18 | DECEMBER 14 • 2023
18 | DECEMBER 14 • 2023
week. Since Oct. 7, that number
has skyrocketed to an average
of 20 incidents per week, with
many coming from college
campuses.
Normandin says many sim-
ple requests have been made to
campus leaders, such as adopt-
ing a definition of antisemitism,
having the university distance
themselves from antisemitic
speakers or events, and deliv-
ering protocols and policies
for responding to antisemitic
incidents.
“There have been admin-
istrators I’ve encouraged to
educate themselves and their
staff on things, like what does
‘from the river to the sea’ actu-
ally mean? I think everyone is
trying to navigate the situation
in their own way. It’s never OK
to have somebody feel as if they
are not comfortable on campus,
and I would say universities
are very concerned about this,
”
Normandin said.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Beyond on-campus incidents,
the level of hostility, misinfor-
mation and antisemitic rhetoric
Jewish college students have
seen on social media, including
from people they know, has
been distressing. MSU junior
Matthew Zivian believes social
media is now a dangerous place
for Jewish students.
Sammy Caruso, a U-M
Dearborn senior, believes
there’s so much more nuance to
the conflict than social media
will ever show.
“One thing that bothers me
so much is people are pushed
where you have to be pro-Pal-
estine or you have to be pro-
Israel on this issue,
” Caruso
said. “I think social media
pushes people further and fur-
ther into their echo chambers.
”
A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE
Jewish experiences on cam-
pus haven’t all been nega-
tive. Caruso’s experience in
Dearborn has been a positive
one. While there’s a heightened
sense of alert in general for
Jews, Caruso says there largely
hasn’t been much of a differ-
ence on campus since Oct. 7.
There’s also been antisemitism
training with the administra-
tion and leaders on campus at
U-M Dearborn, he says.
Caruso said he has never met
and connected with more Jews
at U-M Dearborn than during
this time, while also connect-
ing with non-Jews. He says
Palestinian students on campus
offered solidarity following
Oct. 7.
“
And after the murder of
Samantha Woll, Palestinian
students and people in SJP
reached out to me, knowing I’m
Jewish, seeing how I’m doing,
”
Caruso said. “I really appreci-
ated the gestures and I recipro-
cated, seeing how they’re doing,
with a lot of them having fam-
ily [affected] and this being a
personal issue for them, too. I
think those coalitions make us
stronger.
”
While there have been many
pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel
rallies on campuses, there hav-
en’t been too many pro-Israel
rallies. In some cases, this is
heavily debated on and decid-
ed against. In other cases, it’s
decided against due to the com-
plexity of the situation.
At MSU, a careful decision
was made against having a
rally, figuring if they come out
with rallies and start putting up
posters of kidnapped Israelis,
the response could put Jewish
students at risk.
OUR COMMUNITY
COVER STORY
continued on page 20
TOP: WSU students Maya
Siegmann, Ella Cohen,
Stella Skolnik and Kaitlyn
Arnston at the March for
Israel in Washington D.C.
BOTTOM: Esther
Shepherd, Chana Shepherd,
Rivkah Duato and Shterna
Shepherd enjoy the
Shabbat for Israel event.
continued from page 17