by Anna Wascovich in The College Fix
The New College of Florida wants Harvard University students who fear antisemitism on campus to transfer.
The new initiative has “not had any applicants” yet, according to the university, but even so, it is still important, according to a spokesman for the college.
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A rabbi criticized the university and provided advice to Jewish students who face hostility in emailed comments to The Fix.
Pro-Palestinian activists “marching on campus…are hostile to Jews’ very existence, and no civilized person should tolerate Nazi-level Jew hatred, especially less than a century after the Holocaust, least of all on a college campus,” Rabbi Yaakov Menken told The Fix via email.
He leads the Coalition for Jewish Values as its managing director.
“Besides that it blames the victim to expect Jewish students to remain, leaving sends a clearer message,” Menken said. “This isn’t just about Jews—no one should tolerate this level of hatred on any campus.”
Jewish students who feel under threat should “file a public safety complaint every time something happens. It needs to be on record,” Rabbi Menken told The Fix.
“If they decide the environment is simply too hostile, they have to [t]ransfer, and sue. National Students for Justice in Palestine announced they are part of Hamas,” Menken said. “So there are colleges across America with people declaring themselves rapists and mass murderers, as long as the victims are Jews.”
He referenced the news that a Harvard rabbi, Hirschy Zarchi, said students have to hide their menorah every night because the university fears vandals attacking it if left out in public. The Harvard rabbi said the campus must change so Jewish students don’t need to live in this fear.
“He is right, of course. University security should be doing its job, and vandals should face expulsion,” Menken said. “It should be clear that calls for ethnic cleansing and genocide against Jews are grounds for immediate disciplinary action.”
“These are basic and obvious and are of course already in force regarding any other minority. So why does Harvard treat Jews differently? The answer is sadly obvious.”
Originally published in The College Fix
Photo Credit: Chabad Lubavitch on Flickr