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 Covering and Connecting Jewish Detroit Every Week To make a donation to the DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION go to the website www.thejewishnews.com The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at 32255 Northwestern Highway, #205, Farmington Hills, Michigan. Periodical postage paid at Southfield, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. 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