For the last eight weeks, our organization has engaged in hundreds of conversations with our constituency about what makes Jewish students on campus feel vulnerable. The surprising pattern emerging is that whether a particular campus feels unsafe for Jewish students actually depends less on the raw number of hate incidents, and instead more on how its administration has or hasn’t responded to those incidents and to October 7th in general. Is the university itself truly committed to protecting its Jewish students? Yesterday’s congressional hearing on campus antisemitism and the testimony of the presidents of MIT, Harvard, and Penn confirmed our worst apprehensions.When faced with the following question:
“Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment?”
Each answered: “It depends on the context.”
Don’t believe me? Watch it here.
I was floored. In what context exactly could calling for the genocide of Jews be okay? Is it not necessarily harassment or bullying to threaten and tell Jewish students they deserve to die? Do our students need to wait for the confrontation to get physical before complaining?
The very definition of antisemitism is applying a double standard to Jews because they are Jews. Can you imagine calling for the genocide of any other marginalized group deemed acceptable “depending on the context”??
You can’t – which means that far from reassuring us about their commitment to fighting antisemitism, these administrators just invoked antisemitic double standards themselves. In Congress. In front of the world. And the world, and our students, are watching.
These statements (or lack thereof) seriously jeopardize the safety of our students on campus and go a long way toward legitimizing Jew hatred in our society. I am shocked this is happening in our country, but especially from the leaders of three of the top universities and at a congressional hearing to boot.
JGO’s campus communities have thankfully stayed strong, united and inspired throughout. One bright spot from yesterday’s hearing was the incredible poise, eloquence and courage of the Jewish student leaders in attendance. But this failed university leadership is testing the boundaries of what they and their classmates can bear.
Some have pointed out that in the private sector such comments would get someone fired immediately. That may be true today, and the administrators’ testimony shows how detached from reality some in academia have become. But once antisemitism is normalized on campus it won’t remain on campus.
JGO is in constant communication with our student leaders to ensure our Jewish grad communities feel safe. We are also working hard to strengthen our relationships with school administrations – and there are some good ones out there – to remind them that their actions and words are what make the biggest difference for Jewish students.
I’m heading into Hanukkah with the hope that the right leadership steps up to the plate for the Jewish community when we need it most. And we need it now.
