The days leading up to a new academic year at a university are typically filled with a mix of excitement and anticipation for both faculty and students alike. Yet this year, it brought trepidation and even fear for many in the Jewish community. At my own university, faculty attended training sessions on coping with potential classroom intruders, including tips for de-escalation strategies and detailed security procedures. Students normally thinking about orientation programming were instead forced to ask themselves difficult questions about whether to conceal their religious or political beliefs, for fear of risking backlash or ostracization from fellow students and even faculty.
I don’t know that there is much hope for our universities.
