14 | DECEMBER 5 • 2024 J
N
J
ewish student leaders at the
University of Michigan hope
that the divisive and hostile
climate on campus that has taken
hold since Oct. 7, 2023, may be com-
ing to an end thanks to changes com-
ing to the school’s Central Student
Government.
A schoolwide election that ousted
a coalition of mostly anti-Israel stu-
dent organization leaders occurred
the same week when anti-Israel agi-
tators disrupted a lecture about Black
and Jewish relations during the civil
rights movement sponsored by the
University’s Frankel Center for Judaic
Studies.
On Nov. 19, San Francisco State
University professor and author Marc
Dollinger was invited to give a guest
lecture and discuss his 2018 book,
Black Power, Jewish Politics. The book
examines Jewish involvement in the
civil rights movement and how their
relationships fostered the strength-
ening of Black and Jewish identities
in later decades. About 50 students
attended, some of them to fulfill a
requirement in a Jewish history class.
Dollinger’s talk did not touch upon
Israel or the current war.
Halfway through the talk, about 10
masked anti-Israel agitators entered
the room. A video of the incident
that is circulating on social media
begins with a young man with curly
hair, who seemed at first confused
about what to say. He then declared
that Zionism is the world’s most rac-
ist ideology. A faculty member at the
front of the room invited them all
to have a seat and learn. Instead, the
man said, “We don’t do dialogue with
Zionists.”
Another masked woman, look-
ing at her phone, began leading the
chants of “Dollinger, you can’t hide;
Zionism is a crime” and “
Anti-Black
and settler, too; Zionist, Zionist, we
see you.”
After about 10 minutes of
chanting, an unnamed professor
approached them and told them that
“they are helping no one and are only
making things worse.”
Others off camera can be heard
yelling at the agitators that Dollinger
is not hiding but rather they were the
ones concealing their identity with
masks. Eventually, they left and the
SFSU Judaic Studies professor was
able to complete his lecture.
The Frankel Center for Judaic
Studies declined to comment on the
incident.
The JN also reached out to stu-
dents who attended the lecture, but
none gave comment citing fears
of social, academic or professional
repercussions.
Dan Viderman, president of
Students Supporting
Israel at the U-M, was
surprised that it was dis-
rupted by agitators.
“This was an event
that was not related
to Zionism whatso-
ever,” Viderman, who
was not at the lecture, said. “It was
about promoting and uplifting the
African American community and
detailed how the Jewish and African
American communities were allied
during the civil rights movement.”
Viderman had just returned from
Washington, D.C., where he attended
a conference for the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
“
At the conference, I learned we
are not alone in facing anti-Israel
hate,” Viderman said. “Everyone at
AIPAC understands that a battle is
being fought on America’s college
campuses. We will not back down.
We will continue to support Israel,
but we will do it in a way that does
not incite hatred, anger and violence
the way that pro-Palestinian students
conduct themselves.”
UNIVERSITY TO INVESTIGATE
U-M Director of Public Affairs Kay
Jarvis said the university is investi-
gating this to see if the incident goes
against its code of conduct.
Jarvis in a public statement said:
“Shouting down speakers for any
reason is unacceptable at the U-M.
It violates our academic mission and
our commitment to free speech and
diversity of thought. Doing so in a
way that, in this case, targeted a per-
son because of their Jewish identity
is particularly abhorrent and will not
be tolerated.”
Jarvis continued: “The university
condemns all forms of discrimina-
tion, racism and bias in the strongest
possible terms. The actions of the
individuals who interrupted this
event are a clear instance of antisem-
itism. The university is working to
identify the perpetrators so they can
be held accountable.”
The university has been under
much scrutiny in its handling of
both anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim or
anti-Palestinian activities on campus
in the last 14 months.
CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER
SCRUTINY AT U-M
On June 17, 2024, the U.S.
Department of Education Office of
Civil Rights issued an 11-page letter
of understanding to the University’s
General Counsel stating its OCR
office had received and reviewed doc-
umentation of 75 reports of alleged
discrimination or harassment based
on shared ancestry that were reported
during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024
school years, up to February 2024.
OCR identified concerns regarding
the effectiveness of the university’s
responses, as required by Title VI.
According to the letter, U-M
became one of the first higher educa-
tion institutions to come into agree-
ment with the DOE that have been
under scrutiny based on reports of
U-M’s Hostile
Climate May Be
Coming to an End
Dan
Viderman
Changes coming to Central Student
Government make students hopeful,
despite recent disruptions.
STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
OUR COMMUNITY
A screenshot of a
video circulating of
masked anti-Israel
agitators’ disruption
of the lecture about
Black and Jewish
relations during the
civil rights movement.