10 | JULY 23 • 2020
commentary
Anti-Semitism on Campus
C
olleges around the country
have become much more
attentive to the needs of
their students in the last several
years, partially due to scandals
that have hurt their reputations.
From sexual
assault and blatant
racism at Michigan
State University to
cheating scandals
at Georgetown and
Stanford, universi-
ties are under the
microscope for
how they protect their students.
One issue that unfortunately
has not gotten a lot of attention
on college campuses is how
increasingly unsafe Jewish stu-
dents feel. There are several rea-
sons for this, the major one being
ignorance or a lack of knowledge
of the history of anti-Semitism.
Hatred toward Jews on campuses
is often expressed in a non-obvi-
ous way, such as a political con-
versation about the state of Israel,
and is rarely demonstrated via
more traditional discrimination
tactics or direct violence.
Due to the lack of “obvious”
discrimination, these constant
examples of anti-Semitic harass-
ment and intimidation do not
receive much mainstream media
attention. According to a January
2020 ADL poll, more than half
of American adults (61 percent)
agree with at least one or more
classic anti-Semitic canards, such
as that Jews control the media;
Jews are more loyal to Israel than
the U.S.; and Jews talk about the
Holocaust too much. In Europe,
the situation is dire as well. In a
2018 CNN poll of Europeans,
over a third said that Jews use the
Holocaust to advance their own
positions or goals.
The rapid rise of anti-Semitism
in the last several years has neg-
atively impacted Jewish students
on college campuses and should
not be a political issue. The
threats Jews face from far-right
and far-left forces are significant,
and both must be actively com-
batted. The inability, and some-
times unwillingness, of schools
such as Columbia, the University
of North Carolina and MSU to
deal with this issue is dangerous
and leads to ignorance and target-
ing of Jewish students.
At Columbia, anti-Semitic
incidents included classroom/
academic harassment of students
as well as prominent anti-Jewish
guest speakers. The president
of the University, Lee Bollinger,
said in 2020 that he had become
increasingly concerned about the
treatment of Jewish students on
campus.
At UNC, the Department
of Education was forced to get
involved due to virulent discrim-
ination against Jewish students
within academic curriculums.
Finally, at my university, MSU,
there have been several anti-Se-
mitic incidents on campus, such
as the painting of swastikas and
the vandalism of the MSU Hillel
Jewish student center.
I also took a class full of
anti-Semitic content at MSU,
during which the professor told
students that Jewish money
controls American politics and
that Jews stole all the land in the
Middle East from Arabs to create
the state of Israel.
The recent rise of anti-Semi-
tism has led to Jewish students
feeling attacked and alone on
U.S. college campuses. Students,
faculty and staff have not received
adequate training for addressing
anti-Semitism, resulting in Jews
being forced to stand up for
themselves.
To make Jewish students feel
safe, universities need to ensure
students are not being singled
out. That means there must be
a way for students to make their
voices heard on campus without
needing to protest or demon-
strate. Universities must have
mechanisms in place for students
to report bigotry of any kind and
then, most importantly, be able
to act on those reports to keep
students safe.
Alan Shulman
to the Jewish food pantry as a
Jewish organization and cultural
connection seems to be almost
more important to this commu-
nity than the connection to a
source of food and sustenance.
The Righteous Among the
Nations expressed that the food
they most like to receive is food
that is from Israel and that is
directly connected to the sym-
bol of the survival of the Jewish
people. Products like Halva and
biscuits from Israel are specifical-
ly requested by these heroes. The
phrase they used with the rabbi
is, “We Are Together.
”
These righteous people were
children who risked their lives
guiding Jewish children in and
out of ghetto gates, taking food
into hiding spaces, removing
waste so that the Nazis would not
notice additional waste for a fam-
ily that was hiding Jews, exchang-
ing communications between
hidden families and their caregiv-
ers and the like.
One such woman, Krystyna
Wiśniewska, recently got out of
the hospital. The pantry sent her
a card and a food delivery, and
she replied with a note of thanks
and a photograph, displaying the
card she received in the picture.
The connection is very meaning-
ful to her.
Another of the Righteous, cel-
ebrating her 101st birthday, was
visited by the rabbi, who deliv-
ered a letter from the president of
Israel and one from the president
of Poland. At her age, wheel-
chair- bound, she expressed her
appreciation and then asked the
rabbi how she may be of any help
or assistance to him.
These special people who
risked their own lives and gave
so much are still, by nature,
givers and the best of friends
to the Jewish people. It is very
rewarding to think that a delivery
of kosher food, including items
from Israel, gives them even a
small amount of help and plea-
sure every month. It seems like
a clear responsibility to help take
care of these remarkable people.
Yad Ezra couldn’
t be prouder of
this relationship with the Polish
Jewish community and with
Rabbi Schudrich. The organiza-
tion looks forward to an ongoing
connection and continuing to
explore ways to help the food
pantry develop. Perhaps they will
reach a larger Jewish community
in Eastern Europe or perhaps
they may reach the remaining
Righteous Among the Nations
who survive in other countries
in the region. COVID -19 may
distance us physically, but some-
times it doesn’
t matter which side
of the ocean you live on.
To support the Warsaw food pantry,
visit yadezra.org/helping-hand-of-war-
saw.
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