As a wave of anti-Semitism sweeps across American college campuses, making Jewish students and professors uncomfortable and even fear for their lives, one thing is clear: It's only going to get worse. is. Just follow the money.
What you need is a plan to deal with it. The range of possibilities includes abandoning those campuses and establishing your own.
bad? It has been getting worse for decades. I attended one of the universities where today's “pro-Palestinians” are camped out. I was there during the famous 60s, when students were also protesting. The difference is that they, we, were protesting a war that actually involved the United States, which had half a million soldiers in Vietnam at the time.
Today, the United States does send arms and money to Israel, but this directly affects the United States, as do larger, bloodier conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Sudan—the list goes on and on. It's not a conflict. Caring for them. This is proof that this mayhem has little to do with Israel and what we are dealing with here is pure Jew hatred.
I was a journalism student at the time. After being promoted to the post of editorial page editor for my university newspaper, my life became miserable when I encountered a student editor who was constantly on my back. After a few months of this, a Jewish student asked me: “Do you think it's because you're Jewish?”
I'm the son of Holocaust survivors, so anti-Semitism is deeply ingrained in me, but my honest answer was, “It never occurred to me.” And in the end, that wasn't the reason.
If we follow the next 60 years, we see the gradual rise of anti-Semitism on college campuses. This money is bought and paid for by a joint long-term campaign by Arab countries to funnel money to universities, fund professorships, sponsor students, and fund departments and programs.
One summary found that Qatar alone was siphoning more than $5 billion to American universities. Cornell University is the largest recipient of Arab funding, raising more than $1.5 billion. It's no wonder, then, that Cornell University was one of the first areas to “erupt.” In contrast, Harvard University received “only” $187 million.
In the past, Jewish students, professors and professional advocacy groups have loudly complained, demanded that the university take action against lawbreakers, and praised the presence of police on campus. None of these actions do much more than put out the occasional fire. We need to do more than that, and not just whine about each other to anti-social media.
First, consider these two options:
Abandon the front-line campus and enroll at a university where Jews are welcome in the student body and faculty just like everyone else. Let's stay here and fight, demanding the right of Jewish students to study unhindered, because it has been a fundamental right in American society since Jewish student quotas were abolished last century.
If you choose the first option of leaving a conflict zone for a real education other than survival on the battlefield, consider the following possibilities:
1a. Create a new university. Its guidelines begin by requiring all students and staff, from campus police officers to top professors, to sign the IHRA's definition of anti-Semitism, and go on to state that while it is legitimate to criticize Israeli policies, Targeting Israel as a nation or calling for attacks on Israel can also be added. Anyone who violates these terms will be automatically and immediately expelled or dismissed. Building a new university has never been more feasible. The coronavirus pandemic and so many people working from home instead of offices has created a glut of commercial real estate in many places, including New York and San Francisco.
Jewish philanthropists who donated to tainted universities should instead be prepared to contribute to projects that do not target or put Jewish students at risk. They may be able to finance the purchase of an office building that will be converted into a university.
Another portion of those donations would have given professors who are comfortable teaching and researching in an atmosphere of academic freedom, who don't have to embrace “progressive” mantras and ideas, and now violence. students may be encouraged to transfer to a new university.
Endowed scholarships are offered to students who agree to the university's terms and conditions.
1b. Expand, strengthen, and improve existing Jewish-oriented schools: Brandeis University, Touro University, and Yeshiva University.
Working within the same framework as above (requiring commitment to the IHRA definition and Israeli addendum), the proliferation of thousands of additional students, hundreds of faculty and staff, and new buildings to house them , these schools will be strengthened. The system was established to improve the academic standing of all students while admitting as many Jewish students as possible. Although these two goals are somewhat contradictory, they are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
After a few years, just as the academic ratings of Jewish-friendly universities will rise, the academic ratings of universities that are not welcoming to Jewish students will begin to decline. Sweet justice.
1c. Send students to Israel for college. Israel's top universities have established and successful academic programs for visiting students. This program will be expanded to accommodate thousands of students who are likely to jump at the chance to go to a truly welcoming university and receive a first-class education. . Currently, tuition fees for overseas programs in Israel are significantly lower than tuition fees at “prestigious” universities in the United States. The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, where I live, also has a world-class graduate-level university with classes taught in English.
So there are four options to choose from. And, as with most perplexing multiple-choice questions, the best answer is “all of the above.”
All university programs are coordinated. Students can decide to become a fighter for Jewish rights for a year, then seamlessly transfer to one of the Jewish universities, then go to Israel, then return to the United States .
Its goal is to provide all Jewish college students with the opportunity to receive a proper education in a welcoming atmosphere, protect themselves from the proliferation of anti-Jewish hatred on college campuses, and excel academically. is.
ambitious? yes. Possible? It must be so. Now more than ever, the Jewish community must mobilize and direct donations, bring together the best academics, and come together to make this vision a reality. Because it gets worse. It is only a matter of time before bloodshed breaks out on today's anti-Semitic campuses.
