Jews, Antisemitism and DEI: Campus Experiences

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

This panel includes diverse faculty from universities in different regions, who will share their perspectives on why Jews have been excluded from university DEI initiatives, and their own motivations to spearhead innovative mechanisms for integrating education about Jews and antisemitism into their university’s DEI programs. These include courses and programming; guides and workshops on antisemitism; and working with ethnic studies programs on in depth trainings that address commonalities and particularities of group experiences. Discussants will explore the reasons for their successes and continued challenges, the rationale for their choice of initiatives in their institutional context, and how their respective efforts have influenced one another in a cooperative fashion. The goal of this conversation is to learn from one another to strengthen our efforts to integrate Jewish experiences into DEI initiatives. Questions for discussants:


• What motivated your work to include Jews/antisemitism into your campus’s DEI initiatives?

• What have been the main challenges and successes and what are the causes for either successful efforts or for resistance to your initiatives?

• To what extent have you tried to adapt existing programs that promote DEI and to what extent have you had to create entirely new programs?


• What have been your experiences with collaborating with other ethnic studies programs and how have you been influenced by initiatives of colleagues at other universities?


Dr. Gregg Drinkwater will reflect on the challenges and successes at Berkeley and at other colleges in California, collaborating with DEI leadership on issues of campus antisemitism.

Dr. Natan Paradise will explore the historic exclusion of antisemitism and the Jewish experience from DEI efforts and assess their program’s strategy of relationship-building and educational initiatives.

Dr. Amy Simon will discuss courses/co-curricular events; writing a “Guide on Antisemitism for the MSU Community;” and collaborating with Muslim Studies on workshops about antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Dr. Lauren B. Strauss, will discuss the dynamic between Jewish student concerns and advocacy organizations at universities in the D.C. area; the development of AU’s pamphlet on Educating About Antisemitism; and administrative challenges to considering Jews as marginalized communities to be included in DEI programming.

Sub Unit

• Pedagogy

Moderator

• Yael Aronoff, Michigan State University

Discussants

• Amy Simon, Michigan State University

• Natan Paradise, Center for Jewish Studies, University of Minnesota

• Gregg Drinkwater, University of California Berkeley

• Lauren Strauss, American University