Muhlenberg Hillel Leader Quits Over Israel Rules
Caroline Dorn
Caroline Dorn resigned as the student president of the Hillel chapter at Muhlenberg College to protest Hillel International’s restrictions against hosting speakers who are critical of Israel.
Caroline Dorn
Dorn said she stepped down because the Hillel at the Allentown, Pa., college was barred by Hillel International rules from hosting four Jewish civil rights veterans currently on a speaking tour of U.S. colleges called “From Mississippi to Jerusalem: In Conversation with Jewish Civil Rights Veterans.”
Hillel International’s rules prohibit college Hillel chapters from partnering with or hosting groups or speakers who deny Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish or democratic state; delegitimize, demonize or apply a double standard to Israel; or support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel.
The Jewish civil rights activists on the tour — Dorothy Zellner, Larry Rubin, Mark Levy and Ira Grupper – are supportive of BDS tactics against Israel. Their tour is being sponsored by Open Hillel, which aims to challenge Hillel International’s rules on Israel issues.
The four were featured at a March 26 event at Muhlenberg’s Moyer Hall that drew some 100 students and faculty members, according to organizers. Three of the veteran activists shared their experiences fighting for civil rights in the 1960s as part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and “their perspectives on the situation in Israel/Palestine,” organizers said.
“The vets opened the floor to questions, and we had a great group conversation,” Dorn said in a statement. “It’s too bad the event could not be hosted within Hillel, as the center for Jewish life on campus, and where these conversations should be happening.”
Rabbi Melissa Simon, the professional director of Muhlenberg’s Hillel chapter, stood behind the decision not to host the civil rights speakers.
“‘Freedom Summer Veterans Tour’ is a project of Open Hillel, which has committed itself to abolishing Hillel International’s Standards of Partnership,” Simon wrote in an Op-Ed in The Muhlenberg Weekly. “The Tour’s campus campaign focuses on promoting an anti-Israel and pro-BDS agenda. Hillel supports free speech, but that doesn’t mean we are required to invite every proposed speaker… Students are welcome to bring a speaker to campus and find co-sponsors — it just doesn’t have to be Hillel.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
