Latest News from Campus

Posters targeting Oregon Hillel Executive Director Lenny Steinberg appeared across the University of Oregon campus, featuring his photo and labeling him an “enemy of the people” while also calling for “Hillel off campus.”  In response, University President Karl Scholz condemned the flyers, writing in a university-wide email that “language that targets based on religious and ethnic identity – is reprehensible,” and adding, “We can be better.” U.S. lawmakers Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Rep. Val Hoyle (D-OR) also issued a statement, saying, “Hate, intimidation, and antisemitism have no place on our college campuses, in our state or our country.”

Hillel of San Diego reports record start-of-year engagement across its four campuses, with more than 800 students participating and nearly 25% reaching the organization’s “deeply engaged” threshold of attending Hillel more than six times. Students are also seeking consistent weekly programs, meals, and community support while taking on leadership roles: from organizing a Shabbat service program at San Diego State University to managing recruitment and events at the University of San Diego and Cal State San Marcos.

In a recent op-ed, Grinspoon Hillel at Cornell CEO Rabbi Ari Weiss discussed activist Hasan Piker’s appearance at the university and the potential of Piker’s hateful words to incite violence. As Jewish life at Cornell was returning to normal in the post-October 7th world, Weiss said the event made Jewish students feel ostracized on campus,  writing to the student body in The Cornell Daily Sun, “I understand that Piker has views that you may want to hear said aloud. Our community’s well documented experience over the last three years show that words, though cheap to say, have costs to those who hear them.”

Rabbi Melissa B. Simon, senior director of Israel Education at Hillel International, explores how books can help Jewish educators and students engage with Israel through curiosity, conversation, and sustained learning. She highlights Hillel International’s practice of giving books to educators and incorporating diverse titles and subject matter into professional learning, creating opportunities to encounter different perspectives and continue exploring questions beyond a classroom, seminar, or trip.

At UMass Hillel, Rabbi Alex Goldfarb is helping students engage with Jewish texts and traditions as an ongoing conversation. Goldfarb is one of three rabbis joining campus Hillels in the Northeast through a new partnership between Hillel International and the Hadar Institute, bringing Hadar’s approach to pluralistic Jewish learning into Hillel communities. Through classes, learning cohorts, and mentorship, the pilot gives students more opportunities to engage deeply with Jewish tradition while building their own relationships with Jewish learning and community.

In a recent opinion piece, Hillel International Senior Vice President of Campus Solutions Jon Falk examines how antisemitism on college campuses has evolved in the three years since Oct. 7, 2023. Falk identifies three shifts in the campus experience: overt antisemitism has become ambient, more antisemitic activity occurs in digital spaces, and anti-Israel activism and Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns extend into broader efforts to exclude Jewish students.