When Jewish college students return to campus this fall, it will be, “barring a miracle,” the first time since the Israeli War for Independence that American Jewish students will go back to school while the Jewish state is actively at war, Jacob Baime, CEO of Israel on Campus Coalition, told JNS.
“Hasn’t happened since 1948,” Baime said, on the sidelines of the group’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., which began on Sunday and runs through Tuesday. “That reality sets the table for this summit.”
The event drew 500 students this year—up from 400 last year and 200 in 2022—from 153 campuses, according to Baime. That’s more than 118 last year, he added.
“There’s so much demand from the students to come together and to stand up for what’s right,” he said. “One of the things we’re really thinking about is how many seats do we need next year? Should it be 750? Should it be a 1,000-student conference? Probably that’s what we’re moving towards, because there’s such demand.”
Matching the opposition
Since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, pro-Israel students have wanted “to get up off the bench,” said Baime.
“That has been inspiring,” he told JNS. “It has been a dramatic increase in interest among pro-Israel students, so even as it’s becoming more challenging to stand up for Israel and to stand up for what’s right, more students want to do it.”
But he cautioned that the Jewish state’s opponents are also organizing, and there is “a very sophisticated, professional, coordinated national network of anti-Israel students and professionals.”
Baime hopes the conference will help student attendees build broad alliances beyond the pro-Israel base; find their online voices as digital activists; and help their peers understand that Israel and the United States have shared values.
He emphasized that “this is not just about Israel.”
Physical safety
Security, including situational awareness and self-defense, was a focus at the conference.
“One of the top things that we’ve heard from students is that they’re concerned about physical safety,” Baime said, noting that Secure Community Network, Hillel International and Chabad on Campus International partner with the group.
“We’re lucky that the Jewish and pro-Israel communities have taken this really seriously,” he said.
Baime noted being surprised that speakers were able to attend the event from Israel. “We were thinking, are any of our Israel-based speakers going to make it because of the security situation in Israel?” he said. “They were, and they did. They all made it.”
Unlike in prior years, the group brought in an outside security company that provided the sort of security that TSA offers at airports.
“It’s an unfortunate reality that we have to take physical security very, very seriously,” Baime told JNS. “It is a huge change. We hired a big national firm to handle it that has assets around the country.”
He’s already thinking ahead to next year’s event.
“It’s one of those things where we’ll have to take a leap, and we need to sign with a hotel real soon if we’re going to do it,” Baime said. “The challenge isn’t going away. The demand is not going away, and we’re not going anywhere either.”
