12 | JULY 23 • 2020
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On many campuses, students
lack clarity on how to deal with
incidents of hate or ignorance,
stalling progress. This flaw exists
currently at MSU, even when
the evidence is crystal clear that
action must be taken.
The class I took was about
America’
s role in the Middle
East and featured a book written
by military historian Geoffrey
Wawro called Quicksand, in
which he attempts to explain the
U.S involvement in the region.
He employs anti-Semitism in his
explanation, essentially blaming
Jews for U.S. involvement in
the region, and accusing Jews
of manipulating American cit-
izens and administrations into
wrong foreign policy decisions.
While discussing the creation of
the state of Israel, he describes
the supposed effort of Zionist
Jews internationally to gain
American sympathy for their
cause. “The American Public
— saddened by Jewish suffering
and largely unaware of Arab
claims in Palestine — eagerly
embraced the Zionist propagan-
da that appeared in every major
American newspaper and many
minor ones, too,
” Wawro wrote.
“The Jewish propaganda was
ingenious, appealing at the same
time to American sentimentality
and anti-Semitism.
”
When I tried to report the
anti-Semitism in this class, I
was stonewalled. Members
of the Office of Inclusion and
Equity (OIE), as well as other
departments on campus dealing
with harassment and inclusion,
informed me there was nothing
that could be done, and that the
class did not “reach the level of
discrimination.
”
I am still trying to get the
university to take action and
protect Jewish students (and
other groups under siege) on
campus. The university needs to
come up with a system that pro-
motes the concerns of students,
instead of bogging them down
with procedure and informing
them the status quo will just
have to do. For many groups,
including Jewish students, the
status quo is unacceptable.
Universities could also help
fight discrimination and bigotry
by instituting programs that
bring people together to combat
bigotry, such as the ADL pro-
gram called No Place for Hate,
which educates students on
bias and discrimination starting
from as early as middle school.
The program includes curricu-
lums that go in depth on various
forms of bigotry and discrimina-
tion and can be vital for students
of all ages to gain a better under-
standing of the issues. Another
option is the MSU Dialogues
program, in which students
learn more about other identi-
ties and cultures. The Dialogues
program is optional, and only
120 students, including me, par-
ticipated in the spring of 2020.
Expanding the program and
mandating participation could
help stomp out hate and bigotry.
It will take communities and
students of all backgrounds
working together and support-
ing each other make all students
feel safe, including Jews, people
of color and the LGBTQ com-
munity. It will also take critical
assistance from the universities.
Although the Serling Institute
of Jewish Studies has done their
best to support Jewish students
on campus through workshops
and classes on Israel, they
cannot do it by themselves.
By
working together, students, fac-
ulty, and staff of all backgrounds
can fight back against hate and
ensure college campuses are a
safe place for all.
Alan Shulman is a senior at Michigan
State University majoring in international
relations with minors in Russian studies
and Jewish studies. Read his full paper
on campus anti-Semitism at thejewish-
news.com.
ANTI-SEMITISM from page 10