Addressing anti-Semitism on campus

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4 Comments

  1. FellowMemberOfTheTribe says:

    A beautiful article on a subject that needs to be addressed. Antisemitism is not a thing of the past, ladies and gentlemen…our generation is no better than the previous few on the acceptance of the Jewish people in society. I, too, suffer antisemitism regularly. I’m not a student at CU, but this issue is not isolated to your campus…it’s on my campus, it’s within the Jewish community itself, it’s everywhere, and it grows every time Jews are asked where their Jew-Gold is, or where their horns are, or told another Holocaust joke.

  2. Natalie says:

    I can’t imagine how you must feel, as these feelings can be deeply rooted in people and you can probably feel it. As an Asian American it’s definitely not the same, but I can relate.

    When I was still in CU, someone published a “satirical” article about Asian Americans for the student newspaper. It literally had every stereptype in the book. What killed me was when my friends showed me and I freaked out, they told me to calm down because it was funny.

    Lots of the Asian American students and others who joined us set up rallies, reached out to the media, and made everyone responsible face up to the sad excuse they called journalism. Fortunately, the newspaper reformed their practices and committed to making sure this never happened again. However, a lot of people, even some of my closest friends, didn’t understand at all why we were upset and basically said it was no big deal and that we should get a sense of humor.

    It wasn’t so much the horrible stereotypes, the suggestions in the article that Asian American students should be retaliated against, or the sheer failure of satire that really got to me. It was the fact that no one cared how we felt.

    It sent us the signal that it was totally ok for everyone to make us feel small, unimportant, and not worthy of their respect. Because it was funny.

  3. Jacob Parelman says:

    I don’t think that this article is a just representation of the “jewish experience” that I have had at CU. I am deeply sorry that the author experience anti-semitism on the CU campus, but in my three years living in Boulder I have found that the community of Boulder is an extremely open one to all faiths and backgrounds. This is a broad generalization from one persons experience.

    Perhaps this author should reconsider the social settings she is placing herself in. This article, while definitely representing one persons experience, does not represent how I or my Jewish girlfriend or Jewish friend’s feel about CU. This author should think about the type of people she is surrounding herself with (i.e people who would make such ignorant remarks like “where are your horns.”) I have made many Jewish friends and many non-jewish friends on the CU campus and although I have experienced anti-semitism in my past, it has never been from a CU student. If you feel alone on the CU campus there are many resources for you to meet other open minded people and Jews! (hillel house.)

    Again, I am very sorry about the hateful experiences that this author has gone through in regards to her heritage, but I do not think that this a problem generally amongst CU and is instead possibly a problem with a particular group of CU students she is choosing to be surrounded by.

    I still do believe though that everyone should be educated about all faiths in order to prevent ignorance and hate. But, CU in my opinion is still a beacon for progressive thought and positions (4/20, CWA, Tim Weis, skeptics society, Salman Rushdie, etc…) I maintain that CU is still a very forward thinking and open campus to all faiths, backgrounds, races, and opinions.

  4. audrey44 says:

    I don’t think that blaming the victim is ever the way to go about these situations. Just because one person had a more positive experience at CU as a Jew doesn’t mean that everyone will have that experience, the same way if someone has a negative experience not everyone will share in that. I don’t think the author of this op-ed intentionally chose people who did not accept her religion. Its unfair to allude that its her fault.
    Anti-Israeli remarks are now considered to be a part of the “new” anti-Semitism and those text messages were probably sent because the senders knew the woman was Jewish–why else would they say it? CU has a lot of great things to offer but people cannot ignore the hate that goes on at this campus due to race, religion, sexual orientation. Just because you haven’t experienced it doesn’t mean it isn’t going on.

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