Anti-semitism at Wake Forest

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wake Forest University
1

Hi All,

I am currently a high school senior looking to apply ED to Wake Forest but my parents have been hesitant because of the small Jewish population. I brushed it off until I read some disturbing articles about anti-Israel protests last year. I am a very reform Jew but I still don’t want to have to hide my Jewish identity After reading about the incident, I’m reconsidering my decision. Current Wake Students and Parents, what have you heard about/experienced in terms of anti-semitism recently at Wake Forest.

Thanks in advance.

2

Folks may disagree with me but I wouldn’t equate anti-Israel sentiment with anti-semitism. I have many Jewish friends that are very frustrated with the Netanyahu administration. Being against current Israeli government policies doesn’t make one anti-semitic.

I’m unaware of the particulars in the incidents you mention. Just want to point out the difference between being a critic of a country’s politics and being racist.

3

My intention with this post was not to get political, I’m trying to gauge if I will be targeted and harassed for being Jewish at Wake.

4

My daughter (1/2 Jewish) is a current student and has not seen or heard any anti Jewish sentiments. We are from the northeast, and she has been exposed to a variety of religions or degrees of religiousness there that she didn’t experience at home. People that are not religious respect those that are, and those that are religious respect those that are not, no matter their religion. There are religious student lounges in the basement of her residence hall, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc

5

S’21 is Jewish and has never felt like a target of anti semitism. In fact quite the opposite. He has Jewish friends and many non Jewish friends from all backgrounds. Although he doesn’t participate in much of it, the Hillel on campus is quite active (he did join them for a Passover Seder freshmen yr - I think it was the girl who invited him that got him to attend :slight_smile: ) He has found Wake to be quite open to all backgrounds. Just his experience.

6

We are not Jewish, but perhaps half of the students in our high school are, and we have never heard anything concerning from Jewish friends whose kids are either attending or are thinking of attending Wake. The word around school is that Wake is fairly down the middle - at least what counts for the middle these days at elite universities - and that the campus culture does not seem to foster or nurture extreme viewpoints.

Since you are considering ED obviously make sure you’ve spent some quality time on campus and have spoken with current Jewish students to ferret out more information. But I think your parents might be worrying unnecessarily.

7

Agree with the post above that you really need to speak with current students at WFU.

8

Talk to Jewish students there. Contact the local Hillel if they have one.

As was mentioned, anti-Israel protests do not necessarily mean antisemitism. I doubt there are many campuses in the US where you will be targeted or harassed for being Jewish.

Having said that, the smaller the Jewish population, in general, the less push back you might have on very active and public BDS movements. In other words it’s harder to get a heavy, completely unchallenged BDS movement going at a place like Muhlenberg College with 30% of the students being Jewish, than let’s say a super progressive liberal arts college with less 5% of the student population being Jewish. Numbers mean something. From the little I see online, it appears the Jewish community at Wake Forest is quite active in pushing back and providing an alternative view on campus.

Also it depends on what you mean by being targeted and harassed. Sometimes, people in the BDS movement will not only say uncharitable things about Israel, but on occasion, some progressives in the BDS movement may make unkind generalizations about Jewish people in tweets/emails. (American Jewish financial influence in pro-Israel lobbies, etc.). A US congresswoman recently has had to apologize about some comments that slipped out. It’s almost always in the context of BDS and then, rarely, but unfortunately, out leaks a mild antisemitism.

The question is, how resilient are you, and what will you tolerate? Can you disagree with others? Can accept the fact, that someone eventually is going to say something deeply offensive that bothers you.

Often, when you find an active BDS movement, if you dig deep enough, you can find something said that’s uncharitable or unkind. Much like on the conservative side of politics, if you dig deep enough, you might find things that are unsavory.

As was mentioned above, the more “middle of the road” a campus is politically, the less likely you are to see extremely provocative behavior on either the left of right.

9

S is student there now. He said antisemitism is not an issue. His fraternity has a number of Jewish students, and the issue simply does not come up. Yes, some self styled activist protest something new every week, but S says they are typically ignored. So whether you are pro-Israel or pro-BDS, you are more likely to be angered over the political apathy on campus rather than discrimination.

10

It seems that the BDS movement is prevelant at a lot of schools, especially the more progressive schools. Even schools with large Jewish populations have had issues with this (Tufts, Northwestern, Stanford, UCLA). I think it is best to contact the Hillel and talk to current students. Sometimes what you read is different from a student’s actual experience or perspective.

11

I think you also have to see what the historical reactions from the college itself is. My sons school Michigan made some list of worst school for Jewish students from last years bds issue, Richard Spencer speaking, etc. But the schools reaction was swift and direct to any hate going on, on campuses. I thought they handled it very well and my son doesn’t feel threatened at all. He has many friends of all faith’s. I would reach out to Hillel and Chabad. Even though BDS is not supposed to be antijewish, the groups do project this on campuses with staging movies, posters, and wordage in their promotional material. If BDS was just trying to tell a different story there wouldn’t be an issue at all.