Campus diversity, Jewishness, and antisemitism

Abstract

To explore current attitudes among Jewish students, faculty, and leaders of Jewish campus organizations regarding the putative exclusion of Jewish concerns from campus dialogs around diversity, we recruited 40 such individuals to engage in a semi-structured interview. The consensus among our interviewees was that there is a significant, ongoing, and too-often overlooked problem with virulent anti-Israel activity on many campuses that often seeps into antisemitism; that many, though not all, Jewish students are disturbed by this phenomena; that the consequences of anti-Israel hostility on some campuses are felt most significantly by self-identified progressive Jewish students who feel emotionally attacked for pro-Israel sentiments and ostracized in their attempts to join with seemingly progressive and/or intersectional campus movements; that college diversity officers and courses have, for the most part, failed to include issues of concern to Jewish students; and that psychotherapists, especially those on college campuses, maybe unprepared to deal with concerns specific to Jewish students. We believe that the failure to recognize and deal with campus antisemitism is both dangerous and morally disingenuous. academia, antisemitism, BDS, diversity, JudaismWe express our great appreciation to Mandy Newman and Daisy Ort for their assistance in interviewing individuals for this article. We also express our great appreciation to Steven Broder, Neal Farber, and Murray Farber for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

How October 7th, 2023, changed fear and exposure to hate amongst Jewish and Israeli members of universities

“…However, between 20 and 25% of respondents reported being victims of verbal harassment due to their nationality or religion, both within and outside of campus. This finding is consistent with extant findings of high level of hate and antagonism on campus prior to the October 7 th (Farber & Poleg, 2019;Saxe et al, 2015;Wright et al, 2023).…”

Jewish on campus: Complexity and tikkun

“…Race can also be complicated for white Jewish Americans. The relationship between Jews and whiteness is a conditional one and whether light skinned Jews should be considered white or not is a debated topic (Farber & Poleg, 2019). Additionally, for Jewish Americans who self-identify as white or who are deemed white it can be complicated to understand the relationship between their whiteness and their Jewishness.…”

“…The goal of this section is to provide an overview of the components and complexities of Jewish college student identity. To begin, there is little evidence of issues related to Jewish identity being woven into college classrooms and specifically multicultural curricula outside of Jewish Studies (Blumenfeld & Klein, 2009; Farber & Poleg, 2019; MacDoanld‐Dennis, 2006; Rubin, 2020). According to MacDonald‐Dennis (2006), “One of the biggest difficulties in discussing Jewish identity and ‘place’ in the United States is that Jews do not fit neatly into established and understood notions of ethnic, racial, national, or religious identity in this country” (p. 267).…”

The Lived Experiences of Anti-Semitism Encountered by Jewish Students on University Campuses: A Phenomenological Study

“…The Jewish people are a distinct group with Middle Eastern origins, yet racial and ethnic dynamics shifted for Jews after the Holocaust when light skinned immigrants entered the United States and were grouped as white people. Today, Jewish people are comprised of many races with intersecting identities (Farber & Poleg, 2019). While white-passing Jews enjoy privilege, it is important to recognize the violent acts perpetuated against Jewish identity (Rubin, 2017) and the experiences of Jewish Americans that differ greatly from those of white Christians.…”

“…Despite this evidence, counselor education is rarely inclusive of Jewish needs, history, ethnic, or cultural considerations (Farber & Poleg, 2019). As such, Jewish students debate where and how to display their intersectional identities on university campuses (Rubin, 2017) and whether it is safe to do so.…”