How are your kids navigating the rising anti-Semitisim on campus?

[Anonymous]

Because of the recent incidents at Syracuse, they've now banned all fraternities on campus from having social activities, including the Jewish ones:
https://www.thefire.org/after-report-of-racist-incident-syracuse-suspends-all-fraternities-even-minority-ones/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC went to a school with a relatively large Jewish population and did not experience anti-semitism (at least anything overt). If you are worried about it you may want to explore colleges with larger populations of Jews and/or more diversity generally.

If a black parent came here asking about racism, would you also advise the black parent that their child should go to a school with a larger black population?

This is exactly it. No one would do that. But it’s acceptable to say things to Jews that no one would say to other groups. We are the victims of over half the hate crimes in the US, and yet people feel like it’s fine to minimize our experiences or basically say “go be with your own.”

Anti-jewish hate crimes were 13% of the total according to the latest FBI statistics.....learn to read a data table.

Most top universities already have a student body that is 20-30% jewish (by fat the most over-represented minority) so I don't think the advice to seek out schools with more jewish students makes much sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC went to a school with a relatively large Jewish population and did not experience anti-semitism (at least anything overt). If you are worried about it you may want to explore colleges with larger populations of Jews and/or more diversity generally.

If a black parent came here asking about racism, would you also advise the black parent that their child should go to a school with a larger black population?

Plenty of people on this board would tell them (I) it doesn't exist, (ii) this is just PC nonsense, (iii) all reported incidents are just hoaxes, and (iv) their kids don't deserve to be there anyway.

Really? I’ve been on this board for a long time and have never seen that. I have seen lots of people minimizing what Jews go through, though. We apparently aren’t allowed to talk about being targeted because we tend to be middle class.

Just look at the Syracuse thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC went to a school with a relatively large Jewish population and did not experience anti-semitism (at least anything overt). If you are worried about it you may want to explore colleges with larger populations of Jews and/or more diversity generally.

If a black parent came here asking about racism, would you also advise the black parent that their child should go to a school with a larger black population?

Well I wouldn't advise a black parent on anything to do with race because I don't have their experiences. And note that I said more diversity generally. Colleges that attract kids from various races, religions, geographies, etc. are likely to have fewer issues than those who are more homogeneous.

The OP isn't asking about how to solve antisemitism, she's asking for advice for her college bound daughter (if she's real - she may just be a troll trying to stir up anti Semitic comments).

[Anonymous]

I am sorry that parents have to worry about this in 2019

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Faulty premise. There is no rising anti-semitism.

Ehh. There's a growing nuisance of left-wing antisemitism among the progressive left. See Britain's Jeremy Corbyn and the shell of the Labour Party. Having lived in London it is astonishing the degree to which otherwise intelligent progressive people will trap themselves by failing to distinguish between a political issue, Israel-Palestinian relations, and the greater Jewish faith and identity. As if Jews are not allowed to be anything other than hardcore Israel supporting Zionists who murder Palestinians every day of the week.

For some reason, right-wing antisemitism gets a lot more press and while I don't want to seem to be downplaying it, the left wing antisemitism is more pervasive because it's hidden behind the walls of "progressive causes" and Palestinian rights activists. At least right wing antisemitism is more honest in viewing all Jews = bad whereas left wing antisemitism hides behind the Palestinian / Israel mess as their excuse.

That aside, at least on American campuses, I don't think this will be a particular problem. Every school has its wackos.

Op here. I'm not sure why you think the "left wing" anti-semitism is not an issue here. That's exactly what I shared in my original post. The articles talk about the insidiousness of the left wing anti-semitism and how it's affecting campuses here. I'm looking for some advice from parents of Jewish college students on how to deal with this.

I don't support anti-semitism, but I find it interesting that Jews are shocked by "left wing" anti-semitism. While Jews may have been allies during the civil rights movement, since then there has been and there still is a huge problem with racism against blacks in the Jewish community. You're not going to find sympathy in communities who are subjected to your bigotry. Tell your kids to treat minorities as their equals as human beings, and I'm pretty sure that will help to mitigate left wing anti-semitism because I don't think it comes from a place of hatred for Jews, so it's solvable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm pretty darn secular, but here's what advice I'm giving my own HS senior, applicable to everything:

Don't operate in a vacuum. Find community, and if you can't find it, build it. We're not the first group of people to be on the wrong end of hate/discrimination/etc. Not by a longshot. And frankly some of our friends have been dealing with worse in more recent history for longer. Be an ally. Learn what that means. Show up for people. Do that, and they show up for you.

I don't think you understand what the OP is asking. It almost sounds like you're diminishing the discrimination Jews have faced, which really is pretty insensitive. We're not talking about allyship here; we're talking about what it's like being part of a discriminated minority.

Hi. I did not intend to diminish the discrimination. I'm sorry that's how it came across. It is the furthest thing from my intention. I'm saying that LOTS of folks besides us (ME) have experienced this. And fostering allyship is a concrete way to combat it. I mean that. Not as a feel-good platitude. I mean it because I've personally found it to give me a sense of hope and community, opportunities for productive discussion, and feeling like we're actually doing something about it.

Ok. But OP is asking about how to advise Jews. In this case, non-Jews would be the allies, not Jews ourselves.

I think the pp is saying if Jews are allies to other minority communities, those communities will in turn be allies for Jews. I think it makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotally (because my child is not college-aged yet) I've heard one parent say that their child was pushed in an alt-rightish direction because of the anti-semitism on campus. Doesn't make a ton of sense (given anti-semitism on the right) but I think this is a real phenomenon. Not so much that the kids become Ben Shapiros and Steven Millers, but that they create an identity out of rejecting identity politics/PC culture/cancel culture.

Steven Miller is more representative of the American Jewish community than you'd like to admit, so I'm not surprised by Jewish students having alt-rightish sentiments. I think it's a chicken/egg issue. I think much of what is viewed as anti-semitism from the left is really backlash for the prevalence of unspoken Steven Miller type sentiments in the Jewish community.

[Anonymous]

Nice projection there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC went to a school with a relatively large Jewish population and did not experience anti-semitism (at least anything overt). If you are worried about it you may want to explore colleges with larger populations of Jews and/or more diversity generally.

If a black parent came here asking about racism, would you also advise the black parent that their child should go to a school with a larger black population?

I would. If you are in a tiny minority any bigotry will be harder to deal with than if you have a decent sized group of a similar background. I wouldn't say you need to send your kid to a historically black college, but I certainly would advise against a college with only a few other black kids if racism was an issue on that campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC went to a school with a relatively large Jewish population and did not experience anti-semitism (at least anything overt). If you are worried about it you may want to explore colleges with larger populations of Jews and/or more diversity generally.

If a black parent came here asking about racism, would you also advise the black parent that their child should go to a school with a larger black population?

This is exactly it. No one would do that. But it’s acceptable to say things to Jews that no one would say to other groups. We are the victims of over half the hate crimes in the US, and yet people feel like it’s fine to minimize our experiences or basically say “go be with your own.”

Anti-jewish hate crimes were 13% of the total according to the latest FBI statistics.....learn to read a data table.

Most top universities already have a student body that is 20-30% jewish (by fat the most over-represented minority) so I don't think the advice to seek out schools with more jewish students makes much sense.

I meant religious hate crimes.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/forward.com/fast-forward/434661/jews-hate-crimes-antisemitism-fbi/%3fgamp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm pretty darn secular, but here's what advice I'm giving my own HS senior, applicable to everything:

Don't operate in a vacuum. Find community, and if you can't find it, build it. We're not the first group of people to be on the wrong end of hate/discrimination/etc. Not by a longshot. And frankly some of our friends have been dealing with worse in more recent history for longer. Be an ally. Learn what that means. Show up for people. Do that, and they show up for you.

I don't think you understand what the OP is asking. It almost sounds like you're diminishing the discrimination Jews have faced, which really is pretty insensitive. We're not talking about allyship here; we're talking about what it's like being part of a discriminated minority.

Hi. I did not intend to diminish the discrimination. I'm sorry that's how it came across. It is the furthest thing from my intention. I'm saying that LOTS of folks besides us (ME) have experienced this. And fostering allyship is a concrete way to combat it. I mean that. Not as a feel-good platitude. I mean it because I've personally found it to give me a sense of hope and community, opportunities for productive discussion, and feeling like we're actually doing something about it.

Ok. But OP is asking about how to advise Jews. In this case, non-Jews would be the allies, not Jews ourselves.

I think the pp is saying if Jews are allies to other minority communities, those communities will in turn be allies for Jews. I think it makes sense.

That’s funny. We’ve been allies to blacks and yet many tell us to shut up when we talk about our discrimination. Moreover, why is the answer to anti-semitism “just be nice to others.” Would you tell black people to just be nice to white people and then it’ll be ok? Don’t the other communities have a responsibility to not attack us?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotally (because my child is not college-aged yet) I've heard one parent say that their child was pushed in an alt-rightish direction because of the anti-semitism on campus. Doesn't make a ton of sense (given anti-semitism on the right) but I think this is a real phenomenon. Not so much that the kids become Ben Shapiros and Steven Millers, but that they create an identity out of rejecting identity politics/PC culture/cancel culture.

Steven Miller is more representative of the American Jewish community than you'd like to admit, so I'm not surprised by Jewish students having alt-rightish sentiments. I think it's a chicken/egg issue. I think much of what is viewed as anti-semitism from the left is really backlash for the prevalence of unspoken Steven Miller type sentiments in the Jewish community.

Wow. Ok. Way to miss the point ...

[Anonymous]

OP— your kid should go to Hillel and talk with them about what to do, if anything. There are also Israel advocacy groups on many campuses that are supportive. Then there is AIPAC. They are helpful as well and have student conferences where anti-semitism on campus will likely be addressed. Does your child want to be an activist and fight antisemitism? I’m not sure what you mean by coping with it. You kid can ignore it, complain to the school administration, join an activist group and protest, try to teach the student population about Judaism and Zionism to develop positive relationships— there are many things your kid could do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC went to a school with a relatively large Jewish population and did not experience anti-semitism (at least anything overt). If you are worried about it you may want to explore colleges with larger populations of Jews and/or more diversity generally.

If a black parent came here asking about racism, would you also advise the black parent that their child should go to a school with a larger black population?

This is exactly it. No one would do that. But it’s acceptable to say things to Jews that no one would say to other groups. We are the victims of over half the hate crimes in the US, and yet people feel like it’s fine to minimize our experiences or basically say “go be with your own.”

Every time someone posts about racism on this board there is a chorus of people saying it's a hoax (or more recently a Smollett). And people absolutely would say to a black poster to send their kids to a school with more black kids so they would have more support. Unfortunately racism and anti-semitism exists. Having the support of people with a common experience does help, so I'm not sure why suggesting a school with a decent Jewish population is wrong or offensive.