18 Mar 2015
Image: kveller.com
The incidents at my alma mater, UCLA, in the past weeks have shaken us all. As a Bruin, to hear that members of the student government were considering not electing a perfectly competent student to a position because she was Jewish is astounding and frightening. As a Jew and a Hillel supporter (having been the product of the leadership education, social and cultural and religious programming provided by Hillel organizations around the world) the accusations and inanity felt way too close to home for comfort.
When Alina Adams declared that she won’t send her kids to “UCLA or any other anti-Semitic college,” I decided I had to speak up.
1. Anti-Semitism is Everywhere
Sorry, but it’s true. There is racism, bigotry, hatred, and–yes–anti-Semitism everywhere in the world. We can’t escape it. Not in France, not in Israel, not even in peaceful Denmark. It’s all over the place. As an assimilated Jew in the Diaspora, I accept my position as an outsider everywhere I go.
2. UCLA Is Not An Anti-Semitic University
It’s simply not. There is nothing anti-Semitic per se about UCLA. Just because there is evidence of ignorance and anti-Semitism, doesn’t mean the university has fostered it or supports it. I’m trying not to get too hysterical about this in general because it’s such an isolated event at UCLA. The global issues campuses are facing, such as ousting Jewish professors (thanks, Durban), not allowing Jewish professors to speak, and other such outrageous offensiveness is not what’s going on in this case at UCLA. (Go Bruins.)