Jews Feeling Unwelcome and Silenced, Particularly if They Support Israel

At Vassar, Israel is viewed by much of the faculty as an illegitimate and evil state (it is part of the overall post-colonial ideology promoted at Vassar and many similar schools). They repeatedly sponsor speakers who engage in lies and hate speech, such as the speaker who appeared on Feb. 3rd named Jasbir Puar. She told students that the Israeli military deliberately maims and stunts Palestinians while they fantasize about Palestinian bodies, among other horrific and absurd statements. She spoke approvingly of violent resistance . And she has expressed outright antisemitic statements in her writings such as that Jews (ie not Israelis) have “hijacked” the rights of others to talk about their suffering by “exceptionalizing” the Holocaust. This unhinged speaker was sponsored by EIGHT Vassar departments and programs, including Jewish Studies. Unfortunately, it is not an aberration. These same departments and programs have repeatedly sponsored hate speech in the past, including well known anti-Semites Ali Abunimah and Max Blumenthal. There is no presentation of a strong pro-Israel view because the virulently anti-Israel faculty don’t want opposing views presented. Right now there is a BDS divestment campaign going on, with several anti-Israel events scheduled and “art” work in the Student Retreat that demonizes Israel and which many Jewish students find offensive. In addition to the issue of supporting Israel, Jewish students have reported that they are often considered privileged white people who cannot identify with the many other identity groups on campus, and treated accordingly. Look at Yik Yak to see what students are saying about the campus atmosphere when it comes to being Jewish at Vassar. It is very disheartening and scary.

This bothers be a lot too. I don’t think it is just Vassar, it is somewhat everywhere. Even when I was at school 30 years ago it was bad.

And yet you are "in the wrong"for simply pointing out that the Palestinians want to wipe Isreal off the map. I’d chalk it up to youth, but a lot of otherwise very liberal ppl feel that Isreal is the devil. And I suppose the US is right beside it in devil town. Thank goodness they live in a country that allows them to say that in defense of people who in their own homes would be stoned to death for suggesting peace with Israel.

UCLA was identified last year in a CC thread as having a student government that is hostile to participation by Jewish students in campus affairs. I’m appalled that so many of our young people have forgotten (or have no idea) the suffering faced by Jews worldwide throughout history. Do schools not show the documentaries of the Holocaust anymore?

Go to Barnard. Have a sister there who says you cannot say a negative thing about Israel without being shouted down. It’s reached the point where Columbia University administration is cracking down.

I am an alumna of Vassar College and have been hearing about the Jasbir Puar lecture from many different sources. This news follows several years of bad news about the emergence of anti-semitism on the Vassar campus. The initial poster, spotlighter, is telling the truth. When the anti-semites Ali Abunimah and Max Blumenthal spoke at Vassar College, they were smart enough to know not to cross a line. They could claim “free speech”. In my opinion, Puar crossed that line. She preached hate.

Then, I heard about the yik yak comments that, I think, followed the lecture. The president of the college and the president of the student body, an active member of the anti-semitic group, Students for Justice in Palestine, sent out a joint email message to the Vassar community condemning the comments. The problem was that both of them are such anti-semites that they could not let a message about anti-semitism stand alone. They had to say that they condemn Islamophobia and other forms of hate, too.

What would have happened if members of the Vassar community had posted Islamophobic comments on yik yak? What would have happened if, in addition, the president of the student body had been a right wing Jew? Would it be fair if, in addition to sending out an email message condemning Islamophobia, the president of the college and the president of the student body also stated in the message that anti-semitism is wrong?

The two presidents grossly minimized the issue by conflating the problem of anti-semitism on campus with hatred against other groups.

In the current climate on campus, sending out an email message condemning Islamophobia and other forms of hate in a message about anti-semitism is like saying to black people who worry about being victims of police violence that “all lives matter”.

I would very much appreciate it if spotlighter would post some of the yik yak comments. I’ve heard about them but have not read them, because I do not have a yik yak account.

My only criticism of spotlighter’s post is that blaming the departments that have sponsored hate speech at Vassar has been unproductive. It’s time to start putting the blame on Catharine Bond Hill, president of Vassar College, and the members of the board of trustees. They have all stood by and allowed anti-semitism to spread on the Vassar campus. It’s time for Catharine Bond Hill to step down as president and for Vassar’s board of trustees to select a president with the courage to stand up to the hooligans on campus and rid Vassar of anti-semitism.

My advice to Jewish applicants who are uncomfortable with the idea of having to condemn Israel in order to be accepted both by faculty members and students in and out of the classroom is to STAY AWAY FROM VASSAR. It’s true that many college campuses are having problems, but I think it’s worse at Vassar than it is elsewhere. At least Jewish students at Wesleyan have a friend in their president. Vassar’s Jewish students do not.

Attacking people who support Israel is not Anti-semitism, Have any of you been to Israel? Do you know what actually goes on their? The people their just don’t support your viewpoint, not your religion. Its like claiming that just because a person attacks your Pro-life believes means that they are Anti-christian when they are actually mean to expand the rights of a women.

If attacking people who support Israel is not anti-semitism, I don’t know what is.

In some respects, Vassar would be an excellent fit for you. However, the Vassar admissions office prefers applicants who can spell and write coherent sentences.

This does not seem like a good forum for arguing about Israel.

I agree that we shouldn’t be arguing about Israel in college confidential. However, even the president of the college admits that pro-Israel students at Vassar are marginalized and attacked- though she doesn’t want to admit culpability in the problems. Prospective students should be aware. lostaccount, are you the moderator for this page? jman 457’s post exemplifies the problem on campus. You would be doing a grave disservice to prospective applicants if you removed it.

MODERATOR’S NOTE:

No, but I am. Per Terms of Service, political discussions are not allowed. Discussing the state of affairs at Vassar and whether a student would be comfortable there is fine. Discussing whether Israel and/or Palestine has a right to exist is not.

The colleges are not Anti-Semitic, they are just pro Human Rights activists.

iman457, when you said that “attacking” people who support Israel isn’t anti-semitism, you lost the moral high ground. You cannot claim to be pro-human rights anymore and expect many of us on this thread to take you seriously. Just like the anti-semites at Vassar who verbally and emotionally attack Jewish students, you slipped up. (The students in the SJP at Vassar posted Nazi-era graphics a few years ago, and no one in the organization saw fit to take them down or criticize the posts for days. No one faced any consequences either.) Sorry, but you cannot take your comment back. Pro-Israel Jewish applicants to Vassar have a right to know the truth. Just keep your posts coming. It’s important to inform applicants about the types of students who enroll at Vassar. Thanks for your help.

So Vassar supports an environment where controversial views are tolerated even if they differ from the views of the mainstream? The school provides open forums where speakers can say what they believe and students are encouraged to open their minds and think for themselves? Sorry, but that sounds like a great place. Vassar has had a long and proud history of supporting Jewish students, faculty, alumni etc. and providing forums and safe places for pro-Israel voices to be heard and nourished. The fact that some dissenting voices have been allowed on campus only means that free speech and debate is being encouraged, not that Vassar is turning into some anti-Semitic haven. C’mon folks.

Have you been on a campus lately? Pro Isreal speech is shouted down and targeted…not exactly a safe space.

I found an opinion piece of interest on this topic written by a very brave Vassar student who describes the problems in a very thoughtful, unemotional manner in an article in the Vassar student newspaper: http://miscellanynews.org/2016/02/10/opinions/antisemitism-present-in-antizionist-rhetoric/

The article also answers my question above about the yik yak comments.

However, I do not agree that the president of the college, who has refused to confront anti-semitism on campus head on for years, responded appropriately to the situation. When a group faces discrimination, the answer is to condemn that discrimination in no uncertain terms, not to dilute the response with a statement that all discrimination is wrong.

Based on all the first hand accounts I have heard, I also do not agree with the alumna/alumnus (cannot tell which) who said that the piece shows that civilized discourse is possible on campus.

Im not saying that Jewish Applicants shouldn’t have the right to know about Vassar. You should definitely make an assumption of a Religion based on how one single country runs it. Though all of the students who attend Vassar, have the right to know about the world, and the human rights violation of the Israeli Government.(and with a 60,000 dollar price tag they definitely should get a great education). When you said that “attacking people who support Israel is not Anti-semetic, I don’t know what is” is honestly one of the most blatantly ignorant comments I have heard on this site. My Holocaust Studies Teaches is Pro-Palestine, but she will always step in when an Anti-semetic comment is made to correct them and disipline them. A Judgement on the Political affairs of one country should not make generalizations about a religion, so don’t be saying that I am an anti-Semitic just because of my believe that Palistinians should get part of the land on the Israeli state.

jman457. You know nothing about me other than that I am an alumna of the college. You make tremendous assumptions about my views on the Middle East that aren’t true. The BDS movement, which you seem to support, is led by people who have declared that Israel has no right to exist. They hate the Jews. Many Palestinians, until recently the figure was more than 50%, want to end the conflict with Israel. Many just want to attend to their olive groves and live in peace, but they do not live in a society in which they can express such views without being killed by fanatics. The leaders of the BDS movement are not interested in peace. In that sense, they are not pro-Palestinian, and if you support them, neither are you. Has your teacher taught you about the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem? He was Hitler’s great friend, and he begged Hitler to invade the Holy Land and “cleanse” it of Jews. This was, of course, before a state had even been declared. The Grand Mufti avoided a prison sentence at the end of World War 2 and spent his time training the next generation of Palestinian leaders. You say that you “should definitely make an assumption of a Religion based on how one single country runs it.” Does the same hold true for assumptions one can make about human rights abuses in predominantly Muslim countries? Your poor writing is so full of mistakes that I find it difficult to read and understand your posts.

That said, pro-Israel/ pro-peace Jewish students at Vassar are being bullied by students who share your views. It’s cool to be anti-Semitic at Vassar these days.

As a recent alum, I can say with complete confidence that Vassar is absolutely not anti-semitic. As a college and student body that puts very little emphasis on religion (race/gender get all the attention), nobody cares to know your religion. Few students at Vassar are religious, and those that are tend to be on the liberal end of their faith. Most importantly, though, is that Vassar students do not conflate Jewish ethnicity with Jewish religion. Students don’t assume someone is ethnically Jewish based on their looks, and certainly don’t assume someone is religious based on their ethnicity.

The Israel-Palestine discussion is based on colonialism, and dragging religion into it is simply derailing a conversation about occupation of a territory whose inhabitants do not wish to be occupied. Finally, please don’t disregard the fact that many, many “anti-Israel” Vassar students are themselves Jewish, and are not unlikely to have been to Israel. Most of the media around this issue at Vassar is disturbingly uninformed, and I’m afraid a lot of the older alums are only getting their information from such media. Please go to the source: actual, current Vassar students.

KGB, you say, “The Israel-Palestine discussion is based on colonialism, and dragging religion into it is simply derailing a conversation about occupation of a territory whose inhabitants do not wish to be occupied.”

That is an extremely loaded comment that proves to me that you have no right to state that you can say with “complete confidence” that Vassar is “absolutely” not anti-Semitic.

Problems have been brewing at Vassar at least since early 2014. If you graduated in 2014 or 2015, you are well aware of the posting of Nazi graphics on a social media site connected to Vassar’s chapter of Students for Justice In Palestine two years ago. Those posts weren’t removed until the president intervened, and the student who posted the graphics was never reprimanded. The other students in Vassar’s chapter of the SJP could have intervened first, but didn’t, claiming lamely that it was finals week and that they weren’t aware (even though everyone else was).

The Jewish students at Vassar who are anti-BDS seek refuge elsewhere and keep their heads down on campus. Of course, you wouldn’t know that they feel they are discriminated against.

According to some Jewish students, problems have worsened this year. Even the president has said the situation is very tense. If you are reading the email messages she has sent to alums, you are aware and are not telling the truth in your post.

One student has said that he/she has had his/her “identity spoken for,” which is exactly what you are doing in your post. Jewish students have reported being called names like “kappo” and “racist,” for simply stating that they believe Israel has a right to exist. (Believing that Israel has a right to exist has nothing to do with support for the current government.) Apparently, for at least a couple of years, students on campus have been referring to “rich Jewish alums,” who have stopped donating to the college.

A few years ago, a group of female AA students were doing their laundry in the basement of their dorm and were accosted by a security guard who demanded to see their IDs. (Who brings their IDs to the basement to do their laundry? I certainly never did.) I do not know how you identify. For all I know, you might be a person of color. But, allow me to assume for a moment that you are white. When this happened, did you post, “I can say with complete confidence that Vassar is absolutely not anti-black”? I doubt it. Assuming I am wrong and that you aren’t white, would you have approved such a comment? Again, I doubt it.

Please don’t presume to speak for Jewish students who are bullied on campus for stating that Israel has a right to exist either.

Me bus asked if Spotlighter could provide the antiSemitic Vassar Yik yak posts. Please google Miscellany News , which is Vassar’s student paper and find the opinion article called “Antisemitism Present in Antizionist Rhetoric.” The author, a student, describes the antiSemitic posts that were made. Truly disgusting and a sad sign of how some Vassar students think. Not really surprising given how Vassar faculty presents things to the students.