitism does not dictate
r dominate the campus experience,
intrudes on it, blemishing an other-
rise normal experience.
There is a good chance you will
uffer from anti-Semitism; 23 percent
f.,all campus incidents of bigotry are
i dected towards Jews. Jewish stu-
*its will be constantly confronted
iith, often offended because of, and
ometimes insulted as a conse-
pence of their Jewishness.
The degree of ignorance about
ews and Judaism is startling. On
r ollege campuses, students learn the
Oaning of being a minority-5 per-
bent of the college population. And
Nile one must remember that the
ost frequent issue is insensitivity to
ewish concerns, there is a difference
tween malice and ignorance, be-
ween misinformation and malevolent
stereotype, and between innocent
stereotypes and hostile ones.
Jewish college students report that
:hey suffer a myriad—of different
allenges. Methods of response are
ometimes difficult due to the double
tandards that Jewish students face.
( ■ /hile anti-Zionism, can range from
run-of-the-mill " to international anti-
Zionism, students feel blunted in their
ability to respond because of issues
JI "political correctness" and the dou-
ble standards of free speech.
/ It is interesting that the media have
never identified Louis Farrakhan, the
head of the Black nationalist Nation
'Of Islam, as an anti-Semite. Instead,
e media state "alleged anti-Semite"
ecause the allegations come from
Jews. It seems that the media don't
accept Jewish expertise in this sub-
ject when the person so charged
denies it. The media are afraid of
being accused of racism if the perpe-
trator/denier is not white.

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