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 Robbin in a phone interview. “[Without a charter], we’re not allowed to host meetings. We’re not allowed to book rooms.”
The students were told they had to get at least ten people to sign a form saying that they were members of Emory J Street U.
“We turned in these signatures at the last minute, not being aware that they were originally required,” said Emory J Street U co-founder and senior Leah Michalove in a phone interview. “One of the people that had signed it said … ‘No, I’m not a member of J Street U.’”
It is unclear why that student, who Emory J Street U has not identified, said they were not a member of J Street U.
Because of this, Emory J Street U was denied a charter and placed under investigation.
“We have a lot of issues with chartering here at Emory,” said Robbin. “The process is completely un-transparent.”
Current college council president, junior Molly Zhu, would disagree.
“Our chartering process is clearly laid out in our standing rules,” Zhu told New Voices over email. “One of the obligations of obtaining a charter include: ‘Maintain a minimum of ten members of which [two thirds] are within Emory College of which all must be enrolled in Emory University.’”
The four founders are working to get chartered this semester, but believe it’s unlikely that they will be able to do so.
“We were de-chartered, and there was no openness to discussion,” Robbin said.
According to Zhu, the reason the club was de-chartered is because of their misunderstanding about what it means to be a member.
“[College Council] understands member to mean a participating person within one’s organization, at least someone who believes in the club’s purpose,” Zhu said.
“In this case, the list of ten members contained names of people who were, one, negligent about why their names were solicited in the first place and, two, were not necessarily supporters of the mission statement of J Street U.”
Robbin, Michalove, and others have tried reaching out to the student body for support. The four Emory J Street U founders wrote an op-ed for The Emory Wheel, the Emory student newspaper.
“We appealed to the SGA,” Michalove said. “We used the op-ed to appeal to the student community.”
According to Robbin, Michalove had been trying to get a J Street U started on campus for four years.
“[The difficulty] does have something to do with the politics on campus,” Robbin said. “Emory is an extremely right-wing campus.”
J Street U’s national organization has gotten involved too.
“I am working with the students to help them be successful on campus,” said Elyssa Feder, the senior Southeast Campus Organizer. “The students have been the ones who [did all the] work. My role is to … help them be as effective as possible.
“I’m hopeful that when the chapter goes back to college council … in the fall, that [they] will take our application and be transparent about any problems that arise.”
Michalove plans to coach the students who take over next year in order to get the organization chartered.
“We’re allowed to reapply for chartering in the fall,” Michalove said. “We are trying to provide [Robbin] with as much support and as many resources as we can.”
Regardless of the reasons for why their charter was denied, the members of J Street U’s board will be working up until the end of the semester to change that.
“We have been having a ton of one-on-ones and really focusing on building up a strong membership base for next year,” Robbin said.
Nicole Zelniker is a student at Guilford College.
