This week, Barnard University’s students voted to divest from Israel. The news was shocking, not least because Barnard has the highest population percentage of Jews of any secular college in America. With a Jewish population of 33%, Jews could have voted down the motion had they all shown up and supported Israel. Where were those…
Students at Barnard College, the elite women’s school in New York City, voted this week to ask the university administration to divest from eight companies that do business in Israel. The referendum, which was written by students from Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, listed ways that companies like Hyundai, Boeing…
On Wednesday night, Columbia/Barnard Hillel will host a ceremony marking the transition from Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, to Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. Israel Defense Forces veterans will speak about fallen comrades minutes before a big, festive party. Emotions at that moment always run high. This year, though, is sure to be even more…
A report by The Algemeiner recently named Columbia University as the “worst college for Jewish students in 2016.” In my five years leading The Kraft Center for Jewish Student Life, Columbia/Barnard Hillel, I have seen multiple articles and reports criticizing Columbia University as being hostile for Jewish students. I cannot express in strong enough terms…
In her new book “Wonder Women,” Barnard president Debora Spar claims that, despite what feminists have long-argued, women do have inherent differences from men when it comes to workplace behavior. As Spar explains in an excerpt in Salon: In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, however, a renegade, slightly retrograde view has started…
Hundreds of Hebrew University faculty members last week signed a petition protesting a plan to create special gender-segregated classrooms for ultra-Orthodox students on campus. For them, it represented a blatant affront to women’s rights and equality in higher academia. But for Debora Spar, the top administrator at all-women’s Barnard College, the issue is more nuanced….
I’m a little embarrassed to admit it but I have a soft spot for commencement speeches. They provide a rare opportunity to hear people at the top of their game — actors, politicians, scientists, musicians, inventors — shelve their normal talking points and share a bit of wisdom they’ve acquired through their life. Since graduating…
The U.S. Department of Education has rejected a civil rights complaint alleging unfair treatment of a Jewish student at Barnard College, which is affiliated with Columbia University. Federal authorities cited insufficient evidence as the reason for rejecting the claim, which stemmed from an Orthodox student’s claim that Barnard Professor Rachel McDermott warned her against taking…
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