Universities and colleges are fertile ground for promoting antisemitism, an American academic told an audience at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Winnipeg recently.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have deep concerns about what is happening in the classroom,\u201d Rachel Fish told about 400 people gathered Thursday for the annual Sol and Florence Kanee Distinguished Lecture sponsored by the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada.<\/p>\n
You may unsubscribe from any of our newsletters at any time.<\/p>\n
Fish, the director of the Brandeis University President\u2019s Initiative on Antisemitism, said students who support Israel feel unsafe at many U.S. universities. She cited research showing that 37 per cent of Jewish students believe there is a hostile environment towards Jews on campuses \u2014 compared to only 14 per cent of non-Jewish students who believe that is the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cJewish students see hostility their peers don\u2019t,\u201d she said, adding this is partly the result of protests and rallies on campuses that encourage extreme language such as calling Jewish students \u201cgenocidal baby killers.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also happening in classrooms, Fish said, where professors use lectures \u201cfor their own political purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
These lectures that criticize the Israeli government are framed as political discussions, but can end up promoting hatred of Jews, Fish said.<\/p>\n
She added that criticism of the Israeli government is legitimate, but not if that country is the only one targeted for critique about human rights challenges \u2014 what she called the \u201cdemonization of the State of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
The result is many Jewish students hide their identity on campus, with 62 per cent saying in 2024 there was a \u201csocial penalty\u201d to pay if others knew they were Jewish.<\/p>\n
Fish noted that Jewish faculty also feel insecure if they support Israel, often keeping their heads down.<\/p>\n
More on Broadview:<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know there will be professional repercussions if they speak up,\u201d she said, citing things like not being published or being invited to speak at conferences.<\/p>\n
To counter this, Fish proposed that universities \u201cengage deeply in intellectual pluralism\u201d and promote \u201cdiversity of thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
Universities should be places that model to youth how they can \u201cengage in complex conversations,\u201d she said, adding \u201cwe need brave spaces where people can engage deeply with this subject matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with that, university leaders need to be held accountable when antisemitism is seen on campuses, and provide \u201ceducation and training on Jew-hatred for all faculty, staff and students.\u201d<\/p>\n
Things are similar at universities and colleges in Canada and Manitoba, said heritage centre executive director Belle Jarniewski.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the same realities we are seeing,\u201d she said, citing the on-campus protests and events since the Oct. 7 attacks that have made Jewish students feel targeted and unsafe.<\/p>\n
Jewish faculty are also facing similar challenges, Jarniewski said, citing a submission last fall by the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba to the study on antisemitism in Canada by the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
John Longhurst\u00a0is a writer based in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n
This story was produced in conjunction with the Winnipeg Free Press, as part of a joint Religion in the News partnership covering issues of faith in Manitoba and nationally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Universities and colleges are fertile ground for promoting antisemitism, an American academic told an audience at Congregation Shaarey…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-654750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}