Editor's Letter THE Overcoming Campus Hate says, "you can't make it resonate!' n a dreary Sunday in the dead of winter at Milk & Says the report: "The most disheartening result of this Honey Restaurant of West Bloomfield, I broke bread study is how so many of these future leaders began their cog- with a bright, young advocate not only for countering Jew hating on our campuses, but also for staying connected to nitive awareness as supporters of Israel, how quickly they have drifted away and how their support for the Palestinian our heritage no matter how assimilated we are in secular cause at the expense of Israel continues to grow" America. It was well worth venturing into the rain that Wissot was heartened by the caliber of Jewish students in evening. I was energized and enlight- Michigan who have taken up a cudgel of knowledge to beat ened. I left understanding why human back the.hyperbole spewed by Jew haters among peers. experience trumps pass-along emotion. "When you talk to the ones who.are empowered;' he says, Michael Wissot, a political analyst and "they truly believe that one person can make a difference. It's professor, spoke at the Holocaust really extraordinary when you see students saying they are Memorial Center in Farmington Hills on going to be part of the solution despite the challenges ahead." behalf of the new Michigan chapter of It's downright inspiring. StandWithUs, a proactive Israel educa- Still, the report points up the inability of many. Jews to tion organization-based in Los Angeles. defend Zionist and Jewish support for Israel against propa- Robert A. Sklar With national pollster Frank Luntz, ganda-trained pro-Palestinians who come across as more Wissot co-prepared the report "America Editor passionate and convincing in their account of what triggered 2020: How the Next- Generation Views ongoing Palestinian terror against the Jewish state. Israel!' To help expand the pool of informed student Zionists, we The groundbreaking report identifies the warped impres- adults. must get our act together, harden our resolve, learn sions that non-Jewish graduate students at nine top U.S. uni- how to respond compellingly to hatredand become worthy versities have about Israel and Jews as well as about America's role models. The idea is simple yet poignant: to help timid role in the volatile Middle East. It found anti-Zionist senti- students gain the confidence to speak out against intolerance ment morphing into similar feelings about American Jewry and tell the Jewish side of the story. This need isn't under- and its influence. Students were surveyed at Harvard, MIT, scored nearly enough around our state. This is where Columbia, Georgetown, George Washington, Johns Hopkins, ) will help. StandWithUs (wwwStandWithUs.org UCLA, the University of Chicago and Northwestern. The report, commis- "Most people don't take the conditions • sioned by the Israel Project, is blunt: "It's time for that are so prevalent on campus to American Jewish leaders and the Jewish community heart until they hear about them from in general to wake up and face facts: Many of the the students directly." young elite in America are openly hostile toward the — Michael Wissot, political analyst and professor perceived power of Jews in America!' The report talks to us through the viewpoint of young elites who have nur- There's no knockout punch in just recognizing the types of tured the rising tide of anti-Zionism on campus "despite feelings that the anti-Zionist young elite harbor. Jewish stu- organized and heroic efforts by organizations like AIPAC and dents must be equipped to confront these antagonists with Hiller When young elites flex their opinion-shaping muscle truth and candor to suppress the vitriol. and say that Israel's security measures create more problems The report "America 2020" also recommends seeking out than solutions — and that the fence is "a particularly ugly non-Jewish, pro-Israel professors and student leaders on symbol of division, oppression and occupation" —' we'd be campus to help spread the right message outside of class. reckless not to listen. The upshot: Israel needs Jewish as well as non-Jewish Pundits often depersonalize campus challenges for Jews* defenders. Jews can't go it alone. ❑ because it's easier then to generalize conclusions. "Most peo- ple don't take the conditions that are so prevalent on campus to heart until they hear about them from the students direct- ly," Wissot says. Why is there so much apathy in the And I agree. Professionals can be extremely insightful, but Jewish community toward campus anti- there's something uplifting about unfettered thoughts of stu= Zionism? dents experiencing what others can only interpret. Wissot is just 31. So that gives him an edge in relating to Is there a communal obligation to help students at Pepperdine University in L.A., where he is an Jewish students on campus fight this adjunct professor. More than that, as a communications antipathy? adviser to Fortune 500 companies, he knows what it takes to engage people. He knows the power of personalizing, E-mail: letters@thejewishnews.com empathizing and humanizing. "Until you actually tell a story that gets to the heart of what people are experiencing:' Wissot SALE EVENT OF THE SEASON 0 WOMEN'S EUROPEAN & AMERICAN DESIGNER CLOTHING COLLECTIONS ACCESSORIES & SHOES THE SALE AT TENDER 271 WEST MAPLE DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM 248.258.0212 SUNDAY 12-5 MONDAY-SATURDAY 10-6 THURSDAY EVENINGS 'TIL 9 . 1068450 Februray 9 • 2006 5