Yale University appointed Magda Teter as its first scholar-in-residence for the Yale Program for the Study of Antisemitism.
Teter, a historian of antisemitism and professor of history at Fordham University in New York City, will host five events this semester for the university community and the public. The programs will address the history of antisemitism, its recent surge and the challenges facing the field of antisemitism studies.
“I am looking forward to exploring these complex issues with different audiences, especially now when we see both the resurgence of antisemitism and its politicization,” Teter stated.
Teter’s scholarship focuses on the ways early modern religion and culture shaped the development of antisemitism. Growing up in Poland, she said that “the remnants of the Jewish presence made me interested in Jewish history and culture at a time when these topics were still a taboo.”
At Fordham, she held the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies and served as co-director of the Center for Jewish Studies. She is president of the American Academy for Jewish Research and previously served as vice president for publications at the Association for Jewish Studies and joint editor-in-chief of AJS Review.
Several Ivy League institutions, including Yale, Harvard and Columbia, experienced pro-Palestinian encampments during the spring 2024 semester. Demonstrators called on the university to divest from weapons manufacturers amid Israel’s war against Hamas, which began after the terrorist group attacked the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023.
An encampment on Yale’s campus in April 2024 ended with 48 arrests, 44 of them students, according to the Yale Daily News, a student newspaper.
