Anti-Israel Activity at Wellesley

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wellesley College
1

I’m concerned about the anti-Israel activity at Wellesley and what I perceive is a lack of support for Jewish students, especially more religiously involved and/or pro-Israel students. I’ve read that one of the dining halls has or had photos of Gazan children killed by bombs and a large sheet of paper titled “What does Zionism Mean to You?” with anti-Israel comments written by students (in another environment, I can easily imagine the paper filled with pro-Israel comments).

In addition, both the part-time rabbi and head of Hillel - the only two adults on campus responsible for Jewish and/or Israeli events, activities, and community - were suddenly fired, in not very nice ways, at the beginning of the year (the rabbi had just returned from a week off after her mother’s death, the Hillel director was on vacation and received an email saying in essence “don’t bother coming back”).

The alleged reason for the firings is that the college is planning to hire a full-time rabbi/Hillel director, but it makes no sense to suddenly fire the adults filling those roles before the search for a replacement has had even begun. Obviously there was some political reason for the firings (either in the larger political arena or within Wellesley), and the only reason I can think of is anti-Jewish/anti-Israel discrimination. (I’m happy to hear other theories or facts).

The college has said that they plan to hire an interim director for the rest of the year, but I believe this was announced after an outraged reaction to the firings. If the Wellesley administration truly wanted to provide religious and community support to Jewish and/or Israeli students (as it does to other religions, ethnic groups, etc.) it could have retained the original personnel until the end of the year instead of suddenly firing them for what seems to be no good reason.

The college claims that Jewish students ‘still feel supported’; I can’t imagine that the statement is true.

My daughter applied to Wellesley and has a good chance of being accepted. Both of us liked the school very much; I even encouraged her to apply Early Decision, which she considered and decided not to do.

However, the above bothers me a LOT. I realize that there is anti-Israel activity at most campuses and that most of it is louder and even more virulent than at Wellesley. However, I don’t understand why the administration doesn’t act to take anti-Israel posters and photos of dead children out of the dining hall, and why, with human rights abuses by ISIS, China, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc. it’s acceptable to single out one state with a far, far better humanitarian record to disparage- IMHO, there shouldn’t be ‘anti-X-state’ posters in the dining room at all.

Can any Wellesley students tell me whether the posters are still up, and if so what dining room they are in? - I’d like to take a look for myself if they’re still there. Can anyone else comment on the college’s actions and the reactions to it by both Wellesley students and others (it received a good deal of publicity in the Jewish and some Israeli press)?

At this point in time, one expects anti-Israel bias and non-responsive administrators, because that’s primarily what there seems to be (Jewish students aren’t passive about this by any means, but it’s a small minority).

However when an administration takes action that is openly harmful, even hostile, to Jewish students, it makes me pause.

In the end it will be my daughter’s decision where she goes, however as parents my husband and I have a good deal of influence both financially and emotionally. We’re not going to forbid her to attend Wellesley or try to scare her away, but we feel that the level of anti-Israel/anti-Jewish activity at the colleges she’s considering should be taken into account.

Thanks, and I apologize for the lengthy post.

2

Welcome Israel to the world stage. It’s a great place to be, and I’m glad that you are there. Unfortunately, now you must deal with fringe interests. Sorry no choice, it’s part of the game. From a procedural standpoint, students can only hang propaganda in approved areas. Complain accordingly if it is in unapproved areas, accept and refute in approved areas. Free speech must ultimately prevail. GL

3

I agree with you about free speech, and if it was only the poster hanging in the student union I wouldn’t be quite as concerned, although IMO the poster is offensive and it, along with other political posters, does not belong in a public space that’s meant for students to relax in (I’m speaking about the area in constant public view, hallways and other spaces that don’t directly face the main space would be different).

The fact that Jewish students were left without a rabbi or Hillel director is troubling. Apparently someone has been hired on a part-time basis to run Hillel, however he has no experience at Wellesley and I believe came from the IT department of another Jewish agency. Why didn’t they just leave the then-current director in place? There has been no mention of any alleged bad conduct by either of the fired employees, so the firings make no sense unless their purpose was to weaken Wellesley’s Jewish community. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this all happened at the same time that Wellesley anti-Israel groups became more vocal (I’m not blaming the anti-Israel groups for the firings - they don’t hold that kind of power - but it seems that an administrator or donor is extremely anti-Israel and/or anti-semitic, and that his or her views are being given credence, regardless of whether the college’s actions are discriminatory.

4

@DragonBoatGirl‌

I understand your concern. As a non-involved neutral party these are my comments…

I guess the activities of the students you refer to is perhaps “Anti-Current Israeli Government” policies, but definitely NOT Anti-Semitic or Anti Jews. There is a HUGE difference between the two.

At this time the Governments of United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Spain and several other European nations are condemning the actions of the current Israeli government’s over reaction [as the posters depicted] in Palestine, that does not make these countries Anti Semitic or Anti Israel. They all want peace for the region.

I also heard about Anti-Israel [Not Anti Jewish] posters were taken down at night time by some “unknown” miscreants. I guess there is no free speech be it good or bad, when it comes to anything to do with Israel, it has to be only good may be? Consider the reverse if a poster speaking good about Israel was taken down over night, then there will be a huge outcry saying the students are anti jewish, anti semitic?

Israeli/Palestinian conflict is too complicated for simple mortals to comprehend. Both sides feel they are in the right. There are a significant number of Jewish people in Israel who want to live in peace with a peaceful Palestine, but there is an equal number of Israelis who feel that a peaceful coexistence is not possible. Only time will say who is right.

Peaceniks in Israel are sidelined or murdered [Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin]. If the rest of the world does not take up the cause for peace, then there will be no peace. If not for the world wide movement, there will still be apartheid in South Africa.

I also hear that the firing of the Rabbi is not related to this student movement. Do not link the two.

Wellesley like all the other educational institutions supports free speech. It wants to develop leaders like perhaps your daughter who in the future may the person instrumental in solving this thorny issue. And that will not happen unless she spars with dissenting opinion and then either convinces the other party or gets convinced about the opposing opinion.

Don’t let this sway you away or don’t sway your daughter away from Wellesley because of this. You will see this in ALL colleges.

Wellesley definitely is NOT Anti-Semitic or Anti Israel or Pro Palestine [which is what perhaps lot of people want]. It is a MATURE educational institution that encourages free speech.

BTW… I am not Anti Jewish or Anti Semitic neither am I, Pro Palestine.

5

I’m not neutral on the issue, but I must agree with tamtiger that you’ll find some anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian sentiment on all college campuses these days, including even Brandeis. But this doesn’t mean that support for Jewish students is lacking. Wellesley does have a strong group of Jewish women, of all political views. Like you, however, I was also dismayed by the “What does Zionism mean to you?” poster, not the comments, but the inflammatory nature of the question. Why not “What does Israel mean to you?” or something a little more open-minded?

I do think it’s hard to be anything but a fill-in-the-blank liberal cause du jour supporter on a college campus anywhere these days, but my daughter tells me that Wellesley really does value intellectual discourse over knee-jerk political correctness. That isn’t something you could say about just any college.

I hope your daughter doesn’t let this issue discourage her from attending Wellesley.

6

We remembered seeing this sign when we toured. It may not have been up long at that point. There weren’t a lot of comments on it yet, but D says she recalls reading them and thinking the responses were quite varied. What we saw was in a place that had many ( mostly smaller) posters.

7

I think this has been blown way out of proportion by the media. For the record, I am not Jewish, and my Jewish friends at Wellesley are non-practicing and not terribly opinionated on the topic of Israel. IMO the firing of the Hillel staff was ill-timed, and was handled extremely insensitively. From what I understand, it is a budgetary issue, but honestly don’t know why they did it mid-semester.

As far as the poster goes, I believe you are referring to an area by an entrance to the Lulu Student Center (the cafeteria is upstairs). Students can hang (approved) posters there to advertise upcoming events, club info, etc. From time to time, someone will hang a big posterboard and pose a question to encourage students to write-in comments on topics ranging from “Should The Sleepwalker Statue be Removed” to the recent “What does Zionism Mean to You?” That poster clearly stated that anti-Semitic comments would not be tolerated.

As in the past, some of the comments were quite serious, some were quite silly, and there was some back-and-forth between students writing comments. Last year, there were some comical, disparaging comments re: the Sleepwalker’s physique, followed by remarks requesting sensitivity because those comments might be upsetting to our trans-sibs. I think the point is to encourage debate (and to have a little fun perhaps, via satire?).

8

Thanks so much, Massmom (and everyone who answered). I think a lot of my concern is that some students have become involved in the obnoxiously strident and (IMHO) anti-semitic “Students for Justice in Palestine”; the group says it’s ‘only’ for BDS but the rhetoric and chants at their demonstrations/events show otherwise.

I really just want her to be able to go to class and meet without going through a gauntlet of anti-semitic protesters outside classrooms (if it comes to that - and I think it will some day), anti-Israel posters in the student center and photos of dead children in the dining room. I realize I’m exaggerating somewhat, at least with the first one, but there’s no point in going to a school that has an anti-Israel/anti-Zionist poster or sign every time you turn around. I don’t think Wellesley will end up like that, I’m just a little leery at the lack of support.

Also, my daughter is just not interested in political issues, the Arab-Israeli conflict, etc. at all. I don’t think she’d be happy in a place where the majority of students were into political issues a lot (and Wellesley also has the transgender issues), although you never know.

I was happy to read that there’s a tradition of discourse instead of shouting and that posters have gone up for other serious and non-serious matters.

My DD really likes Wellesley and considered applying ED (I think I wrote that already), I actually encouraged her to apply ED before all this happened but she didn’t want to. As long as she’s not surrounded by a hostile population - and from everything I’ve read here, she won’t be - it’s still one of her and my top choices.

I tend to be sensitive on this issue because I’ve been through some extremely negative things because of my pro-Israel position (which I"m pretty quiet about anyway - I’m far from a 'flaming activst), to the extent that police were called. As well, last year the school was found to have violated the law in retaliating against my daughter for something I was blamed for, but actually didn’t do or even know about. It’s a really bad situation that I don’t think will end well for someone, and I don’t intend for that someone to be me.

Well now I’ve figured out the root of my probably over-concern in just a few paragraphs! (actually, it should have been obvious to me). What should I work on next? World hunger, peace, Boston’s Olympic bid? : - )

9

I agree that the firing of the Jewish leadership was badly timed, especially since there were no replacement leaders hired. And it does bother me that the religious Jewish women on campus (and usually, the people who join a spiritual/religious organization are the ones practicing their religion) don’t have leaders in place. I do know that there are pro-Israel voices on campus, but if your daughter is considering attending, she should be bold and ask about these issues before she puts down her deposit.

I know my daughter asked about respect for Christian faith groups, as well as other minority viewpoints, before she’d consider attending. She ruled out a couple of other schools as too close-minded. Even though she is a liberal, she didn’t want to be in a place where conservative views weren’t respected (or in a conservative place where liberal views were denigrated). That’s just anti-intellectual as well as bigoted. Fortunately, Wellesley is neither.

10

It’s not as distinct as you suggest. The two often intertwine and all too often the “Anti-Current Israeli government” protests become anti-Jewish attacks. Witness the attacks on Jewish businesses that took place in France-indeed over Europe- over this summer. These were attacks on Jewish businesses that had nothing at all to do with Israel and the references to “Jew” and “Zionist” were freely interchanged.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/world/europe/europes-anti-semitism-comes-out-of-shadows.html

I honestly don’t want to get into a political debate on this subject but I wanted to underscore the above in order to explain why the summary firing of the two Jewish leaders is so important in my mind. Given the anti-Israeli–which in my eyes too often does cross the line into anti-Jewish–sentiment, it’s critical that the Jewish students on campus feel supported. I have read of incidents on other campuses where Jewish kids were assaulted, their fraternities defaced, their meetings blocked or speakers heckled and harassed. I do not want my daughter at any school where she is left without a leader and supporter. And that’s not even getting to the point of observing her religion. The timing here is more than unfortunate. Has the school appointed anyone to serve in a temporary capacity? Were there problems with either or both of the two Jewish leaders before the sudden dismissal?

I apologize for jumping in here. I thought it might be helpful to those of you who know and love Wellesley to understand that the school’s decision is having an impact on how prospective students and their parents view the school. It’s a really wonderful place, no doubt, and I hope the administration resolves to right this quickly.

11

@3girls3cats‌

I am sorry I missed this post. Most of what you mentioned are true.

As you correctly said, this is not a political discussion about Israel or Palestine. This is about Wellesley. Is Wellesley anti Israel, just because some students hung up a poster and an ill timed firing of the Hillel staff took place?

In my humble opinion, Wellesley is not Anti-Israel.

Students are free to think, debate and to demonstrate. Any good liberal arts college or any progressive educational institution will and should encourage such debate. If a school hinders in such freedom and take sides then it is bigoted and will not develop future leaders.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the issue of Israel, Palestine is way beyond my capacity to comprehend or to take sides. Both sides are intensely emotionally invested in this issue.

Wellesley is NOT Anti Israel or Anti Jewish, nor does it encourage such an environment in it’s premises. Do not unnecessarily tarnish Wellesley for what it is not.

12

Agree that anti-Israel is not anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic. Agree that some people cannot take that view.

I would be more worried about this:
“The fact that Jewish students were left without a rabbi or Hillel director is troubling.”

Have you looked at Brandeis?

13

I am posting because I am a high school senior and originally had Wellesley at the top of my list. With all of this action, it quickly fell off completely. In my mind, there is no distinction between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. I do not agree with all of Israel’s policies, and do not expect others to.

14

Rhandco, telling students who face discrimination to go elsewhere so they can “be with their own kind” condones racism. If the advisor to African-American students were fired and the Department of Africana studies gutted, would you tell black Wellesley students to transfer to Spelman College? I think not.

15

I have deleted a number of posts. Let’s keep the discussion about Wellesley and what is happening there, not a more wide-ranging political discussion about Israel and the Palestinians. If that is not possible, and maybe it isn’t, then we will have to close the thread. This is primarily a college website, not Crossfire or Meet the Press.

16

@DragonBoatGirl‌

What you are saying will be correct, if it is factual that Wellesley is discriminating against the Jewish students. Based on what I hear that is not true.

Firing of Hillel staff and replacing them with new temporary staff, until permanent staff are found; hanging of a poster by a [few students] student organization, does not mean that there is discrimination in Wellesley against the Jewish students.

Wellesley is an amazing school. It is an educationally intense school. It encourages intellectual debate and is known for it’s International relations program. I hope one of Wellesley’s students will in the future, be the one to help resolve this perpetual problem.

I do hope your daughter will get admission to Wellesley. If she does get in then I hope she will make the decision to take up the admission or to forego it, with an open mind. I do wish her the very best.

17

I know Catholics who were thrilled to go to Notre Dame. And told their friends about it.

I had friends in HS who were very involved with USY, and they chose Brandeis and told me and many others that they were more comfortable there. That there were great opportunities for them. Just like the Hillel at my undergrad school was and is great, high profile, lots of charity work, people of all levels of religious involvement. A frat brother of my spouse kept kosher in the fraternity house, and all of the other brothers, only a few of whom were Jewish, respected that and it wasn’t a big deal. Hillel actually helped him get set up in the frat house kitchen with a separate area.

Stats from Brandeis say that about half of the student population is Jewish. Which is probably less than the Christian population at many colleges.

I don’t think I am racist, you are welcome to your opinion. I do know what it is like to be more comfortable in an environment where people get what you are saying. I am multi-racial and those of us who identify as multi-racial have experienced racism, as we don’t fit anywhere and are often out of the conversation.

My quote was "Have you looked at Brandeis? ". I don’t believe there was any intimation of “You should go to your own kind” per post #13.

Then again, if someone says “Have you looked at Wellesley?” you assume they are sexist?

18

There’s a world difference between saying “Have you looked at X College?” in response to the general question of where to go to college, and saying “Have you looked at X College” in response in racism or anti-semitism at the college you’re already at or are interested in attending.

The first is about attraction; the second is about prejudice.

It’s fine to be attracted (or not attracted) to a place because there are ‘people like you’ - that’s why there are historically black colleges, women’s colleges, men’s colleges, and Brandeis which was founded to be a place that both preserved Jewish values and where Jewish students would not be discriminated against.

But to say that the ‘solution’ for black students who face discrimination is to transfer to a HBCU (historically black college or university), or that the solution for Jewish students concerned about anti-semitism at Wellesley is to go to Brandeis actually condones and encourages that discrimination.

The ‘solution’ for discrimination is for the discrimination to stop, or be stopped. The way to do that is to call out the discrimination for what it is and to protest by various means - letters, publicity, peaceful demonstrations, etc. - until it is stopped.

For Wellesley to claim that there is no discrimination against Jewish students, and to claim that Jewish students feel ‘supported’, is complete b.s. The students who spoke about about the issue said they don’t feel supported at all. One doesn’t need to be particularly insightful to realize that suddenly firing the only two staff members who form the support system of a minority population, at a time when that population is under attack by a racist/anti-semitic group, is a clear indication that the Wellesley administration is condoning that racism.

It’s ludicrous to think that Wellesley administrators weren’t aware that their actions would harm the small number of observant Jews and/or politically aware Zionists on campus. Pretending that the administration’s actions weren’t intended to show those students that they are unwelcome on campus only perpetuates the problem.

19

Tell your daughter not to tell anyone she’s Jewish, and she will be fine. Also don’t wear any Magen David jewelry, people will think you’re an Apartheid supporter etc.