Wednesday, June 24, 2015

New Webpage Documents Student Testimonies of Antisemitism on Campus

From The Algemeiner:
A new webpage was launched on Monday featuring over one hundred personal testimonies from Jewish students who have experienced antisemitism on campuses across the U.S. over the past year-and-a-half. 
Behind the project is the non-profit campus watchdog AMCHA Initiative which gathered the extensive testimony from public reports, and students at 47 colleges and universities in 20 states. 
In their reports on the site, some students said they felt intimidated and frightened. Others said they wanted to hide their Jewish identities for fear of being targeted by classmates. One student from University of Washington said that after seeing his Star of David, some people “brand me as someone toxic, someone worthy of their disdain and vitriol.” 
[ . . . ] 

All of the testimonies published on the webpage were stated publicly at student government meetings or have been quoted by the press, according to AMCHA. Some mentioned the campus group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as being responsible for making campuses unsafe for Jewish students. 
A student from Vasser College said, “From their harassment of students participating in the spring break trip, to the Nazi incident and anti-Zionist rhetoric that verges on blood libel, SJP has done everything in its power to make Vassar an unsafe space for Jews.”
Many of these reports are devastating.  Read the full story here.  

AMCHA's webpage listing all of these testimonies is STUDENT VOICES: Being Intimidated, Harassed or Bullied as a Jewish and/or a Pro-Israel Student on Campuses Today.