When I was a kid, we lived in the very WASPy (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant - the town is far more "multicultural" these days) town of Winchester, Massachusetts. Literally down the street from us was the beautiful Winchester Country Club. My father, having been an avid golfer since childhood attempted to gain membership but found it impossible due to his ethnic Jewish background. My mother told me about their humiliating experience in front of the Membership Committee. They oozed condescension - "You do understand art, don't you?" Likewise the local 'Boat Club.'

In the early '50's, when they were looking for a home, they wound up in Belmont because the owners of the home they wanted in Melrose wouldn't sell to Jews.

That's the political/social reality that still continues to inform the fears and priorities of the people of my parents' generation. Now in their 70's and 80's, it can be very difficult to grasp that times and priorities have changed. The problem is no longer the "Conservative" establishment. Membership at private, exclusive clubs is no longer a serious issue of concern (if it ever was). Housing in the neighborhood of choice is the rule now, not the exception.

What are some of the real, contemporary sources of antisemitism? You can begin your search on today's college campuses, the source of tomorrow's leaders and policy-makers, where the threat comes not from the political Right but from the Left. It's a difficult reality for some of the older generation, and much of the Jewish activist establishment, to come to grips with.

As I mentioned, last night I attended the first public showing of the David Project's film, Columbia Unbecoming (see the link for multiple media accounts). Columbia student Noah Liben, who appears in the film, as well as Dr. Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser of the David Project were on-hand for the introduction and questions following the film.

Attendance was quite good with about 100 people there - and not solely gray-hairs as has been my experience at a number of these type of events.

First I must say that I'm very impressed with the tack and the tone of both the David Project and the students in question. Liben was clear - Columbia is still a great school - it simply has a few warts is all. The film was at first only shown to Columbia Administration, some students and some alumni. It was not shown publicly at all until about six to seven months after its making when it was shown to members of the press after quieter tactics achieved no results.

Columbia Unbecoming's purpose is to help the students' voices to be heard - not tossed aside with next year's class. Many appear anonymously for fear of retribution or of hurting a relationship with a particular professor.

Liben made it clear - the film is NOT meant to equate all anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. It is NOT meant to silence. It IS meant to help Jewish and pro-Israel students feel free of ridicule and intimidation just like students of any other minority group are allowed to feel.

Dr. Jacobs explained a bit about the background of the David Project and its founding two years ago in response to the rise in global antiSemitism. He explained that part of what we're seeing today is the marriage of convenience between the far Left and Islam - both of which target the United States and Israel particularly. This ideological assault masquerades as legitimate criticism, but it simply doesn't hold up. What's happened on campus is such that it's now considered unvirtuous to support Israel. One puts their academic career in jeopardy being pro-Israel - such is the atmosphere.

Mr. Goldwasser explained that they had come to Columbia not to make a documentary, but simply to support the students. The problem seems to be localized to a few professors in a particular department. The Jewish professors are silent for various reasons (They spoke to 10 different faculty members - none agreed to speak on the record.), the administration ignores the issue and the students aren't getting any support.

Once the media got involved the administration started speaking about the issue, but still not much has changed yet.

The film itself is a slick production. This is a polished product, with about 10 or so students giving testimony as to their experiences - some with their identities mosaicked out.

It's clear why these kids - and they are kids - have so much trouble getting their grievances heard. They're smart, but also young and pink-cheeked. The professors are older, more experienced and they can walk all over these kids like they were nothing. The classroom is the perfect hiding place for moral bullies.

And who is there to hold the bullies responsible? No one. Contrary to popular belief, educating students is not the primary business of the university. Students are a nuisance. The prime business of the university is business - fund raising. The students don't even pay their own tuitions in the majority of cases, nor do they give large endowments.

I remember as a student at BU, there was a famous incident between BU President John Silber and a fellow student who was complaining about the lack of respect she was receiving from the university. She started to say, "I pay x thousands of dollars to go here..." whereupon Silber stopped her and said, "YOU don't pay that money, your PARENTS do..." End of discussion.

So what about the parents? You think they want to make any more waves than anyone else? What, and risk the value of all that investment? Keep your mouth shut, get your paper and move on, son.

What's nice about the testimonials in the film is that they are not frivolous. These are not students complaining about the one time a professor gave them a funny look, or the time someone made fun of their yarmulke. Only serious accusations of intimidation are presented. There is one student's story of her approaching a professor and questioning his always referring to Israel as "Palestine," and the 30 minute red-faced shouting session it engendered. There is the Jewish student who was in attendance at a one-sided divestment conference who was turned to and told, "Just remember who are the oppressed and who are the oppressors - YOU are the oppressors" - this because he happened to be wearing a yarmulke. Another complains that whenever they put up posters for Israel or Jewish-related events, they are either torn down or defaced with swastikas.

It's all serious stuff and there's plenty more besides. They try to complain on their own, but who is there to complain to? The department head is a colleague of the professor being reported, or may even be the subject of the complaint! "There was no way around the polemic in the classroom." Individual students may have thought it was just them, and that may be how any one complaint may have seemed, but viewed in aggregate, one after the other, there is even greater weight behind them.

Like the representatives of the David Project, the testimonials in the film make it clear that they are not complaining about all the professors, nor even all the professors of Arab background. If we wish to play the last-name game, some Arab names were named as good, even-handed professors who teach their subjects but don't use the podium as a political pulpit to grind their axes upon.

It is mentioned that some professors were interviewed who corroborated the students' view of things, but they feared the consequences of appearing and would not do so. It's difficult to blame them when their livelihoods are at stake.

Students wonder: How can you choose to major in a department where you're going to spend all your time arguing?

They make it clear: The answer is NOT a pro-Israel Chair. The answer is applying the same standards of academic fairness and non-intimidation applied to other subjects, other groups, other minorities in the university. So far, the only minority groups unprotected at the university level are Israeli and Jewish students who don't toe the party line.

Nature abhors a vacuum. There are no Fascists or National Socialists anymore. That battle is over. They don't exist in the colleges, yet the university remains one of the few places where one can actually admit one is a Communist and be taken seriously. The far Left is alive and well and living in close quarters with the Islamist agenda. So what is there to counterbalance this? As I said, there is no far-Right, so the groups that take their place are moderates - moderates who advocate nothing more than a fair-hearing for Israel. Take note of recent events at San Francisco State University, where the student Republican Club was physically attacked by a Palestinian Student group. This is who the Left has adopted as their bogey-man? The Republicans and the kids in skull-caps?

It's important to emphasize what this film and effort are about: Fair-treatment, no more intimidation or racism and good scholarship instead of polemics. It is not about silencing dissent or a particular viewpoint, it is not about every single professor, nor every student.

It is about getting a fair hearing for fair complaints in order to heal the university. This is the environment our future policy makers will be emerging from. It is an issue of concern to us all.

If you are a Columbia student or alum who has an experience of your own to add, you can make your voice heard by emailing academicabuse@gmail.com. You can also find out the latest news by visiting the web site of Columbia's Pro-Israel Political Action Club, LionPAC.

Posted by Solomon at 5:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
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