These are heady times for the progressive Zionist student: over a year ago J Street launched, almost eight months ago Obama took office and today marks the beginning of J Street U, the collegiate arm of the progressive, pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby.
J Street’s taking an active and direct role on campuses should mark a sea change in the way the pro-Israel conversation takes place on the college level. Until now the one institution dominating the pro-Israel discourse on campus (and off) was AIPAC, an organization that, notwithstanding its bipartisan membership, takes a conservative bent regarding Israel policy and considers any criticism of the Jewish state to be anathema.
And although J Street U used to exist on campus as the Union of Progressive Zionists (UPZ), Â an independent student progressive voice on Israel, it wielded little power compared to AIPAC, which associated itself with the principal pro-Israel groups of many campuses with large Jewish populations, like LionPAC at Columbia and BIPAC at Brandeis. At other campuses, such as my own Wash U, it was the driving force of pro-Israel programming while manfesting itself as an arm of AIPAC more than as a student group.
In terms of policy, J Street U aims to act as a counterweight to AIPAC’s influence on campus, to “provide an alternative to the polarizing voices from both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide that have long dominated conversations about the conflict on campus,” according to the group’s press release. in that regard it should be welcomed if it indeed means to unite disparate voices and find common ground as opposed to AIPAC, whose campus groups, and policies, display minimal interest in cooperating with opposing voices. The history of recent campus activism has shown that students often find themselves forced to choose between groups advocating uncompromising viewpoints; if J Street U can provide a third way it will have done something notable for students passionate about solving the conflict rather than perpetuating it.
In addition, I hope that the advent of J Street U’s presence on campus will shift the tone of the pro-Israel conversation such that students need not toe the AIPAC line in order to participate in on-campus pro-Israel groups. The significance of this is less that J Street U provides a specific alternative and more that its existence shows students that organized alternatives are possible. Students should realize that if their views conform neither to AIPAC’s nor to J Street’s, they don’t need to compromise.
Notwithstanding the fresh breath of policy that J Street U will bring to campus, its potential downside is that it will act as an institutional influence on progressive pro-Israel student groups much like AIPAC has for traditional pro-Israel groups. In the end, although we may disagree with AIPAC’s conservative policies, the truth is that they are legitimate and should have a place in the pro-Israel conversation; without them there is no conversation.
The real problem with AIPAC’s on-campus activities is that it works to control the actions and opinions of  students who should be forming their own activities and philosophies. The appeal of progressive pro-Israel student groups, beyond their leftist policies, was their independence from established Jewish institutions and their ability to act as a true student voice as a result. As more of these groups affiliate with J Street U and thus with J Street, much of that independence will vanish.
It seems that J Street U has this concern in mind. In its opening press release J Street U announced that it will be “governed by a national student board, [and] will provide guidance, education and resources to empower student activists to advocate on their campuses, in their communities and in Washington.”
It is imperative that J Street U make every effort to safeguard student group independence as much as possible. Without independence these students will not be able to form their own opinions and develop innovative ideas regarding the conflict’s resolution. A hallmark of the student left has always been its iconoclasm, something that cannot continue with an institution now controlling the student pro-Israel left.
In that light it’s troubling that the press release states that “Individual campus organizations and J Street U will operate semi-autonomously from J Street itself.” “Semi-autonomously” sounds like the beginning of a slippery slope, and it’s my sincere intention that students will be able to form their own opinions–whatever they may be–and programs instead of acting as proxies for two opposing Washington lobbies.
