Hillel International
Chancellor Robert Jones: “Sneaking around and delivering hateful, hurtful and racist messages in plastic sandwich bags filled with gravel is a cowardly and craven way to spew hate and division in our community.”
The effort involved 40 focus groups comprised of students, faculty, staff, alumni and trustees, in addition to a campus-wide survey.
“The report hides behind misleading claims of ‘academic freedom’ to treat Jewish concerns with an extraordinary level of hesitation absent from similar university reports on other minority groups,” said Douglas Sandoval, managing editor of CAMERA on Campus.
“Let us not be shy about our Judaism or cower in the face of hate. Let us stand proudly as Jews and show Jewish pride,” said Rabbi Shmuel Tiechtel, director of Rohr Chabad at ASU in Tempe, Ariz.
Rabbi Yudi Steiner, director of the Rohr Chabad at GW, said “what I’m hoping to do today is lead by example and model how I think the Jewish response, from Jewish students especially, should be, and that is what we will talk about the rally.”
The national questionnaire included 756 undergraduate students who identify as Jewish and are currently enrolled in 270 different four-year colleges and universities across America.
Jim Fleischer, CEO of AEPi, called the results “staggering and alarming,” saying that more needs to be done to “not only push back against the rise of anti-Semitism on campuses.”
Karen Parry, executive director of Hillel of San Diego, said the center will be “a hub for Jewish life and is critical to ensuring that students have a place to gather, connect and learn.”
Student corps members will participate in a full-year cohort experience with a choice of six issue-based education cohorts.
“It’s no coincidence that anti-Israel forces focus on schools with more Jewish students to try to poison their minds about Israel,” says Hillel International president and CEO Adam Lehman. “Like the child at the seder who doesn’t even know how to ask, many of our kids are vulnerable.”
While they are looking forward to some sense of pre-pandemic normalcy at their schools, they also risk facing BDS and pro-Palestinian activists with renewed energy against the Jewish state.
Gadeer Kamal-Mreeh will work to strengthen connections to Israel and facilitate Jewish social activism.
