Anti-Israel academic boycott turns ugly at Vassar

Posted by William A. Jacobson    Thursday, March 27, 2014 at 10:25am LEGAL INSURRECTION

NOTE: Long day for Vassar College. Starting this morning with the excellent letter written by over 60 Alumni and Parents against the growing climate of Jew Hatred at Vassar. Since then we've seen articles in Legal Insurrection, Honest Reporting and more. Here's an update from Legal Insurrection. I expect as this day wears on we'll see more in the wider press as word gets out. Let's hope the excellent administration at Vassar pays attention and helps to set the dialogue on a constructive course. 

CLICK THIS TO READ ON!

or CLICK THIS to read from today's JPOST.com article by Caroline B. Glick titled: 

Column One: Campus brownshirts rising

Anti-Israel academic boycott turns ugly at Vassar

Posted by William A. Jacobson    Thursday, March 27, 2014 at 10:25am

Heavy racial overtones as Israel class picketed, Professor forced to walk protest gauntlet, Jewish students heckled and mocked.

Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY, has been in the headlines this year because of anti-Israel agitation related to Hillel.  But that’s only part of the story, and the only part to receive mainstream media attention.

In fact, several events coincided leading to an ugly, racialized and anti-Israel eruption on campus in early March which has not received any mainstream media attention, although it was covered at the pro-Israel Commentary Magazine and Louis Brandeis Center, and previously at the anti-Israel Mondoweiss website.

I began looking into these events several days ago, and have had extensive conversations with the two Vassar professors who were the target of anti-Israel rage.  I also have obtained documentation not previously published.

What transpired was anti-Israel vitriol directed at Professors and students taking a course that involved travel to Israel and the West Bank, an intimidating protest outside a classroom, and a campus forum in which the Professors and Jewish students were belittled, heckled and mocked in such crude ways that it left even critics of Israel shaken.  Yet the Vassar administration has done little in response, and would not comment for this report. CLICK THIS TO KEEP READING

Empowering Jewish Students to Address Bias on Campus

ADL Launches New Interactive Education Program

This week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) launched a new interactive education program in Florida called“Words to Action: Empowering Jewish Students to Address Bias on Campus.”  As part of a nationwide initiative for the League, the ADL Florida Office provided its first training on February 23rd to over seventy 12th grade students from Broward County.  The two and a half hour training took place at the David Posnack Jewish Community Center in Davie, Florida, as part of pre-trip education sessions for students who are about to embark on the Broward County “March of the Living” – a two week trip for Jewish teenagers to Poland and Israel in memory of the Holocaust.

“Words to Action” is designed to empower and equip college and college-bound students with constructive and effective responses to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias on campus. The program is based on ADL’s Confronting Anti-Semitism program, which was created in the 1980’s in response to a comprehensive survey of Jewish youth in New England, conducted by the League. The findings revealed that middle and high school youth frequently experienced anti-Semitic comments, taunts, harassment and graffiti in their schools, neighborhoods and communities. Rather than standing up to this prejudice, many youth remained silent, both in the face of oppression and later, when they returned to their homes and families.

“Decades later, ADL has tracked the continued existence of this same type of anti-Semitism, along with another form of anti-Semitism – fueled by anti-Israel sentiment – that turns up on college campuses,” stated Hava Holzhauer, ADL Florida Regional Director.  “We believe that “Words to Action” will help Jewish young adults and college-bound teens address the current face of anti-Semitism by increasing their comprehension and awareness of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias in their lives, by refuting anti-Semitic stereotypes and anti-Israel myths with accurate information, and by teaching skills for responding effectively to anti-Semitism.”

ADL’s inaugural training in Florida included an interactive activity engaging students to define and understand the terms: anti-Israel, anti-Zionism, and anti-Semitism; a PowerPoint presentation on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Movement and how anti-Israel campus groups adopt such tactics as a deliberate strategy; and an “Assess and Act” segment during which the students viewed three vignettes – “Anti-Israel Bias in the Classroom,” “Apartheid Wall,” and “Headlines.”  The students were provided with ADL materials to serve as a resource for them and their friends.

To request an ADL “Words to Action” training, please call: (561) 988-2900.

ADL in the News

Sun-Sentinel: Students being trained to fight anti-Semitism

GO TO SOURCE HERE

Anti-Israel Jews and the Vassar Blues

This is a MUST READ. The disturbing action at VASSAR COLLEGE, including the response to the ASA Boycott Threat, the BDS movement and now Hillel opting out and joining Open Hillel is primarily responsible for this blog. Please take the time to read this article. Comments are welcome! 

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has added to my ambivalence about my alma mater.

By LUCETTE LAGNADO

Feb. 23, 2014 7:12 p.m. ET

From the WSJ Online Please read this article here: HERE

(This article is behind a paywall. You may be able to read it by searching the title (above) in Google.)

Ms. Lagnado, a Journal reporter, is the author of two memoirs of her Egyptian-Jewish family, "The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit" (Harper Perennial, 2008) and "The Arrogant Years" (Ecco, 2012).

Vassar Jewish Students Break With Hillel on Israel

Published February 20, 2014 on line for February 28 Edition
The FORWARD at forward.com

The Vassar Jewish Union has declared itself an “Open Hillel,” becoming the second organization to break from Hillel International over the parent group’s pro-Israel guidelines.

“We believe that Hillel International’s goal to ‘inspire every Jewish college student to develop a meaningful and enduring relationship to Israel’ does not represent the diverse opinions of young American Jews,” the VJU said in a February 18 statement announcing that it would no longer abide by the Hillel guidelines. “We believe that fostering a pluralistic community and supporting all Jewish life on campus cannot be achieved with Hillel International’s Israel guidelines in place.”

The “Open Hillel” movement joined by the VJU describes itself as “a student-run campaign to encourage inclusivity and open discourse at campus Hillels.” The movement encourages Hillel chapters to reject Hillel International’s Israel guidelines, which prohibit campus Hillels from sponsoring programs, partnering with clubs and hosting speakers who “delegitimize, demonize or apply a double standard to Israel,” or deny its right to exist. The guidelines also bar cooperation with anyone supporting boycotts, divestments or sanctions against the Jewish state.

Last December Swarthmore Hillel became the first school to publicly reject the guidelines.

Continues Here
NOTE: This and the next article deal with the same topic. What is it that actually creates a "tipping point" in history? Only time will tell, but I'll bet my max bet, a nickel, that for some reason, the "Open Hillel" movement may be the pivot. Students have been hearing about BDS and "Apartheid week" for some time and most probably rolled their eyes, assuming yet another "cute" liberal bandwagon would pass by. After all, there was always Hillel to go back to in case you needed a shabbot candle, a bagel or someplace calm to go and decompress. 

But now "Open Hillel" will allow those calm spaces to be crashed by Anti semitic speakers, BDS organizers, Nazi Sympathizers  and others who seek the end of the State of Israel. And this will not go down well with those Jewish kids who need a little shelter from the storm. 

Vassar Jewish Union declares itself an ‘Open Hillel’

Published 02/19/2014 in JTA  online at:  JTA.org

Vassar College’s Jewish Union declared itself an “Open Hillel,” repudiating international Hillel guidelines rejecting partnerships with groups deemed hostile toward Israel. The Vassar Jewish Union, a Hillel-affiliated student group, made the announcement Tuesday on its website. It is the second campus Hillel organization to designate itself an Open Hillel. Swarthmore College Hillel voted to reject the Hillel guidelines for campus Israel activities in December. The guidelines forbid individual Hillel chapters from hosting groups or speakers that among other things deny Israel’s right to exist or support boycott or divestment from the Jewish state.
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