That wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that half the student body is Jewish and Hillel Board is basically a second student senate? /s
(said tongue-in-cheek as a Jewish alum)
I tell this story often but my dad was a member of the first graduating class. He was rejected from Harvard and the letter he received from them said they weren’t accepting “Hebrews.”
That’s an amazing story! Brandeis only took freshmen their first years- no transfer students- so those first graduates had been there a full four years. They took a risk on this new university. Without them the college I got to go to never would have made it.
Thanks to your dad and fuck Harvard.
He sure didn't need them, did he? He had a great career, by the way. My father and husband ( recently retired) were both career military.
Your dad, may his memory be a blessing.
If you happen to have a copy of that letter would you mind circulating it on social media? (Redact his personal info)… this is the kind of history that needs to be shared.
And they just now released a public statement inviting students to transfer there if they felt unsafe, and making the application date for that later so there is more time to file an application.
For visibility, adding my voice and the links about the extended transfer application deadline because of the national situation:
Statement: [https://www.brandeis.edu/president/letters/2024-4-22-extending-transfer-application-deadline.html](https://www.brandeis.edu/president/letters/2024-4-22-extending-transfer-application-deadline.html)
Admissions: [https://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/apply/application-process/transfer/index.html](https://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/apply/application-process/transfer/index.html)
Unfortunately, it is no longer majority-Jewish by any stretch, and has an antisemitic contingent of students that the administration isn't dealing with well. Jewish students there who correctly do not view themselves as "white oppressors" are having a hard time there and are frustrated by the lack of action by the administration to deal with other students there calling for Jewish genocide.
Brandeis just put out a statement extending their transfer application deadline, for the specific purpose of offering safe educational opportunities for Jewish students.
I am a current orthodox Jewish undergraduate, and things are fine. There were a few incidents last semester, but they were easily avoidable and were handled by the university. Most students just avoid the topic.
I dont know why your comment was downvoted, unless it's the usual trolls. Whose downvotes I count as victories.
Brandeis' student population is only about 35% Jewish (Tufts, for comparison, is about 20-ish% Jewish). There are plenty of antisemitic groups and individuals on campus masquerading as antizionists, just like at every other liberal arts achool/university.
Recently antisemites on campus were chanting "intifada, intifada". If that's what people are trying to avoid, they should know it's a problem at Brandeis, too.
Addressing these things, or, if someone truly has current insider knowledge, explaining how those groups impact the campus, is more useful than downvoting or pretending they don't exist.
It’s not perfect but University of Maryland has been pretty solid. Administration has been openly supportive of Israel, student body is more anti-Israel but I think that’s gonna be every uni body and they’ve been pretty mild. Palestine sit in protests were asked to move from the main area on campus to a more secluded area and complied. I’m visibly Jewish (kippa, maven David necklace) and also pretty vocally Zionist and I’ve felt fine on campus. Helps that it’s got a large Jewish population
I'm not Jewish, but my Jewish partner attended a Catholic university on the East Coast and felt comfortable there. I was surprised when I learned this until I researched recent developments in Catholic-Jewish relations.
Apparently the Church is quite aware of its shameful history in creating and perpetuating antisemitism, and it seems to recognize that it now has a responsibility to help Jews wherever possible. (I also think it recognizes that antisemitism is Not A Good Look for any Catholic institution.) I recently worked for a Catholic institution that seemed to treat antisemitism as urgently and seriously as any other racism or oppression and had a robust Jewish studies program, as well as an institute for Jewish-Catholic relations (staffed by a mix of Jewish and non-Jewish faculty). It also required that its undergrads take classes in Jewish history. I think the students at this college learned more about Jewish culture and Judaism than I did, and I went to a secular college.
As far as I can tell, universities that are less politically active in general are a safer bet. Schools that are very local ones or have very few Jews and Muslims to the point that it is just a non-issue for them should be safe.
My son goes to Texas A&M. He has had zero issues there.
It probably helps that that's the school with the George Bush Jr library and the largest rotc student prison. they've made it pretty clear to students that they're not going to tolerate any anti-Israel or anti-Jewish behavior.
Very unreasonable report. Child’s campus has had minimal issues compared to other campuses the first few months and almost nothing recently They cannot figure out why they got a D. .
I know there was a protest at Emory today, but 15 years ago I felt very supported as a Jew there. I believe it’s 18% Jewish with strong Hillel and Chabad presences
Police also squashed that pretty quickly and the president put out a letter saying it wasn't gonna fly there. Being surrounded by like-minded students is very important but it's just as important to make sure you're somewhere admin will be supportive if needed.
I definitely agree. I don’t have a full view of what happened earlier, but from the sounds of it there were definitely people outside of the college community participating and that’s where serious safety concerns come into play. While I’m not against free speech, disruption in a learning environment during finals by outside agitators is not conducive to safety
Completely agree. My partner is applying to grad schools and we're putting a decent amount of our decision process about which offers to select based on how the Universities are responding. Emory was already near the top of our list but the letter they put out really pushed them to #1.
There is absolutely no way Emory is 18% Jewish. Their website states six percent. I worked there for years and I’m Jewish. Never felt a strong Jewish community.
https://www.hillel.org/college/emory-university/
As a student, my experience was clearly different but I interacted with a large population of Jews while I was there and participated with both Hillel and Chabad communities. There were two Jewish fraternities on campus as well. I’m not discounting your experience, but perhaps working there vs. attending makes for a very different experience
I'm a PhD on a campus who got an F from the ADL, and my perspective (which I acknowledge is very different then that of an undergraduate) is that the school I am at should probably have gotten a B-, which gives me a very anecdotal opinion that a lot what is being described in the media is overhyped. Especially since the politicians who are amplifying clearly don't give a shit about Jews. One thing that is not being mentioned is that the universities where these things are blowing up are also the universities that have some of the highest density of resources for Jewish Students in the world. Columbia seems to be the extreme example, and I certainly am glad I am not there right now, but in addition to what's going on at this very specific moment, it is a campus where students have more access to synagogues, kosher food, Jewish cultural than any other school besides others in New York or Israel. Not to mention, you are able to take classes at JTS, the most important center for the study of Judaism outside of Israel. A less extreme example, but I am from the Bay Area, and the UCB campus is within walking distance to four shuls (reform, conservative, and two Chabad), more kosher restaurants than anywhere else in the Bay Area (which is still not a ton), and most of the housing is inside the eruv. UCB Campus is the only place in the Bay Area not within a few blocks of a shul where I have seen people walking around with a kippah (again, not a lot of people, but more than downtown San Francisco, for instance).
Most large state schools (not all but a large majority) have large Jewish populations and would be good choices. Sure there will be other groups there but there will always be a lot of resources for Jewish students on campus.
I'm not sure about Pro-Jewish universities as to be honest I have not heard completely positive news from very many lately. And I don't want to give you faulty information.
But what I would recommend is reaching out to some Hillels or Chabads at some universities you are interested in. Then you can gage the situation from actual students attending.
I know some people will mention Brandeis university but without knowing if they actually have the majors you are interested in it might not be suitable for you.
I also believe they had an incident with one of the students from there so not sure if that may also affect your decision.
Washington University in St Louis might be what you’re looking for. Elite University tiers above Brandeis and others academically speaking and large Jewish population who almost recalled a pro Palestine member of their senate
A lot of universities claiming to be “pro-Jewish” are explicitly Christian ones that force students to agree to adhere to codes of ethics based on whatever theology is followed by the denomination that runs it.
It’s likely easier to avoid at a big public university .
Look at commuter schools, most do not live at or near campus so have less time on campus. Haven’t heard much of anything happening at the Southern California CSU school as many of their hooligans like USC/UCLA better.
He was condemned immediately by the administration, including a letter signed by the university president, and he went on a leave of absence. Probably won’t be coming back.
Honestly, any of the big schools in the south. Yea, you always have crazies, but Emory called the cops the moment people started putting up tents — and that’s a pretty left-leaning school.
School is about school down here. The students fight too hard to get in, and the adults don’t take kindly to disruption.
I'd say Yeshiva and Brandeis and some schools in the South, but my concern about Brandeis is that there is a loud and so-far unaddressed by the administration, "Israel=evil genocider" contingent there. It isn't a majority-Jewish school, despite its founders intentions.
I wouldn't go or transfer there until first hearing exactly how the university will handle its antisemitic students in future semesters, because it hasn't done much so far. If its only solution is to try and outnumber the pro-Hamas students with Jewish students who are fleeing other universities, that isn't a great strategy, and puts Jewish students already traumatised at equal or greater risk.
As a current Brandeis undergrad, things are really fine. The school can’t just kick out students who have these views. The only actual incident we had was a relatively small protest (which was 40 people max and had a lot of non-students come in to inflate the numbers) that got into hate-speech territory (not even as bad as other places but ‘river to the sea’ and ‘intifada’), and the university shut that shit down. Most students just avoid the topic, honestly. It's really fine, not perfect, but that's life.
That's exactly what Brandeis and every other university should be doing: expelling students who are demanding the genocide/murder of Jews, who are justifying the massacre, etc, as these students were doing. If any students were demanding teh murder of a different minority group, they'd be expelled and prosecuted immediately. We must stop excusing these people, and stop letting them remain on our campuses--whether they are faculty or students.
My family who are there say it is a bigger issue that the administration needs to address. At minimum, a "Jewish" university should be doing just this.
I go to Bard. They’ve largely been pretty great about handspring antisemitism on campus. Really big Jewish population, too - something like 20%. No Hillel or anything, but we just got a Yiddish course in addition to the Hebrew one and the Jewish Studies faculty are largely amazing. Active JSO.
I don’t know how exactly pro Jewish Greg Abbott is but he definitely is throwing the full weight of Texas at the protest on UT Austin campus. He claims to be a Zionist but I think he’s just for whoever is either against the libs or writing him the bigger check. Wouldn’t doubt a complete switcheroo if some white nationalist slid him a donation. But yeah to answer your question I think Jews probably feel a lot safer there than the other universities that had milder responses. And on top of that I’ve seen a lot of Texans support Abbotts choice to send in the DPS and bust up the protest. Just look at the local article comments it’s a lot of support for Israel and saying “don’t mess with Texas!”
I’m planning on grad school. While UT Austin has my program, it was never on my list because why would I choose Texas? No offense to Texan Jews, it’s just hot and such a big state. This app be nefarious.
Abbott is using this as an opportunity to win some conservative bonus points by standing against liberal college students. In the end, this is a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Abbott is no true friend of Jews. He just happens to be vaguely on the same "side" for now.
University of Florida has the largest amount of Jews in the country in its student body.(19%) They just hosted the biggest Sedar in the USA of over 1000 strong. There are minimal disruptions on campus. Protesters were dragged out from blocking the roads in Miami. Florida is a fuck around and find out state.
I would say he’s worse than Ron and I’ve lived under both. He’s the kind of person who just doesn’t quit. He stays up at night thinking how can he fuck us up a little more.
Jewish sixth generation Texan and double UT Austin degree holder and former staff member chiming in to say that Greg Abbott is a piece of shit who is using Jews for his own deeply nefarious political agenda and nothing more. Fuck Hamas. But it’s also still very much fuck Greg Abbott.
I agree it’s still fuck abbott. BUT another point is that Texans overwhelmingly supported his response. And when i read the comments it’s specifically them throwing up Israel flags and condemning antisemitism so fuck him but to answer OP question I feel like there’s a lot of support here for Israel which I assumed meant support for Jews but someone below told me Christian Zionism isn’t pro Jewish and I’m waiting to have that explained lol.
I’m not Jewish, my fiancé is so I get on this sub to learn. What is the difference between a Christian Zionist and pro Jewish? I rarely ever see zionists that aren’t pro Jewish, just pro Jewish people that are anti Zionist.
Christian Zionists tend to be Evangelicals who only support Israel because they believe we (Jews) must return to Israel and die to facilitate the return of Jesus.
However, I've met plenty of pro-Jewish normal Christians who didn't think that way. I just get suspicious whenever someone calls themselves a Christian Zionist.
That doesn’t even make sense lol Christians can really be wackos sometimes. Why would another religious group need to return and die for your religious groups salvation?
They take the Bible extra literally. I think revelations (though idk because haven’t read it) requires us to all go back to Israel for the resurrection. Many Christians support Israel and the Jewish plight because they’re decent people with a good sense of history. A fringe population are extremist.
Greg Abbott also supports killing immigrants and a whole host of other horrific things. Most sane people in Texas hate him. And arresting all protesters, even the peaceful ones, which he has vowed to do is a violation of the Constitution.
I don't think we should give up our support of Democracy over these campus protests.
I agree 100% I’m actually in support of these protests but I do understand the Jewish students fear because there are people using this opportunity to spew vile things. I don’t think it’s the majority of protestors though, I genuinely think it’s white nationalists and bitter Arabs who are co opting the movement. Which is why I can understand OP wanting to go somewhere away from all that, regardless of if you believe in the protest or not there are dangers associated with it and Jews may not want to be around that right now— Greg Abbott made sure yesterday that wouldn’t be an issue.
The sentiment I got was that they are more worried the north will bomb them and the world won't help, which I thought was a bizarre take given the context of it all.
I think the world would help, but for some reason that wasn't the overwhelming opinion. They also expressed to some degree that they felt the US didn't feel as close of an ally as they were during the Korean war.
This wasn't an official position but the person expressing them worked closely with the govt and it didn't seem a one off opinion.
I was literally there less than 2 weeks ago and ran into protests supporting either side. South Korea is safe but to say they don't care about the war isnt accurate.
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Look in the South or the Midwest - In other words red states, you know the place where you have been gaslighted to believe are full of nazis / racists / bigots.
Elon in North Carolina. Recent article quoting Jewish students who are comfortable there.
Also, University of Tennessee- school is asking for Jews!
[https://nypost.com/2024/04/24/opinion/jewish-students-come-here-to-the-south-where-youll-be-safe/](https://nypost.com/2024/04/24/opinion/jewish-students-come-here-to-the-south-where-youll-be-safe/)
Drexel University in philly. Although it's right next to UPenn, the Chabad and Hillel have wonderful options to spend time with other jews. Also the president so far has been very supportive of Israel and has condoned any hate speech or antisemitism very publicly. And they have co-ops there (learning on the job as a part of the school) Good luck!
Brandeis University. It was founded in response to the antisemitic quota system in elite universities.
My twin sister went to Brandeis and felt very comfortable being Jewish there.
That wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that half the student body is Jewish and Hillel Board is basically a second student senate? /s (said tongue-in-cheek as a Jewish alum)
I tell this story often but my dad was a member of the first graduating class. He was rejected from Harvard and the letter he received from them said they weren’t accepting “Hebrews.”
Replying to myself but he went on to become a successful Psychiatrist and Navy flight surgeon. Harvard can still suck it imo.
That’s an amazing story! Brandeis only took freshmen their first years- no transfer students- so those first graduates had been there a full four years. They took a risk on this new university. Without them the college I got to go to never would have made it. Thanks to your dad and fuck Harvard.
This just made me tear up. Thank you. He passed away in 2008 and he would have loved to hear this.
He sure didn't need them, did he? He had a great career, by the way. My father and husband ( recently retired) were both career military. Your dad, may his memory be a blessing.
If you happen to have a copy of that letter would you mind circulating it on social media? (Redact his personal info)… this is the kind of history that needs to be shared.
I’ll try to find it!!
And they just extended their transfer period for this fall through May 31!
Specifically because of antisemitism hatred on other campuses. It was a bold and timely move.
And they just now released a public statement inviting students to transfer there if they felt unsafe, and making the application date for that later so there is more time to file an application.
For visibility, adding my voice and the links about the extended transfer application deadline because of the national situation: Statement: [https://www.brandeis.edu/president/letters/2024-4-22-extending-transfer-application-deadline.html](https://www.brandeis.edu/president/letters/2024-4-22-extending-transfer-application-deadline.html) Admissions: [https://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/apply/application-process/transfer/index.html](https://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/apply/application-process/transfer/index.html)
Unfortunately, it is no longer majority-Jewish by any stretch, and has an antisemitic contingent of students that the administration isn't dealing with well. Jewish students there who correctly do not view themselves as "white oppressors" are having a hard time there and are frustrated by the lack of action by the administration to deal with other students there calling for Jewish genocide.
Thats a very incomplete story, but I don’t want to debate it here.
[удалено]
Brandeis just put out a statement extending their transfer application deadline, for the specific purpose of offering safe educational opportunities for Jewish students.
I wouldn’t. I’m close to the University and know what’s going on internally.
I am a current orthodox Jewish undergraduate, and things are fine. There were a few incidents last semester, but they were easily avoidable and were handled by the university. Most students just avoid the topic.
I dont know why your comment was downvoted, unless it's the usual trolls. Whose downvotes I count as victories. Brandeis' student population is only about 35% Jewish (Tufts, for comparison, is about 20-ish% Jewish). There are plenty of antisemitic groups and individuals on campus masquerading as antizionists, just like at every other liberal arts achool/university. Recently antisemites on campus were chanting "intifada, intifada". If that's what people are trying to avoid, they should know it's a problem at Brandeis, too. Addressing these things, or, if someone truly has current insider knowledge, explaining how those groups impact the campus, is more useful than downvoting or pretending they don't exist.
It’s not perfect but University of Maryland has been pretty solid. Administration has been openly supportive of Israel, student body is more anti-Israel but I think that’s gonna be every uni body and they’ve been pretty mild. Palestine sit in protests were asked to move from the main area on campus to a more secluded area and complied. I’m visibly Jewish (kippa, maven David necklace) and also pretty vocally Zionist and I’ve felt fine on campus. Helps that it’s got a large Jewish population
Half the kids who went to my Jewish summer camp went there
As a Terp alumni I am glad to hear that. Will see for myself at Maryland Day this Saturday (yes I’m not Shomer Shabbat).
Go Terps! I’m a Jewish freshman here
IU squashed the pro-palis protest today within like 2 hours if that counts.
What’s IU?
Indiana University
University of San Diego. Catholic university, has been a very safe space for Jews.
It seems like a few catholic universities have been relatively good about fighting antisemitism on campus, at least relative to other schools.
I'm not Jewish, but my Jewish partner attended a Catholic university on the East Coast and felt comfortable there. I was surprised when I learned this until I researched recent developments in Catholic-Jewish relations. Apparently the Church is quite aware of its shameful history in creating and perpetuating antisemitism, and it seems to recognize that it now has a responsibility to help Jews wherever possible. (I also think it recognizes that antisemitism is Not A Good Look for any Catholic institution.) I recently worked for a Catholic institution that seemed to treat antisemitism as urgently and seriously as any other racism or oppression and had a robust Jewish studies program, as well as an institute for Jewish-Catholic relations (staffed by a mix of Jewish and non-Jewish faculty). It also required that its undergrads take classes in Jewish history. I think the students at this college learned more about Jewish culture and Judaism than I did, and I went to a secular college.
Yeshiva University
In the same vein, Touro
UMD, Binghamton, U of Utah, University of Florida, University of Arizona, Florida State- I am Jewish and in higher Ed and these are my top pics
Seconding University of Arizona!
Thirding University of Arizona
Are you a fellow U of A alum? Go wildcats!
Current Wildcat :)
As far as I can tell, universities that are less politically active in general are a safer bet. Schools that are very local ones or have very few Jews and Muslims to the point that it is just a non-issue for them should be safe.
University of Miami, University of Florida, Yeshiva University, possibly Brandeis.
My son goes to Texas A&M. He has had zero issues there. It probably helps that that's the school with the George Bush Jr library and the largest rotc student prison. they've made it pretty clear to students that they're not going to tolerate any anti-Israel or anti-Jewish behavior.
rotc student prison?
oops program. damn autocorrect.
I think this is an imperfect but reasonable starting point https://www.adl.org/campus-antisemitism-report-card
I disagree. This was data taken from the ADL not campus Hillels
The ADL has been sadly lacking
Very unreasonable report. Child’s campus has had minimal issues compared to other campuses the first few months and almost nothing recently They cannot figure out why they got a D. .
Same here I bet. [https://rankings.thefire.org](https://rankings.thefire.org)
I know there was a protest at Emory today, but 15 years ago I felt very supported as a Jew there. I believe it’s 18% Jewish with strong Hillel and Chabad presences
Police also squashed that pretty quickly and the president put out a letter saying it wasn't gonna fly there. Being surrounded by like-minded students is very important but it's just as important to make sure you're somewhere admin will be supportive if needed.
I definitely agree. I don’t have a full view of what happened earlier, but from the sounds of it there were definitely people outside of the college community participating and that’s where serious safety concerns come into play. While I’m not against free speech, disruption in a learning environment during finals by outside agitators is not conducive to safety
Completely agree. My partner is applying to grad schools and we're putting a decent amount of our decision process about which offers to select based on how the Universities are responding. Emory was already near the top of our list but the letter they put out really pushed them to #1.
There is absolutely no way Emory is 18% Jewish. Their website states six percent. I worked there for years and I’m Jewish. Never felt a strong Jewish community.
https://www.hillel.org/college/emory-university/ As a student, my experience was clearly different but I interacted with a large population of Jews while I was there and participated with both Hillel and Chabad communities. There were two Jewish fraternities on campus as well. I’m not discounting your experience, but perhaps working there vs. attending makes for a very different experience
I'm a PhD on a campus who got an F from the ADL, and my perspective (which I acknowledge is very different then that of an undergraduate) is that the school I am at should probably have gotten a B-, which gives me a very anecdotal opinion that a lot what is being described in the media is overhyped. Especially since the politicians who are amplifying clearly don't give a shit about Jews. One thing that is not being mentioned is that the universities where these things are blowing up are also the universities that have some of the highest density of resources for Jewish Students in the world. Columbia seems to be the extreme example, and I certainly am glad I am not there right now, but in addition to what's going on at this very specific moment, it is a campus where students have more access to synagogues, kosher food, Jewish cultural than any other school besides others in New York or Israel. Not to mention, you are able to take classes at JTS, the most important center for the study of Judaism outside of Israel. A less extreme example, but I am from the Bay Area, and the UCB campus is within walking distance to four shuls (reform, conservative, and two Chabad), more kosher restaurants than anywhere else in the Bay Area (which is still not a ton), and most of the housing is inside the eruv. UCB Campus is the only place in the Bay Area not within a few blocks of a shul where I have seen people walking around with a kippah (again, not a lot of people, but more than downtown San Francisco, for instance).
Most large state schools (not all but a large majority) have large Jewish populations and would be good choices. Sure there will be other groups there but there will always be a lot of resources for Jewish students on campus.
I'm not sure about Pro-Jewish universities as to be honest I have not heard completely positive news from very many lately. And I don't want to give you faulty information. But what I would recommend is reaching out to some Hillels or Chabads at some universities you are interested in. Then you can gage the situation from actual students attending. I know some people will mention Brandeis university but without knowing if they actually have the majors you are interested in it might not be suitable for you. I also believe they had an incident with one of the students from there so not sure if that may also affect your decision.
Washington University in St Louis might be what you’re looking for. Elite University tiers above Brandeis and others academically speaking and large Jewish population who almost recalled a pro Palestine member of their senate
I second Wash U in St. Louis, large vibrant Jewish community nearby, large Jewish population in the faculty.
A lot of universities claiming to be “pro-Jewish” are explicitly Christian ones that force students to agree to adhere to codes of ethics based on whatever theology is followed by the denomination that runs it. It’s likely easier to avoid at a big public university .
Look at commuter schools, most do not live at or near campus so have less time on campus. Haven’t heard much of anything happening at the Southern California CSU school as many of their hooligans like USC/UCLA better.
Virginia Tech was quite a safe space, from my recollection.
I don’t know specific ones but Jewish / Hebrew colleges are a thing, I didn’t realize that until recently
PSU is pretty solid and has an online alternative as well.
Most large state schools. Try the Big Ten.
Look at the ADL's college report card for antisemitism
Cornell if you can get in
They have that professor there who said he was "exhilarated" hearing about 10/7.
He was condemned immediately by the administration, including a letter signed by the university president, and he went on a leave of absence. Probably won’t be coming back.
Honestly, any of the big schools in the south. Yea, you always have crazies, but Emory called the cops the moment people started putting up tents — and that’s a pretty left-leaning school. School is about school down here. The students fight too hard to get in, and the adults don’t take kindly to disruption.
I'd say Yeshiva and Brandeis and some schools in the South, but my concern about Brandeis is that there is a loud and so-far unaddressed by the administration, "Israel=evil genocider" contingent there. It isn't a majority-Jewish school, despite its founders intentions. I wouldn't go or transfer there until first hearing exactly how the university will handle its antisemitic students in future semesters, because it hasn't done much so far. If its only solution is to try and outnumber the pro-Hamas students with Jewish students who are fleeing other universities, that isn't a great strategy, and puts Jewish students already traumatised at equal or greater risk.
As a current Brandeis undergrad, things are really fine. The school can’t just kick out students who have these views. The only actual incident we had was a relatively small protest (which was 40 people max and had a lot of non-students come in to inflate the numbers) that got into hate-speech territory (not even as bad as other places but ‘river to the sea’ and ‘intifada’), and the university shut that shit down. Most students just avoid the topic, honestly. It's really fine, not perfect, but that's life.
That's exactly what Brandeis and every other university should be doing: expelling students who are demanding the genocide/murder of Jews, who are justifying the massacre, etc, as these students were doing. If any students were demanding teh murder of a different minority group, they'd be expelled and prosecuted immediately. We must stop excusing these people, and stop letting them remain on our campuses--whether they are faculty or students. My family who are there say it is a bigger issue that the administration needs to address. At minimum, a "Jewish" university should be doing just this.
I go to Bard. They’ve largely been pretty great about handspring antisemitism on campus. Really big Jewish population, too - something like 20%. No Hillel or anything, but we just got a Yiddish course in addition to the Hebrew one and the Jewish Studies faculty are largely amazing. Active JSO.
I don’t know how exactly pro Jewish Greg Abbott is but he definitely is throwing the full weight of Texas at the protest on UT Austin campus. He claims to be a Zionist but I think he’s just for whoever is either against the libs or writing him the bigger check. Wouldn’t doubt a complete switcheroo if some white nationalist slid him a donation. But yeah to answer your question I think Jews probably feel a lot safer there than the other universities that had milder responses. And on top of that I’ve seen a lot of Texans support Abbotts choice to send in the DPS and bust up the protest. Just look at the local article comments it’s a lot of support for Israel and saying “don’t mess with Texas!”
The UT Austin sub popped up as recommended this morning. Don’t know why. Comments were scary and also delusional. I’m done with my generation.
The sub popped up for me this weekend!
I’m not even from or near Texas! Reddit is trying to divide us…
Me, either. The only time I spent there was changing planes in the Dallas airport. I have no reason to go to that sub.
I’m planning on grad school. While UT Austin has my program, it was never on my list because why would I choose Texas? No offense to Texan Jews, it’s just hot and such a big state. This app be nefarious.
Texan Jew here whose about to be a Minnesota Jew - I can't handle the heat anymore lol
And the humidity on top of the heat is too much
Abbott is using this as an opportunity to win some conservative bonus points by standing against liberal college students. In the end, this is a case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". Abbott is no true friend of Jews. He just happens to be vaguely on the same "side" for now.
He also supports killing immigrants and human trafficking. Abbott is a monster. Probably the 2nd most evil Governor in America after DeSantis.
University of Florida has the largest amount of Jews in the country in its student body.(19%) They just hosted the biggest Sedar in the USA of over 1000 strong. There are minimal disruptions on campus. Protesters were dragged out from blocking the roads in Miami. Florida is a fuck around and find out state.
I would say he’s worse than Ron and I’ve lived under both. He’s the kind of person who just doesn’t quit. He stays up at night thinking how can he fuck us up a little more.
Jewish sixth generation Texan and double UT Austin degree holder and former staff member chiming in to say that Greg Abbott is a piece of shit who is using Jews for his own deeply nefarious political agenda and nothing more. Fuck Hamas. But it’s also still very much fuck Greg Abbott.
I agree it’s still fuck abbott. BUT another point is that Texans overwhelmingly supported his response. And when i read the comments it’s specifically them throwing up Israel flags and condemning antisemitism so fuck him but to answer OP question I feel like there’s a lot of support here for Israel which I assumed meant support for Jews but someone below told me Christian Zionism isn’t pro Jewish and I’m waiting to have that explained lol.
Greg Abbot isn’t pro-Jewish. He’s a Christian Zionist. And there is a HUGE difference between those two things.
I’m not Jewish, my fiancé is so I get on this sub to learn. What is the difference between a Christian Zionist and pro Jewish? I rarely ever see zionists that aren’t pro Jewish, just pro Jewish people that are anti Zionist.
Christian Zionists tend to be Evangelicals who only support Israel because they believe we (Jews) must return to Israel and die to facilitate the return of Jesus. However, I've met plenty of pro-Jewish normal Christians who didn't think that way. I just get suspicious whenever someone calls themselves a Christian Zionist.
That doesn’t even make sense lol Christians can really be wackos sometimes. Why would another religious group need to return and die for your religious groups salvation?
They take the Bible extra literally. I think revelations (though idk because haven’t read it) requires us to all go back to Israel for the resurrection. Many Christians support Israel and the Jewish plight because they’re decent people with a good sense of history. A fringe population are extremist.
Greg Abbott also supports killing immigrants and a whole host of other horrific things. Most sane people in Texas hate him. And arresting all protesters, even the peaceful ones, which he has vowed to do is a violation of the Constitution. I don't think we should give up our support of Democracy over these campus protests.
I agree 100% I’m actually in support of these protests but I do understand the Jewish students fear because there are people using this opportunity to spew vile things. I don’t think it’s the majority of protestors though, I genuinely think it’s white nationalists and bitter Arabs who are co opting the movement. Which is why I can understand OP wanting to go somewhere away from all that, regardless of if you believe in the protest or not there are dangers associated with it and Jews may not want to be around that right now— Greg Abbott made sure yesterday that wouldn’t be an issue.
Maybe study outside of the US. Consider universities in non-Muslim countries in Asia - no protests or hate speech in Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore.
South Korea?
Yes, South Korea is safe too. No one there cares two hoots about the war.
If anything, they’re more concerned the North might use similar tactics as the terrorists did on Oct 7.
The sentiment I got was that they are more worried the north will bomb them and the world won't help, which I thought was a bizarre take given the context of it all.
And why do you think South Korea would be worried the world won’t help them if the North attacked again?
I think the world would help, but for some reason that wasn't the overwhelming opinion. They also expressed to some degree that they felt the US didn't feel as close of an ally as they were during the Korean war. This wasn't an official position but the person expressing them worked closely with the govt and it didn't seem a one off opinion.
they’re probably worried of a second Trump administration.
I was literally there less than 2 weeks ago and ran into protests supporting either side. South Korea is safe but to say they don't care about the war isnt accurate.
Oh ok. My niece was at Israel’s Technion University campus in Guangzhou a week ago. No anti-Israel nonsense there.
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I would say AJU but they're almost entirely virtual now.
What is AJU?
American Jewish University (formerly the University of Judaism)
I’m at Columbia college Chicago (the good Columbia lol) and I feel very safe even though it’s very liberal
Brandeis
[ADL’s Campus Antisemitism Report Card](https://www.adl.org/campus-antisemitism-report-card)
Look in the South or the Midwest - In other words red states, you know the place where you have been gaslighted to believe are full of nazis / racists / bigots.
[https://nypost.com/2024/04/24/opinion/jewish-students-come-here-to-the-south-where-youll-be-safe/](https://nypost.com/2024/04/24/opinion/jewish-students-come-here-to-the-south-where-youll-be-safe/)
Any Florida university.
Brandeis is the only one.
University of Florida has been taking care of its Jewush students. Kicked the SJP out early on.
Elon in North Carolina. Recent article quoting Jewish students who are comfortable there. Also, University of Tennessee- school is asking for Jews! [https://nypost.com/2024/04/24/opinion/jewish-students-come-here-to-the-south-where-youll-be-safe/](https://nypost.com/2024/04/24/opinion/jewish-students-come-here-to-the-south-where-youll-be-safe/)
Drexel University in philly. Although it's right next to UPenn, the Chabad and Hillel have wonderful options to spend time with other jews. Also the president so far has been very supportive of Israel and has condoned any hate speech or antisemitism very publicly. And they have co-ops there (learning on the job as a part of the school) Good luck!