The Charlotte Jewish News - January 2024 - Page 8
Greenspon Fellows Shed Light on Antisemitism on College Campuses By Mary Eshet When Sophie Lange and Chava Rosenberg began planning a conference to share their research on antisemitism on college campuses ten months ago, they could not have imagined the event would fall just a month after war broke out in Israel and during a time when antisemitism on college campuses was making national news daily. Sophie and Chava are Queens University students and the inaugural Greenspon Fellows, a program launched by the Stan Greenspon Holocaust and Social Justice Education Center in 2023. Through this leadership initiative, students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to combat antisemitism and other acts of hate. These students serve as campus leaders, engaging the Queens and broader community in education, action, advocacy, and bridge-building programs across lines of difference. Sophie said a highlight of her experience as a Greenspon Fellow has been meeting many influential leaders while preparing for the conference. “We had the opportunity to talk with academic scholars, researchers, and rabbis with lived experiences of
antisemitism and hate. This was something that I would never have had the chance to do if it weren't for the Greenspon program,” she said. Sophie and Chava invested 10 months in researching antisemitism on college campuses —its prevalence, the causes, and the best ways to mitigate it. On Nov. 10, they hosted about 50 students and faculty at Queens University and shared their findings. Through the course of their presentation, Chava and Sophie defined antisemitism and explained antisemitic tropes. Their survey yielded responses from 45 students at 18 colleges in 13 states, and showed that 60% of the students had experienced or witnessed an antisemitic hate crime. In addition to the quantitative data, they collected about 30 qualitative responses. One respondent spoke of “some guys in a fraternity holding their arm up to resemble Hitler and laughing while I was right there.” Another told the story of being approached at a picnic “because of my Star of David necklace” and being told that “I am going to hell and that I’m a terrible person.” There were stories of swastikas drawn on dorm doors and yellow
stars put on lockers. The presentation included key ways to combat antisemitism: constructing shared identities, intergroup contact, and education. To illustrate shared identities, Sophie and Chava took the audience through an exercise in which they were asked to close their eyes and first imagine a Southerner, then a non-English speaker, then a Jewish person. “You probably conjured separate images in your head, but what if we told you, it was all the same person?” they asked. Intergroup contact can take the form of Diversity and Inclusion efforts on campuses. At Queens, the Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement organization (DICE) is effective in connecting across different groups on campus. Sophie and Chava also invited two F.B.I. agents to be part of the program to share information about hate crimes and the importance of reporting them. The agents emphasized the importance of getting away from one’s own echo chamber and being aware of others. They noted Greenspon Fellows Sophie Lange and Chava Rosenberg shared research findthat loneliness is often a factor ings regarding antisemitism on college campuses with students and faculty (Continued on page 11)
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MARCH 3, 7 & 17 $10 per event or $180 VIP packet Location: Sam Lerner Center for Cultural Arts, Shalom Park • Details at Jewishcharlotte.org • •
on Nov. 10.
SUN | March 3 | 7 PM
OSHUA COHEN
The Netanyahus: An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family
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THU | March 7 | 7 PM
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SUN | March 17 | 7 PM
RMANDO LUCAS CORREA
The Night Travelers
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EINA DAI RANDEL
Night Angels
ANIELLE FRIEDMAN
Let’s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World
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