The Rising Generation Discusses Universities

The Tikvah Fund hosts an annual event in New York City with great speakers discussing Jewish thought, Zionism and Western Philosophy. Hundreds of people attend, mostly from the tri-state area but also Israel, the United Kingdom, Canada and even Brazil.

This year’s event was centered around “THE RISING GENERATION: WILL OUR CHILDREN DEFEND AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND JEWISH CIVILIZATION?” While always a timely subject for Tikvah which focuses on educational programs for middle school through university, the rising antisemitism on college campuses made the focus on the rising generation even more pressing.

The first roundtable discussion after an incredible speech by Ruth Wisse featured: Dore Feith (Columbia), Zach Kessel (Northwestern), Alexandra Orbuch (Princeton), Josh Blustein (University of Chicago), Tal Fortgang (New York University). Each student discussed their experience on campus, ranging from antisemitic groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), to terrible administrations which could not bear to clearly condemn the barbarity of Hamas’s terrorist attack on October 7.

*Student panel at the Jewish Leadership Conference, October 29, 2023*

Tal Fortgang concluded the discussion by making four observations about the state of academia in the United States today.

1. University presidents today do not stand by Jews, as evidenced by the amount of time and statement revisions issued to condemn the heinous Hamas attacks. The fifth attempt at condemnation reads like a hostage note written by lawyers.

2. Socialists and foreign entities have colonized the elite institutions. Dore Feith shared that the de-colonialist worldview has infiltrated every department in universities and is now part of the core curriculum at Columbia. Every student is fed a charged philosophy, including that Israel is a European Colonial settlement. There is no room left to debate this hallowed dogma at the Ivy League institutions.

3. There is a dire need to reexamine the admission policy at schools. While schools manage to be highly selective about GPAs and standardized test scores, somehow they manage to “accept 25% of students who are genocidal maniacs.” Based on recent videos of SJP on campus, it’s not an exaggeration.

4. Everyone must do their utmost to “drain the residual prestige which remains for these institutions.” They no longer teach people how to think but what to think, and the modern tenets are immoral by any measure other than a lens of radical socialism. The effort to drain those schools means no longer sending money or children to the school. It may also mean no longer recruiting students for jobs from those institutions.

A letter was shared at a New Jersey Jewish high school which said it would no longer allow some universities to present on site unless they attest that the schools are safe.

*Letter from the Torah Academy of Bergen County, NY*

Jewish institutions, parents and students are taking a new look at Jewish life at America’s leading universities and are not pleased with what they see. Perhaps not coincidentally, Yeshiva University, America’s flagship Jewish university, had admissions jump by 25% over the past three years. It is likely to see a continued surge in the coming years.

ACTION ITEM

Write to your alma mater’s administration, office of the president and alumni affairs “I am appalled at the antisemitism rampant on your campus. I will no longer send donations nor encourage family members to attend your institution. I will pressure high schools to not allow your school to present on campus, and ask my place of employment to stop recruiting from your school.”

Columbia University- alumni affairs caaalumnirelations@columbia.edu
UPenn- alumni affairs alumni@ben.dev.upenn.edu
Cooper Union- alumni@cooper.edu