RE: Professors call for action against antisemitism at Queen’s
Dear Editors,
I’m a 76 old graduate of the MA program in history and I’m outraged to learn about the istrative indifference to attacks on Jewish students and unwillingness of the so-called academic leaders to take the issue seriously. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in their email newsletter reported on antisemitism at Queen’s on Nov. 12 citing Professors Oded Haklai and Michael Greenspan, of the Queen’s Coalition Against Anti-Semitism who advocated for stronger protections for Jewish students. The Sept. 24 and Nov. 8 issues of The Journal confirmed antisemitism on campus and incidents off campus in Kingston, with some students writing into The Journal’s commentary complaining about istrative indifference.
I’m an American, but my mother immigrated to Halifax from Poland in 1926 where an older sister and brother-in-law ran a kosher bakery. Eventually, the relatives who got out of Poland in the 20s before World War II settled in Montreal. My mother became a Canadian citizen as did family who survived the Holocaust by immigrating to Canada in the 20s before Canada closed the doors to Jewish immigrants in the 1930s. Those who remained in Poland, including my maternal grandmother, didn’t survive. This is personal to me. At 76, I will not keep quiet about antisemitism, whether in Troy, New York, where I’m a professor, or Kingston, Ontario.
I commend Professors Haklai and Greenspan for ing the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights to detail antisemitic incidents reported by Jewish students. They confirmed the istrative lack of concern for antisemitism at Queen’s and increased overt antisemitism. I’ve been fighting my own battle at my college where I’m a tenured professor of history and political science at Russell Sage College in Troy and Albany, N.Y. s using their usual academic double talk tried to prevent me from teaching a course on Antisemitism and the Holocaust because they wanted a judenrein (Jew free) curriculum. What saved my course was a letter of from 15 New York Senate Republicans.
As an alum of Syracuse University (SU) I’ve been fighting the same istrative indifference at SU, another instance where Jewish faculty and students are afraid to speak out. The mother of a SU junior, an alum, and a faculty member emailed me confirming the problems for Jews at SU right now.
Academic antisemitism takes several forms—intimidation of Jewish students, and pressure from fellow students and some faculty to denounce Israel. At the University of Rochester, wanted lists have been posted on campus for Jewish faculty. Attempts at several colleges in the United States to drive the leading Jewish student organization, Hillel, off campus and ban it as a Zionist organization. Both the ADL and Hillel have reported on students’ efforts to ban Hillel. For faculty like me, s want to avoid the problems by eliminating the issue—cancel classes about Judaism, Jewish history, antisemitism, and the Holocaust. A Jew free curriculum is a controversial free curriculum.
I encourage Jewish students and faculty at Queen’s University to speak out and embarrass the istration, which is the only way any action will take place. ing legislative committee can create positive changes to address antisemitism and to highlight the need for courses on Antisemitism, Jewish History, and the Holocaust. College s, whether in Kingston or Troy don’t want to address antisemitism and want to ignore or cover it up.
Only by publicizing the issue is there any hope of some action. Unlike a recent Letter to the Editor, I commend the faculty for publicly denouncing the college’s indifference to antisemitism. Antisemitism isn’t a prominent or widely recognized form of bigotry at colleges in Canada and United States. Once again, don’t be Jews of silence.
Harvey Strum, MA ’72
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