MY TURN: Responding to hate on campus

College and university campuses are intended to be places of discovery, development, and debate. They are places designed to advance student knowledge, skills such as writing, speaking, and listening, abilities such as analysis and leadership, and values such as teamwork and respect for others.

In classrooms and during community gatherings, experts share knowledge and students are invited to exchange and debate varying points of view and learn from one another’s experience. This has always been the case, even when emotions are high as in the case with the Hamas-Israel war. Unfortunately, in response to recent events, the media have focused almost entirely on elite institutions where billionaire bullies seem to believe that wealth equals wisdom.

Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and racism are facts of life in society at large, and intrude upon the campus as well. But what these terms mean can vary. Antisemitism is especially complex: it can mean anti-Jewish, anti-Israel’s existence, anti-Israeli government policy, and/or anti-Zionist, depending upon one’s perspective. The term has been applied by some to those who criticize the policies of the government of Israel, even if neither its people nor its right to exist are questioned.

I examine these issues in this edition of MY TURN. See the link:

https://theisland360.com/opinions-100/my-turn-responding-to-hate-on-campus/

Thanks, Bob