We are Jews in the South

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BIG No to Emory, my niece was there when there were "eviction notices" plastered on doors of Jewish students.

Tulane is a very safe place for Jewish students. My nephew called it "Jewlane."

Duke isn't too bad and neither is Vandy. UGa and UVA too.

The Hillel and Algenmeier (sp?) lists ranking safe schools are pretty accurate.

It was done by Pro-Palestine students, and the notices were almost identical to ones that were used at NYU.
https://nypost.com/2019/04/05/eviction-notices-placed-on-doors-of-jewish-students-at-emory-university/
https://nypost.com/2014/04/24/jewish-nyu-students-targeted-by-pro-palestine-activists-report/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BIG No to Emory, my niece was there when there were "eviction notices" plastered on doors of Jewish students.

Tulane is a very safe place for Jewish students. My nephew called it "Jewlane." Duke isn't too bad and neither is Vandy. UGa and UVA too. The Hillel and Algenmeier (sp?) lists ranking safe schools are pretty accurate.

How did people know students were Jewish at Emory, unless their names were like, Mordechai Bernsteinberggoldman? I never told anyone I was jewish until after I'd established they were open-minded enough to not care.

It’s sad to have to hide who you are though.

[Anonymous]

We had a Jewish kid in my HS in the South. One. In the whole school. He went to Duke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:BIG No to Emory, my niece was there when there were "eviction notices" plastered on doors of Jewish students.

Tulane is a very safe place for Jewish students. My nephew called it "Jewlane." Duke isn't too bad and neither is Vandy. UGa and UVA too. The Hillel and Algenmeier (sp?) lists ranking safe schools are pretty accurate.

How did people know students were Jewish at Emory, unless their names were like, Mordechai Bernsteinberggoldman? I never told anyone I was jewish until after I'd established they were open-minded enough to not care.

It’s sad to have to hide who you are though.

Doesn't phase me at all. It's what I've always done. My great-grandma came to this country during pograms, and I used to look at the number on her best friend's arm when she wore short-sleeve dresses. I'm lucky.

[Anonymous]

university of Florida

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a Jewish kid in my HS in the South. One. In the whole school. He went to Duke.

I had tons of Jewish students in my HS in the south. They went to schools all over the country.

[Anonymous]

Aren’t there a lot of synagogues in Atlanta? It isn’t like my old neighborhood in MoCo where we passed a synagogue every other block but you definitely have more choice than a lot of other cities. In any event, what type of school is your dc looking for and what are their stats? A lot of the schools on the Hillel list are very competitive and very few kids get into them (Yale, Columbia etc). But there are others that are more accessible (e.g., Muhlenberg). Of course, there is Brandeis which is about 50% Jewish and Boston University (not sure of the percentage but it is very popular). University of Delaware is supposed to have a strong Jewish community. My dd chose a small LAC bc she felt at home there and loved the academics but now really feels the absence of a strong Jewish community. There are Jewish kids at her school but no one on staff to bring them together and no building or room where they can hang out. Not that she would go there all the time - it’s just nice to know it’s there if she needs it. Lots of the big state schools have thriving communities and from what I’ve heard from friends, kids appreciate the warm dinners at Chabad and tend to gravitate there more than Hillel right now (but this is anecdotal).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are recent immigrants, recent by most standards, and trying to understand this request. Is there a lot of animosity towards Jewish people in Southern colleges? What about towards Muslims or Hindus who probably stand out more than Jews (who IMO are as White as any other White person)? Getting worried now that I've read this thread for my kids.. This topic has never come up in discussions with other immigrant friends.. Thanks!

It's not unique to the South. Some of it is white supremacists, mostly right-wing/conservative who are anti-Semitic based on historical stereotypes of Jews (see the "Jews will not replace us" chants at the Charlottesville protests)...they would not agree with your opinion that Jews are "as White as any other White person....and ps, there are a lot of Jewish people who aren't white and who "stand out" in your words based on skin color)

Some is activists on Palestine, mostly left-wing/liberal, who assume that being Jewish = support for Israel and/or support for Israel = being anti-Muslim/racist.

How each of those groups would treat Muslims would be quite different (and of course, there are Muslims of all races and skin tones so that would matter too). Folks who are pro-Palestine might also have views on how the Indian government treats Muslims which could affect their views of Hindus, or they might be focused just on Israel/Palestine.

Of course, most college students don't care about any of this. And plenty of white supremacists/Palestinian activists outside of the college world too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t there a lot of synagogues in Atlanta? It isn’t like my old neighborhood in MoCo where we passed a synagogue every other block but you definitely have more choice than a lot of other cities. In any event, what type of school is your dc looking for and what are their stats? A lot of the schools on the Hillel list are very competitive and very few kids get into them (Yale, Columbia etc). But there are others that are more accessible (e.g., Muhlenberg). Of course, there is Brandeis which is about 50% Jewish and Boston University (not sure of the percentage but it is very popular). University of Delaware is supposed to have a strong Jewish community. My dd chose a small LAC bc she felt at home there and loved the academics but now really feels the absence of a strong Jewish community. There are Jewish kids at her school but no one on staff to bring them together and no building or room where they can hang out. Not that she would go there all the time - it’s just nice to know it’s there if she needs it. Lots of the big state schools have thriving communities and from what I’ve heard from friends, kids appreciate the warm dinners at Chabad and tend to gravitate there more than Hillel right now (but this is anecdotal).

If she is homesick and thinks she'd feel comforted by it, she can go to the nearest temple, and talk to the rabbi - they will connect her with a family where she can go for shabbat dinner and passover seders if she isnt' going home. My family did this - we had all sorts of interesting people at our table through the years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are recent immigrants, recent by most standards, and trying to understand this request. Is there a lot of animosity towards Jewish people in Southern colleges? What about towards Muslims or Hindus who probably stand out more than Jews (who IMO are as White as any other White person)? Getting worried now that I've read this thread for my kids.. This topic has never come up in discussions with other immigrant friends.. Thanks!

It's not unique to the South. Some of it is white supremacists, mostly right-wing/conservative who are anti-Semitic based on historical stereotypes of Jews (see the "Jews will not replace us" chants at the Charlottesville protests)...they would not agree with your opinion that Jews are "as White as any other White person....and ps, there are a lot of Jewish people who aren't white and who "stand out" in your words based on skin color)

Some is activists on Palestine, mostly left-wing/liberal, who assume that being Jewish = support for Israel and/or support for Israel = being anti-Muslim/racist.

How each of those groups would treat Muslims would be quite different (and of course, there are Muslims of all races and skin tones so that would matter too). Folks who are pro-Palestine might also have views on how the Indian government treats Muslims which could affect their views of Hindus, or they might be focused just on Israel/Palestine.

Of course, most college students don't care about any of this. And plenty of white supremacists/Palestinian activists outside of the college world too.

Thanks! For some reason, our friends seem more concerned about racism from Whites and "entrenched" minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics. Not so much from non-black Muslims who are lower in number on college campuses and likely mostly first-gen and therefore "better behaved" (Their words, not mine so please don't dissect)

[Anonymous]

OP Jew here.

What are you thinking?

No do not send your Jewish kid to school in the south.

While many colleges in the south have active Hillels the political climate now is not safe.

Do your homework.

I have lived in the south with my family it was not great before it's only going to get way worse. What are you thinking?

Florida schools have a ton of Jews UF graduate here. No way would I send my kid there or to Florida at all anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Jew here.

What are you thinking?

No do not send your Jewish kid to school in the south.

While many colleges in the south have active Hillels the political climate now is not safe.

Do your homework.

I have lived in the south with my family it was not great before it's only going to get way worse. What are you thinking?

Florida schools have a ton of Jews UF graduate here. No way would I send my kid there or to Florida at all anymore.

South Florida would be FINE. Have you even BEEN to Boca Raton? It's like the South's version of Long Island!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved from very Jewish MoCo to Atlanta a few years back. Now we are looking at colleges. We have been told that there are some schools that may be non-denominational, but are heavily Christian. Does anyone have any insights where I might find such info, or are we just going to have pick schools then figure it out? TIA

Rice University
Duke University
University of Florida
University of Miami
UT-Austin

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are recent immigrants, recent by most standards, and trying to understand this request. Is there a lot of animosity towards Jewish people in Southern colleges? What about towards Muslims or Hindus who probably stand out more than Jews (who IMO are as White as any other White person)? Getting worried now that I've read this thread for my kids.. This topic has never come up in discussions with other immigrant friends.. Thanks!

It's not unique to the South. Some of it is white supremacists, mostly right-wing/conservative who are anti-Semitic based on historical stereotypes of Jews (see the "Jews will not replace us" chants at the Charlottesville protests)...they would not agree with your opinion that Jews are "as White as any other White person....and ps, there are a lot of Jewish people who aren't white and who "stand out" in your words based on skin color)

Some is activists on Palestine, mostly left-wing/liberal, who assume that being Jewish = support for Israel and/or support for Israel = being anti-Muslim/racist.

How each of those groups would treat Muslims would be quite different (and of course, there are Muslims of all races and skin tones so that would matter too). Folks who are pro-Palestine might also have views on how the Indian government treats Muslims which could affect their views of Hindus, or they might be focused just on Israel/Palestine.

Of course, most college students don't care about any of this. And plenty of white supremacists/Palestinian activists outside of the college world too.

Thanks! For some reason, our friends seem more concerned about racism from Whites and "entrenched" minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics. Not so much from non-black Muslims who are lower in number on college campuses and likely mostly first-gen and therefore "better behaved" (Their words, not mine so please don't dissect)

Slight -- but relevant -- derail: In a question about where members of your particular minority group might find community and support, you throw out racist generalizations, which you conveniently attribute to "friends". Please ask yourself how you would feel if someone made anti-Semitic comments which they then attempted to minimize or even normalize by attributing them to someone else then adding a perky little smiley face. Obviously you realized the pain that your words could cause. A smiley only emphasizes their impact by your casual assumption that a cute emoji is enough to cancel out the damaging bias of your words. I guess you felt that you were in a community that would agree with you?

Tikkun olam. A righteous choice, embedded in kindness could easily have made your point without denigrating anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you looking for colleges in the south??

That's what I don't get. Are there no airports near where you are OP? Why limit to schools in the south if you are uncomfortable with it?

My Jewish cousins in FL went to Vanderbilt and Brandeis. So one stayed south and one went north. Both required a flight from FL so not sure it made much difference.

I know a number of Jewish kids who went to/go to College of Charleston, including one who was very observant.