Student Organizers Form The Workers Circle College Network
The 120-year Workers Circle has a fresh branch: a student hub for advocacy, ideas and culture.
Journalism by Jewish college students, for Jewish college students.
Article Archive
A National Jewish Student Union Makes a Comeback
Originally published in the Columbia Current. At a time when millions of dollars are funneled into hiring Jewish professionals to manage Jewish life on campus with little or no say from the students they claim to serve, the American Union of Jewish Students is attempting to take back the conversation of what it means to…
Student Leaders Move the Campus Conversation Beyond Israel
Jewish students are ready to talk about more than Israel. How do I know? I asked a room full of Jewish student leaders. Earlier this month, Jewish activists from eight tri-state campuses gathered at NYU for the American Union of Jewish Students #CampusTentNYC Town Hall, a student-led effort to bring diverse young Jewish leaders under one…
The Cost of Privatizing Jewish Campus Life
Throughout the 20th century, American Jews – particularly young Jews – were agents of social change. The pre-war generation stood for worker’s rights, while the generation after the Holocaust marched at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement. Why then are there so few Jews active in the contemporary resurgence of progressive student activism? Some…
Dear Allies, Don’t Downplay Anti-Semitism in Trump’s America
There are anti-Semites in the White House. They rank among the president’s closest advisors. Still, when I tell student activists that I feel unsafe in Trump’s America, I’m met with blank stares. I may be Jewish, sure, and everyone knows Jews have been persecuted. But in today’s student activist circles, Jews don’t count as a…
Why doesn’t Emory University have a J Street U?
When Emory University first-year Zoe Robbin got to college, she was upset by the lack of left-wing Jewish organizations on campus. With four other students, she founded a campus chapter of J Street U and set out to become a chartered organization. “We wrote a constitution … according to the college’s charter rules exactly,” said…
BDS has no place in student government
This article originally appeared in The Queen’s Journal on March 11, 2016. While it’s essential for institutions to practice freedom of expression, there’s no place for intolerance at a university. This is especially true in student government, where neutrality should be upheld. On Feb. 22, over 900 students gathered for the Students’ Society of McGill University…
Co-opting social justice won’t erase reality in Israel
I was hoping that in 2016, the Jewish community would find better ways to reach out to millennials. I guess they have, if co-opting social justice, intersectionality, and related ideas counts as outreach. It started with an op by David Bernstein, the current CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, published Jan. 4 in…
Is there a Jewish Agenda on campus?
When a UC Santa Cruz student leader is instructed to abstain from a BDS vote due to his allegiance to a “Jewish Agenda,” the proper response from the Jewish community is very simple: Such activities are anti-Semitic, and do not belong on diverse, pluralistic campuses. This is only the latest case of anti-Semitism that has…
Jewish People’s Assembly demands accountability from Federations
This Sunday, thousands of people will arrive in Washington, D.C. for the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. Just outside the GA, they’ll be joined by the Jewish People’s Assembly, a protest that its organizers from Open Hillel expect to draw around 100 attendees. The protest, according to its website, has three…