For a few years now, I have served as an assistant professor of music in the arts and design department at Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) in Branchburg, New Jersey, on a tenure track, working towards earning a permanent position on the faculty. I also serve as the artistic director of the Mozaika Concert Series at the college, a program that I created to foster multicultural dialogue through performances of music from the classical canon to contemporary works. I love teaching; performing with students, staff and faculty; and collaborating with colleagues.

My dream was always to teach in academia, and I pursued this path for the past 10 years, having completed my master’s and doctorate degrees and working as an adjunct faculty member in various schools. That dream hit a high point when I joined RVCC in 2020 as a full-time faculty member, and I have devoted the past four years to building the music program. However, at this stage, I am no longer filled with optimism about a future in post-secondary education.

What prompted this stark inflection point was the emotionally wrenching and isolating experience of the past seven months, in which I experienced the echo chamber of pro-Palestinian radicalism and intolerance on campus with no efforts by the administration or colleagues to allow for alternative views. Over this time, it took enormous effort and energy to sustain the activities that had hitherto defined my life as a professor: teaching classes, running the program, performing in concerts, and supporting my students through scholarship initiatives, extra lessons, outreach concerts and educational guidance.

Confronting and combating antisemitism has consumed so much of my energy and focus that, for the first time ever, I have had to cancel my own concerts and abandon my creative projects. Like another of my esteemed Jewish colleagues (also a professor, albeit at a different institution) put it, I have found it difficult to breathe.

I am a proud Jew who was born in Russia and spent some time living in Israel before emigrating to the U.S. I have close family members living in Israel, some of whom serve in the IDF. After the deadly attacks by Hamas terrorists on October 7, the RVCC campus quickly transformed into a hotbed for anti-Israel and antisemitic activity by the Student Government Association, fomented in no small part by external activist groups like American Muslims for Palestine. This atmosphere has been reflected frequently in the college’s social media channels, which ostensibly exist to further educational, nonpolitical objectives of the school.

Public lectures and social media posts on the campus spread deeply divisive views, stating that Hamas members are “freedom fighters,” repeating slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and asserting that Zionists run the world. I have shared reports of these and other offensive assertions with members of the college administration, and no one has taken any meaningful action to respond to them.

Any efforts I have made to offer contrary views, and defend the State of Israel’s right to exist, have been met with hostility. I have been labeled as an Islamophobe and someone who spreads “dangerous misinformation about the Palestinian genocide.”

I have spoken out about this situation on my personal social media a few times, which RVCC students discovered and have used as a pretense to complain about me to the college administration. I subsequently met with the college president, provost and human resources officers, who instructed me to be careful, and that my position could be compromised.

In an effort to create a safe space for Jewish students on campus, I attempted to form a Jewish student club and applied to the student government to recognize the club. The student government recognized the club, but rejected me as their adviser, stating that I am Islamophobic.

I reached out to the RVCC Holocaust Institute on campus for support in creating educational events, but received no response. In addition, in early November the Holocaust Institute had posted a statement acknowledging the tragic events of October 7. However the statement was removed in early April. Witnessing this erasure of recent history—the biggest killing of Jews since the Holocaust—struck me as incredibly disrespectful to the hostages, and to all the Jews and Israelis who are working to bring them home.

I cannot say with any certainty how the next chapter of my career will unfold. But I can say that the campus in which I work no longer feels like a safe or welcoming place for a proud Jew. Having directed all my career plans toward a life in academia, this crossroads fills me with great sadness and with genuine fear for the future of higher education in this country.

Dr. Anna Keiserman is a classical pianist who has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Strand Theater, the Ateneu Barcelones in Barcelona, Spain, Le Poisson Rouge, the Fete de La Musique, and other notable venues. She has won top prizes in international piano competitions in Russia and the U.S., and participated in concert tours in Italy, Spain and Russia. She has served on the faculty at NYU, Rutgers, William Paterson University and Raritan Valley Community College. She and her husband live in New Jersey. You can learn more about her at www.annakeisermanpiano.com