APRIL 25 • 2024 | 9
J
N

continued from page 6

admissions is that elite 
schools care infinitely more 
about their matriculation 
rates (that is, the percentage 
of accepted students who 
actually decide to attend) 
than their actual acceptance 
rates. Nirvana for an 
admissions department is 
a low rate of acceptance, 
coupled with a high rate 
of matriculation. After all, 
what’s the point of being 
the most selective school 
on the West Coast if most 
of your admitted students 
end up heading east to your 
competition?
What does this mean 
for us? Well, if you’re a 
student who’s been accepted 
to one or more of these 
storied institutions (mazel 
tov) — or a proud parent 
or grandparent of such a 
student (mazel tov) — it 
might be time for you to 
reach out to the dean of 
students of said school and 
politely inquire into what 
the hell is going on and 
what the administration 
plans on doing about it.
For most colleges, the 
deadline for accepted 
students to commit to 
attend is May 1. As a result, 
this is one of the few times 
in the admissions cycle 
that students and their 
families have a measure of 
leverage. If, for example, 
students admitted to both 
the University of North 
Carolina in Chapel Hill 
(which pratfalled its way 
to an F) and Duke (which 
scored an impressive B), 
decided to move en masse 
to Durham and become 
Blue Devils, then UNC 

administrators — and the 
boards that oversee them 
— would be stocking up 
on antacids and headache 
powder. As they should.
If you’re a donor to a 
school that received a 
dunce cap from the ADL, 
you have several choices. 
The easier one would be 
reducing or stopping your 
gift in protest. A more 
challenging, but perhaps 
more satisfying, option 
would be trying to fix the 
campus from within, by 
joining one of the boards 
mentioned above. Or do 
both. However you decide, 
know that your voice 
matters. So use it.
More than a century ago, 
Justice Louis D. Brandeis 
(the namesake of one 
of the two high-scoring 
campuses) famously wrote 
that sunlight was the best 
disinfectant. That principle 
still holds true; Americans, 
as a nation, will cut out 
the rot of antisemitism 
when it is properly 
illuminated. This recently 
was demonstrated by the 
congressional grilling of 
several university presidents 
regarding antisemitism on 
campus and, shortly after, 
the ignominious dismissal 
of two of them.
With its report, ADL has 
focused spotlights all over 
the country. What happens 
next largely is up to us. 

David Gemunder has served on 

the boards of several national 

organizations that combat 

antisemitism, including Hillel 

International, the Secure Community 

Network and the Alpha Epsilon Pi 

Foundation.

JOIN US!

LUNCH & LEARN 
EVENT

WEDNESDAY, MAY 22ND 

12:00 - 2:00PM

LONGACRE HOUSE 

24705 FARMINGTON ROAD, 

FARMINGTON HILLS, MI 48336

Join us for a special lunch and learn event 
with Rose Senior Living Farmington Hills, a 
brand-new senior living community in your 
neighborhood. Learn about Rose Senior 
Living and the benefits of joining our 
Founders Club!

RSVP by Thursday, May 16th 
by calling (248) 850-1351

Contact us to find out how to become a 
Founders Club Member!

Independent Living, Assisted Living and Memory Care

28800 West Eleven Mile Road • Farmington Hills, MI 48336

FarmingtonHills.RoseSeniorLiving.com