Since the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East,
Jewish students on college campuses say
anti-Semitism is getting to go to some of the Columbia
University here in New York denounced recent acts of
anti-Semitism on campus that they say have made Jewish and
Israeli students feel unsafe.
Protests and arrests at Columbia University Hear the pictures The
NYPD Some officers in riot gear descending on Columbia arresting
dozens of pro Palestinian.
My name is Shai Gulburkelman I go to Brandeis university.
I this is my first year here
and I've I've got in pretty involved in the Jewish
community.
I know a lot about Israel.
I know a lot about
the conflict. I did a pre military program last year
for a gap year
and so I and most of my family actually all
of my family lives in Israel.
So my, my first response to the anti-Semitism college campuses
is always trying to kind of redirect the story
and the conversation to be more about what's actually happening
because I think that it's very,
very easy to get wrapped up.
That being said, that it is important to talk about
what's happening on college campuses because that's what's affecting us,
right. And and right after October 7th happened,
I had a lot of trouble because of my connections
to Israel.
I felt very helpless and like I couldn't really do
anything.
I
don't really blame anyone or or feel like I don't
understand where they're coming from because my response was what
can I do right now?
And if and if what's being told to me is
what I can do is I can protest and I
can go sit in an encampment.
And that's what I'm probably going to do if that's
what I believe.
And so I don't think that this is an individual
person's fault or, you know,
each individual person. I think what happens is that when
you join,
you know, a mob or a large group of people,
you kind of lose sight of really the idea of
what you're going for.
And, you know, you're going for humanitarianism,
you're going for treating people with respect.
And then you forget that Jews are also people,
right? And it's very easy to kind of get lost
on the way.
And I think that when it comes,
you know, when it comes to the
difference between Brandeis and other college campuses or how this
happened on on other college campuses,
I think that really what happened is it just
it became a group issue as opposed to a person
on person issue 3/3
Palestine. Brandeis chose from day one that they were going
to value the founding values of the school,
which was being a safe place for Jews
and, you know, supporting the state of Israel over free
speech.
Right. And I I think that whatever you're going to
say about whether Brandeis did a good job or not,
you have to admit that Brandeis has sacrificed on their
free speech.
They disbanded SJP, which had more to do with the
mother organization than the SJP on Brandeis.
But they, they arrested the protesters and And whether the
message that they're sending is they want to make this
a safe place for Jews.
Right. And so, you know,
they received a name for anti-Semitism.
And I think that's absolutely valid because they've done a
great job at combating anti-Semitism.
The degree to which I I know is I do
know that there have been a lot more transfers coming
in and
a lot more people who are interested.
I think that it's a,
it's a really interesting concept because so I was obviously
a high school student looking at what colleges to to
go to and never once did I think during my
time looking I wonder which place is going to,
you know not have an encampment when Israel gets,
you know gets into a war.
And so and so going into a college decision process
and knowing what's happened now and making a decision off
of that is going to be such a different
scenario to what anyone else has ever had to really
deal with.
I never really felt like somebody who feels unsafe to
be a Jew.
I wear a coupon, I walk around anywhere that I
want with it
and I've never really been felt threatened.
But that isn't to say that it's not real.
You know, I have a lot of friends on different
campuses at Yale,
at Columbia who are absolutely destroyed right now because they
don't feel safe walking around.
And and it is absolutely a real thing that is
happening and I've got it very good.
I'm at a place where my rights are very protected.
The police officers that I see here,
you know, I see them,
I say hi and I know that when it comes
down to it,
they've got my back and it's and it's very easy
for me to kind of come from that place
and use that safe backing
as the place from which the start dot dialogue.
Right. And and when I feel like that it's very
easy to walk up to somebody.
And I've had conversations with many people who disagree with
me and it was always entirely comfortable for me because
you know, I'm apprentice and I think that's kind of
the main difference of what it's like to be a
Judy student right now.
Where if I were at Columbia,
I think I would probably still be doing that but
I would not have that same kind of security behind
me while I'm doing it.
And I think that that's that is something that needs
to be addressed.
If somebody feels unsafe, you have to ask yourself why
they feel unsafe and what you can do to make
them not feel unsafe.
And that's, you know what I'm doing now with trying
to figure out
the principles for free expression that we're that I'm on
a task force to try to to change.
But figuring out what you know,
what you can actually do to make people feel safe,
even if you don't understand why they feel unsafe.
And I can, I can say without,
you know, getting into specifics.
I've got, you know, I've got friends who have told
me that they don't feel comfortable leaving,
leaving their dorms or walking past the encampments because they
think that,
you know, somebody's going to look at them because they're
Jewish and assume all these kinds of things.
Right? And even if they're not supporters of Israel or
even if there are supporters of Israel,
right, they're getting lumped into a category.
And it's even if you're not physically threatened,
it's very scary to walk past a group of people
who unconditionally hate you.
I think that people should try to imagine what it's
like walking past the this place every day that's supposed
to be their home and feeling like there are people
that just hate them for no reason,
right. And the kind of and the kind of mental
toll that that takes on you.
I think that some degree we need to look at
this as a moment to figure out how we got
here
less than where we go from here,
because where we go from here,
I think is
any action is probably going to cause things to get
worse.
And so finishing up the semester,
finishing up the year, I think it might just be
best to kind of talk
to people and figure out where they're coming from.
Right. And bring in the leaders of the,
you know, and a lot of people have have looked
down on the schools that I've negotiated with,
the encampments, specifically Brown. You know,
Brown came out with a good outcome,
which is the university said we're going to consider hearing
your position,
right. We'll let you come and talk to us and
then we'll think about it.
And they didn't make any promises,
right? They didn't say because you guys were here,
We're going to change things.
They said, listen, what you guys wanted is to be
heard.
So we're going to listen to you,
right. And I think at the end of the day,
that's what should have been happening all along.
And if that's what it takes to to kind of
move to a place where we can
have that in a healthy way,
then maybe the correct answer is to have universities say,
you know, send me three people,
send me five people that want to talk to me
about productive steps that we can take.
Disband the rest of the people here.
Because I don't need a group on my campus.
I don't need people scaring my students as they walk
past.
If you want to tell me something then come talk
to me in the administrative office.
And I think that doing something like that kind of
de escalates the situation from one where from one where
it's a
group against the university right to 1:00 where they're actually
trying to to
accomplish something.