On June 22, the Young Israel of White Plains hosted “The State of Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism on College Campuses Today,” on behalf of The Five Synagogues of White Plains, an umbrella Israel affairs group of diversely affiliated synagogues. Speakers included Alex Joffe, editor of the BDS Monitor for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, and Rena Nasar-First, executive director of Campus Affairs at StandWithUs.
Moderator Lawrence Askowitz kicked off the discussion. “We all know that there’s antisemitism going on; it’s been spiking,” he said. “College campuses matter. It’s the first time youth live on their own and are learning with people they don’t know in an environment where people don’t know much about Israel. This dynamic of miseducation, when you start seeing things in the general world, has been incubated for decades on campuses.”
Nasar-First said: “Future policymakers, industry, community and religious leaders are on campus having their opinions formed in the classroom from peers. The StandWithUs campus department deals with antisemitism, empowering students to proudly bring Israel education and engagement to campuses.” She noted alarming increases in campus antisemitism. “A Hillel International and ADL survey highlighted that one in three students experienced antisemitism last year in 400 incidents of classic antisemitism: swastikas, stolen dormitory mezuzahs, vandalized Jewish communal spaces, boycotted Israeli products and academic/cultural exchanges with Israeli institutions. There’s a lack of proper education and accountability. Administrators have a responsibility to understand what students are dealing with and respond. Students deserve to express themselves safely and confidently without fear of repercussions.”
Joffe noted: “None of this is new. After the U.N.’s Zionism is Racism resolution in 1974, British university student governments defunded Jewish student organizations. The difference now is that much of student and faculty campus life is relentlessly politicized. I graduated from college 40 years ago. What’s different now isn’t simply anti-Zionism, anti-Americanism or antisemitism in Middle Eastern studies, as a kind of predictable context. Now you have social workers’ professional organizations adopting BDS resolutions because it’s ‘social work.’ Hardcore ideologues sit on promotions and tenure committees, resulting in a gradual process of selecting these attitudes.”
Askowitz commented that when he went to school, “you were able to talk; it wasn’t so political. Things have changed. Everything is political, not just the poli-sci department, not just Middle Eastern studies. Everyone’s carrying their politics around. You feel it everywhere.”
What can people do? “Students have rights on campus, and parents of students should know their children’s rights,” Nasar-First explained. “Your relationship to an institution is a contractual one; you’re paying for certain services which should be provided to all clients equally.” She added that her legal department helps students articulate those rights and gives pro bono legal support. “I always tell students it’s critical that you document and report what you see, because a lot happens in micro-aggressions where it might not even register as something wrong.” Nasar-First suggests looking for campuses with big proactive Jewish and pro-Israel communities. “Look what the record has been for the administration. Have they been sympathetic? Have they taken actions in support of Jewish students on campus?”
Joffe added: “The average Joe isn’t going to change the institution. I’ve seen colleges, public and private, take money for Israel studies, and then hire anti-Zionists for those professorships.” However, he noted, “if you don’t apply in numbers to a particular institution which traditionally desires Jewish students, they might get that message.
“Jewish students are a valuable commodity, because they’re generally smart, good students and nice people, loyal to the institutions after graduation. These are traits colleges want and expect from Jewish students, and it’s leverage.” Joffe estimates 80% of yeshiva day school graduates attend just 60 campuses. “Instead of applying to 60, we go to 50 to influence 10 schools, but the macro issue about BDS, antisemitism anti-Zionism throughout the country is pervasive. Pulling back from a dozen schools isn’t going to change momentum.”
Joffe, an archaeologist and historian, is also a senior nonresident fellow of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, BESA Perspectives, Fathom, National Interest, Tablet, Forbes, The Hill, Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, Algemeiner, Times of Israel, The New Republic and the New York Daily News.
Nasar-First’s department at StandWithUs empowers student leaders to proudly bring Israel education to campuses, correct misinformation about Israel and stand up to antisemitism, with high-level leadership workshops, consultations with in-house experts, student conferences, educational booklets and factsheets.
Askowitz is an investment banker who serves on the boards of overseers of Yeshiva College and Sy Syms School of Business. He has written over 1,100 articles on modern Zionism and antisemitism which have been translated into several languages and re-published internationally. His articles and references to his research have also appeared in the Gatestone Institute, Legal Insurrection and Times of Israel.
By Judy Berger
