We are Jews in the South

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm Jewish from Indiana. I attended Indiana University in the early 1980s. Yeah. I am that old. Most of my friends were Jewish - Chicago, Ohio, Illinois, New York natives.

Good business, music schools. Jewish Studies department. Overseas study opportunity in Israel.

No issues...

I am Jewish, from Maryland, and went to Indiana University in the early 2000s.

No issues

[Anonymous]

Most major state universities have many Jews. Most private universities and reasonably academic LACs do too. There are all kinds of Jews in all kinds of colleges. Relax!

Funny story. My kid (Jewish) went to a college that wasn't particularly known for its Jewish community. Kid isn't observant and didn't care. Kid ends up living off campus with a bunch of other students. One of them gets an invitation to go to high holiday services and mentions the invitation over breakfast. It turns out everybody in the house was Jewish. They hadn't realized it because none of the students had a name like Cohen or Levy or even Gold or Schwartz, and most were from states that aren't known for their large Jewish populations.

[Anonymous]

U minnesota has a strong Jewish Studies program. Who knew?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most major state universities have many Jews. Most private universities and reasonably academic LACs do too. There are all kinds of Jews in all kinds of colleges. Relax!

Funny story. My kid (Jewish) went to a college that wasn't particularly known for its Jewish community. Kid isn't observant and didn't care. Kid ends up living off campus with a bunch of other students. One of them gets an invitation to go to high holiday services and mentions the invitation over breakfast. It turns out everybody in the house was Jewish. They hadn't realized it because none of the students had a name like Cohen or Levy or even Gold or Schwartz, and most were from states that aren't known for their large Jewish populations.

DH (Jewish) attended a small Midwestern high school with about five Jewish kids total and none in his grade. He goes east for college. On the first Friday as a freshman, various other frosh he meets that day ask him if he is going to the Hillel shabbat service that night. He is kinda getting unnerved that all these people seem to know he is Jewish and also puzzled by "how do they know?" He finally ends up asking one of the students and she basically says, "dude, your last name." He had no idea.

[Anonymous]

OP hasn’t posted in a while.

Atlanta is a pretty liberal and diverse place. Stick with areas like that (maybe Georgia Tech?) and shouldn’t be much issue.

[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)

Wow. "Entrenched minorities?" That's offensive. Many black people are from families who have been in this country for centuries. Longer than many whites of Irish or Italian ancestry. Way to come here and try to label blacks as other. I don't here you saying they are worried about entrenched whites...SMH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:university of Florida

Yes, this is where I went. Big Jewish presence there.

[Anonymous]

Just because Jews are more likely than some other groups to be educated is NOT the same as saying most go to schools that USNWR ranks highly, which is what the offensive poster posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just because Jews are more likely than some other groups to be educated is NOT the same as saying most go to schools that USNWR ranks highly, which is what the offensive poster posted.

+1

[Anonymous]

Usually private colleges and universities may have been founded by a church originally, and still affects the tone. For example many southern Baptist institutions. Look at the college history. Publics don't tend to have this issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:university of Florida

Yes, this is where I went. Big Jewish presence there.

Me too. Class of 1982 LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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)

Wow. "Entrenched minorities?" That's offensive. Many black people are from families who have been in this country for centuries. Longer than many whites of Irish or Italian ancestry. Way to come here and try to label blacks as other. I don't here you saying they are worried about entrenched whites...SMH.

+1

[Anonymous]

Hillel keeps some stats.

Not sure why you needed such a bizarro title to your post.

[Anonymous]

OP you are reverse racist. Go to an all Jewish school then and move out of the South. Rockville is waiting for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:U minnesota has a strong Jewish Studies program. Who knew?

U Minnesota is a good school!