The October 7th murderous terrorist attacks in Israel led to protests erupting on many college campuses. These protests were both verbal and somewhat physical on Israel and the Jewish people while Israel had yet to engage militarily. These protests were justifiably branded by many as anti-Semitic. There have been many calls for changes at numerous colleges. The only effective way to do that is by dismantling their DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs.
It is quite apparent that the connection is true. The explosion of anti-Semitism on campuses correlates to the growth of DEI staffing on college campuses. The more DEI staffing, the greater increase in spreading the poison of DEI results and disenfranchisement of disfavored groups like Jews.
Harvard is arguably the centerpiece of the anti-Semitism battle. After 34 student groups immediately protested against Israel, there was an immense backlash both nationally and from donors. Harvard’s president attended their Hillel’s Shabbat dinner (though not immediately) and denounced the school’s long history of anti-Semitism. This was a failed attempt to distract people from the current rampant anti-Semitism taking place. She then appointed an eight-member advisory committee charged with “disrupting and dismantling” anti-Semitism on campus.
We must start with the question of what happened to the last advisory committee. The Harvard Antisemitism Advisory Committee (HAAC) was established in 2019 to “advise the university on matters related to anti-Semitism and to recommend strategies for addressing anti-Semitism on campus.” The group had such impressive members as Ruth Wisse and RBG (Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg). They provided a list of suggestions to combat anti-Semitism on campus including hiring more staff to focus on prevention and education and developing a more robust reporting system for anti-Semitic incidents.
But unless you attack the source of the problem you have no chance of making changes. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) ranked Harvard at the rear of 248 participating colleges for a free speech environment. Harvard was rated abysmally with a score of -10 out of 100. It seems the prestigious HAAC had little effect on expanding free speech which is inherently necessary to the cause of minimizing anti-Semitism.
Their efforts for expanding education seem to have likewise fallen flat. A prime example of that failure is the annual Israeli Apartheid Week run by the Palestine Solidarity Committee. Let’s emphasize the malicious ignorance of the week’s title because there is nothing “apartheid” about Israel, whose population includes 21% Muslim Arabs.
There were murals calling Israel racist and white supremacists at this “hate fest.” Apparently, none of the sponsors have been to Israel. Jews are a religion, not a race. There are people of all races who are citizens of Israel including the two million Arabs. Only ignorant fools would call the only country in history to willingly bring blacks into their country (Ethiopian Jews) in order to gain freedom. Harvard’s newspaper, The Crimson, is a prime example of this foolishness. Their editorial board pronounced themselves “proudly supportive” of the murals and BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction). What hope is there for the new advisory committee to counter this hatred if their own editorial board badly missed any suggestions from the prior committee?
The new “Advisory Committee” has Dara Horn (author/professor/Harvard grad) and my longtime friend Rabbi David Wolpe (Visiting Scholar at Harvard Divinity School), a couple of top-notch choices. Do you think they can affect real change when the rest of the committee consists of Harvard establishment types? Will they address the failure of the previous prestigious panel and focus on the root cause of such intense anti-Semitism at Harvard? Or will it be another whitewash?
Planning for the Washington November 4th rally in support of Hamas has a foundation of roughly twenty groups. Each group has college chapters that freely operate on campus while Jewish groups are either banished or their speakers are cancelled. All of these groups are either far left politically or self-defined Marxist operations. They are welcomed and encouraged by the DEI regimes on campuses. You can trace the growth of these groups on campuses directly to the growth of DEI and the exploding amount of personnel dedicated to this profane idea.
When you want to eradicate a disease in a tree, particularly when it has spread throughout the entirety of the plant, you must rip it out from its roots. Otherwise, it will regenerate, and you will be back in the same place you started. The idea of DEI is not to boost the position of certain groups; it is to minimize the value of disfavored groups. Jews are a primary example of disfavored groups by the DEI complex. A solution that does not dismantle DEI will simply be a band-aid and the ill effects of anti-Semitism will continue to explode.
The support of Israel is not a Jewish value. The support of Israel is an American value and if you don’t understand that, you don’t understand America.
