Kol Emeth Program Seeks to Protect Jewish Students

Soon after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, Ken Stein, the noted Emory University author and Middle East scholar, was among the early voices to warn of antisemitism on the nation’s campuses. Stein, who founded the Center for Israel Education and has been its longtime leader, wrote in the Jerusalem Strategic Tribune in November 2023 that the “anti-Israeli sentiment on U.S. college campuses has grown to extraordinary proportions.

“What was unexpected, however,” he went on to write, “was the intensity and anger of these public protests. At the core of both was lethal and indiscriminate antisemitism.”

His observations were based on events that he saw building long before, since at least around the time of the 1967 Arab-Israel war. By 2023, students at some of this country’s most prestigious universities and their friends from local communities across America quickly settled in after Oct. 7 for weeks of protests, Frequently, it reportedly led to violence against individual Jewish students.

To answer the concerns of both parents and students, particularly those who are beginning their college education, Stein recently held a free seminar at Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta. He told the Sunday afternoon meeting of students and their parents that their concerns are well founded.

“We’re at a point in history, on American university campuses,” Stein said, “where individuals would like to find ways to disconnect Jewish students from either their Jewish identity or from any of support, whether mild or vigorous for the State of Israel.”

The two-hour informational session was entitled “Getting Safe, Smart and Jewish On Campus.” It attracted the support of many of Atlanta’s most important advocates for the safety of Jewish young people. Among the sponsors were the American Jewish Committee, Hillels of Georgia, Atlanta Israel Coalition, the local Jewish Community Relations Committee and the Marcus Foundation’s RootOne initiative.

The ADL’s interim regional director here, David Hoffman, was one of the lead-off speakers of what was described as “resilience prep for college students.”

He told the gathering that while complaints of antisemitism by Jewish students are high, those same students often don’t do anything about the complaints they experience.

“We’ve seen that 73 percent of Jewish college students have experienced antisemitism on campus during the 2023 and 2024 school year but only 7.5 percent of Jewish students who witnessed or experienced that said that they reported it to campus authorities.”

One of the reasons for the wide discrepancy, as Hoffman sees it, is that students don’t know how to report incidents or have someone to talk to, or simply, that they don’t have the confidence to speak up. But he said that under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act that Jewish students are guaranteed the right to participate fully in campus life regardless of their religious background.

“Campuses are accountable to their community to keep their students safe,” Hoffman said. “And we also want to empower our students to be able to know their rights, to know how to report incidents and to be advocates for themselves.”

He emphasized that while offensive speech is largely protected by the Constitution, universities can and must take action when that speech crosses the line from protected speech to verbal assault.

Jewish students should become familiar with the rules that each university has established to protect them and to act when they see something that clearly violates those rules.

Campuses are accountable to their community to keep their students safe.

“Understand what is OK and what is not,” Hoffman pointed out. “Report it. Document any incidents you see that are a concern. Report them through appropriate channels, connect with Jewish organizations on campus, whether it’s Hillel or another student group that you know you can turn to for support.”

Several speakers during the program emphasized the importance for new students to cultivate the friendship of a Jewish leader on campus, whether that be a Jewish student professional, or a teacher that has shown a particular interest in coming to the aid of Jewish students needing support.

Rabbi Chase Foster, spiritual leader of Temple Kol Emeth and host of the program, mentioned that he has had considerable experience dealing with issues Jewish students might face on campus. He is the board chair of the Hillel foundation at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and his wife is the Hillel director for the approximately 300 Jewish students who attend Kennesaw State University here.

He asked that parents, particularly, should know whether they or their child has a relationship with a trusted adult on campus.