Brown students hope to continue events like the one that broke Hillel’s Standards of Partnership

By Nicole Zelniker May 13, 2016

On May 11, more than 70 students from Brown University came together to commemorate the Nakba by watching three films produced by the Israeli NGO Zochrot. Nakba is the term for the 1948 expulsion and displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians, and Nakba Day is observed on May 15, the day after Israeli Independence Day. “Within…

Read More...

Brown students break Hillel Standards of Partnership to discuss Nakba

By New Voices Staff May 12, 2016

Yesterday, despite its official cancellation, a group of Brown University students gathered at the Brown RISD Hillel building to watch three short films about the Nakba. According to a statement from Sophie Kasakove, one of the event’s three organizers and a member-at-large of Open Hillel’s steering committee, the event had been in the works for…

Read More...

Was StandWithUs robot surveilling Brown University Israel talk?

By Nicole Zelniker March 18, 2016

In the last few years, robotic technology has made tremendous strides. We can now use the technology to open doors or even move cars. As of this year, we can also use robots to attend campus events. On March 3, pro-Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs partnered with the technology company Tele-Buddy to send a robot to…

Read More...

Anti-Semitic graffiti found at Brown Jewish frat

By Chloe Sobel March 18, 2016

On the night of March 17, the Brown University undergrad residence that houses Jewish fraternity Beta Rho Pi and co-ed fraternity Zeta Delta Xi was defaced with anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti. According to an email provided to New Voices, written by the interim assistant vice presidents of Brown Campus Life & Student Services, Mary Grace Almandrez and…

Read More...

The Kvetch-Up: Robots may be the future of Israel activism

By Chloe Sobel March 7, 2016

Welcome back to our weekly news round-up, where we try our long-winded best to summarize the Jewish news of the week. If you read something here that you want to say something about, get in touch: editor@newvoices.org. Yesterday, the Vassar Student Association voted to pass a resolution that called for it to politically support the BDS…

Read More...

At Brown, Alpha Epsilon Pi becomes Beta Rho Pi over dissatisfaction with treatment of non-Jews, sexual assault

By Chloe Sobel February 5, 2016

On Nov. 3, 2015, near the end of a year in which rape on college campuses became a national conversation, the members of Brown University’s Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter voted to disaffiliate, in part due to the national fraternity’s handling of sexual assault education. After the disaffiliation vote and expulsion from the international fraternity —…

Read More...

Fingerhut’s apology to J Street U meets mixed reactions

By Nicole Zelniker August 31, 2015

As the rift between J Street U and Hillel continues to widen, J Street U members remain dissatisfied with Hillel’s efforts to close the gap. On Aug. 17, Hillel International CEO and president Eric Fingerhut addressed J Street U in D.C. to apologize for declining to speak at the J Street U conference in March….

Read More...

Inside JVP’s National Membership Meeting

By Nicole Zelniker March 25, 2015

From March 13-15, Jewish Voice for Peace held its 6th annual National Membership Meeting in Baltimore. Formed in 1996, JVP has grown a lot in 19 years. “In 2011, 150 gathered [at the meeting],” said JVP Brooklyn Vice Chair Cindy Greenberg. “In 2013, 350 people were there. This weekend, there [were] over 600 of us.”…

Read More...

The Limits of Open Hillel

By Derek M. Kwait November 7, 2014

If we’re going to talk at all about Open Hillel, we first have to ask, “Why would someone want to stop someone else from speaking in the first place?” Presumably, because they fear the speaking invitation will lend legitimacy or act as a seal of approval to the offending view, or else it will lead…

Read More...

Building the Great Student Constituency for Peace

By Joanna Kramer April 3, 2014

“Failure will kill the political constituency of the two-state solution,” warned American Task Force on Palestine Director Ghaith Al-Omari at an event co-sponsored by J Street U Brown and Brown RISD Hillel last week. These chilling words reminded me of why it is so essential to demonstrate support for Secretary of State John Kerry’s current…

Read More...

Yoav Schaefer Turns Tragedy into Empowerment at Avi Schaefer Fund Symposium

By Derek M. Kwait February 13, 2014

An all-star panel of influential Jewish thinkers, writers, and community leaders addressed the questions of Jews and power Sunday at the Inaugural North American Symposium in Memory of Avi Schaefer at Columbia/Barnard Hillel, sponsored by The Avi Schaefer Fund and Mechon Hadar. The event was organized in large part by the Avi Schaefer Fund’s executive…

Read More...

Disorganization, lack of information characterize run up to annual event [Israeli Apartheid Week]

By Dafna Fine February 24, 2012

Israeli Apartheid Week begins on Sunday and runs through Saturday, March 3. New Voices writers will be covering it all week on several campuses. If you know of  IAW events — or its counterpart, Israel Peace Week — on your campus, let us know by emailing Dafna Fine at dafna@newvoices.org. The trailer below is from…

Read More...