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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