When 60 tenured professors called on Princeton University’s trustees to divest the school from companies that profit from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, campus Hillel leaders did what might seem natural: They promoted a student counter-petition strongly defending Israel. But now, Princeton Hillel is facing public criticism from a surprising source: some students from…
The American Jewish Committee fired a staffer who offered to share with Open Hillel activists an off-the-record recording of a conference call with the director of Hillel. Danny Blinderman, who works in AJC’s Boston office, said in an email exchange with members of Open Hillel that he would join the call led by Hillel International…
Four students arrested for disrupting an Ohio University student senate meeting rejected a plea bargain and maintained their pleas of “not guilty.” The students — Jonah Yulish, Maxwell Peltz, Rebecca Sebo and Gabriel Sirkin — appeared in Athens County Municipal Court on Wednesday for a pretrial hearing, according to The Post, OU’s student newspaper. The…
(JTA) — Harvard senior Rachel Sandalow-Ash scanned the exuberant crowd that packed a campus auditorium on Saturday night. “Wow,” she said, speaking to an audience of some 350 composed primarily of American college students. “This is amazing. This is really cool.” Sandalow-Ash, 21, went on to discuss the importance of nurturing a pluralistic and intellectually…
Rebecca Vilkomerson speaking at the Open Hillel conference / Gili Getz “I bought my ticket right after my rabbi’s Rosh Hashanah sermon. I knew I needed this community,” a student participant at the Open Hillel conference told me today. The student went on to thank Open Hillel for providing a long overdue space for young…
More than 1,350 academics from universities and colleges from around the world have signed a petition opposing faculty or student boycotts of Israel. The online petition of the Faculty for Academic Freedom was posted on Oct. 5. “We, the undersigned academics, vigorously support free speech and free debate but we oppose faculty or student boycotts…
Judith Butler speaks at the inaugural Open Hillel conference in Boston/Photo by Gili Getz/Open Hillel (JTA) — Four rabbis are engaged in an animated debate about Jewish law. Three of them agree, but the dissenter is adamant that he’s got it right. He cries out: “A sign, God, I beg You, a sign!” It begins to…
Hillel President Eric Fingerhut chats with a student / Flickr: Hillel News and Views Once again the love affair between the Jewish people and higher education is back in full bloom. The start of a new school year, and the Jewish New Year, marked the beginning of robust programming for Jewish college students across the…
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