A new Hillel International program (a little explanation from JTA here) called Talk Israel placed tents on 20 campuses yesterday and Tuesday. The tents were open to all for “conversation and not debate,” according to Columbia-Barnard Hillel Assistant Director Carrie Fischbein. “Dialogue is a key component of the day,” she said.
Fischbein was also careful to point out, “The tent is not available for hate speech.”
Given Hillel’s recent track record on issues surrounding open debate about Israel, I’m on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what happened on other campuses. We do have one report from the University of Florida that there was a small protest going on near the tent.
Next week, we’ll have a full story here at New Voices with reporting from our five of our correspondents on how the tent program played out at Columbia University, Brandeis University, U.F., SUNY-Binghamton and George Washinton University.
And if anything noteworthy happened on your campus, let us know.
So stay tuned.
Carly Silver contributed reporting to this post.
