I
was looking forward to the
Zoom “
AEN Town Hall” on
Feb. 29, 2024, because I want-
ed to be with those as shocked
and bewildered as I was by Oct.
7, 2023, and the
explosion of Jew
hatred after that.
The Academic
Engagement
Network (AEN)
has been “orga-
nizing faculty to
oppose efforts to
delegitimize Israel and to defend
academic freedom on campus”
since 2015; it promotes dialogue,
rational and civil discussion,
and mutual understanding.
AEN became important to me
during the struggle to fend off
the endorsement of BDS by the
MLA — the Modern Language
Association with 25,000 mem-
bers (including me, like most
English faculty). In 2017, the
MLA voted strongly and defini-
tively against BDS.
I was familiar with academic
anti-Zionism long before 2015
and one short anecdote will suf-
fice: An English Department col-
league at Wayne State University
urged a graduate student not to
study Irish literature with me
because I was a “Zionist” and
could not understand post-co-
lonial Ireland. She studied with
me anyway. At the time my col-
league’s lobbying against me for
my Zionism just seemed silly, but
in retrospect it was much worse
than that.
The topic of the Town Hall was
trying to understand the rapid
growth of “Faculty for Justice in
Palestine Network” with over 80
chapters springing up since Oct.
7. At the beginning of the Zoom
meeting, Miriam Elman, the
AEN convener, reminded us that
the meeting would not be record-
ed, as was the usual practice, so
that people could speak their
minds without fear. First, several
speakers described their efforts to
help Jewish students and faculty
from the post-Oct. 7 onslaught of
hatred and malice.
Untenured faculty, graduate
students and undergradu-
ates, all familiar with routine
anti-Israelism in academia, now
experienced something new
and darker: shunning, physical
intimidation, threats, disillusion-
ment from losing friends and
professional contacts, and overall
feeling alone and unwelcome as a
Jew who supported Israel.
It was hard to hear these sto-
ries of widespread hurt, fear,
anxiety and even trauma. Since
retiring from the Wayne State
English Department in 2021, I
had lost an intuitive sense of the
academic climate. Academic life
depends on collaboration, apply-
ing for grants, job interviews,
lecture invitations, soliciting
recommendation letters and
networking. Now that “Zionist”
has become radioactive in some
academic spaces, pro-Israel aca-
demics in any field will now have
to be cautious in a way they did
not before Oct. 7.
A New Jersey faculty member
was part of a group that met
with their university president to
discuss Jewish concerns. She was
happy with the outcome of the
meeting and encouraged the rest
of us to do something similar. It
is not futile to make the college
authorities fully aware of how
students and faculty are experi-
encing the post-Oct. 7 hostility to
Israel and Jews.
A New York professor
described forming a small group
of pro-Israel faculty, some of
whom were willing to make
public their support and others
who were not, for fear of harm-
ing their careers. He, too, urged
taking the initiative to make a
strong, organized public presence
to help students, faculty and their
allies. Just getting a public list
to show students they were not
alone and had support was an
important act.
Dr. Michael
Scrivener
PURELY COMMENTARY
1942 - 2024
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opinion
Hamas in Academia