Let's begin on Oct. 12, just five days after the horrifying Hamas attack on Israel. Students were marching around my campus, Binghamton University, chanting anti-Semitic slogans such as "from the river to the sea," a chant laden with genocidal connotations. Rallies advocated for the globalized spread of “intifada,” a phrase often used to describe violent and deadly Palestinian terror against civilians in Israel. Recognizing the responsibility I held as someone with a significant Jewish social media platform —albeit one that had been mainly dedicated to humor—I knew I had to speak out.
Within hours of voicing my stance on social media my inbox and comments section were inundated with anti-Semitic remarks and threatening messages. Swastikas littered my notifications, and I received hourly threats, including horrifying statements like "How dare you, we tried our best to put you in Auschwitz" and "History will judge Hitler as a hero."
This was just the beginning of what has been a challenging, yet transformative, six months for me as a Jewish college student and Jewish American. While antisemitism on campuses has made headlines and resulted in government involvement, including hearings in Congress, the focus has been mainly on “elite” universities, places like Harvard and Columbia, and on events in big cities like New York and Los Angeles. But sadly, it is not limited to those places. From my experience, it is clear that campuses and communities—big and small—across the country suffer from antisemitism. It's crucial that universities take action to safeguard Jewish students, and embrace zero tolerance for such hate and behavior on all campuses.
Right now, the opposite is happening. Rather than stopping antisemitism, my campus and fellow students are giving it a home. For example, prior to an event featuring the Binghamton University Zionist Organization (BUZO), in collaboration with Stand With Us, an organization that fights antisemitsm and supports Israel, another group of students covered the room's walls with anti-Israel propaganda. During a Palestine walkout, students standing right in front of our school library screamed things like "If Hamas is worse than ISIS, then Israel is worse than Nazi Germany."
Such speech and actions clearly go beyond constructive criticism of Israeli policy, and are threatening to Jewish students here, as well as to Jews everywhere, including in Israel. Students and the university are also supporting similar efforts that reach beyond campus. Recently, the Revolutionary Student Study Group (RSSG) club at Binghamton created an instagram post to call for a boycott of the Rathskeller, a popular bar at Binghamton University because the bar had made a donation to Magen David Adom, an Israeli ambulance service. Let that sink in for a moment—an ambulance service. Are they suggesting that Israelis don't deserve access to life-saving medical assistance?
The campus recently hosted an event called "Free My Palestine Day," organized by an outside group. It included calling on the university to to divest from the Israeli military and its suppliers, uphold academic and cultural boycotts of Israeli universities, end recognition of study abroad programs with Israeli universities, implement a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campus, establish a Palestinian studies department, and extend protection to Arab students facing doxing and harassment.
Not only do these absurd demands at an event on my campus leave me feeling ostracized and unsafe as a Jewish student here, but the call to "extend protection to its Arab students" raises concerns about selective protection. Shouldn't the university be committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all its students, regardless of their background or affiliation?
Meanwhile, most non-Jewish student organizations have not clearly and publicly expressed concern about antisemitism, or spoken out in concern for Jews or Israel since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack began the war. But plenty of student organizations have expressed strong solidarity with Students for Justice in Palestine, which endorsed Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
I should feel safe wearing my Star of David without fear or unjust accusations. As of now, I do not. My fellow Jewish students and I are constantly in contact with law enforcement, and have felt we needed police presence at Jewish events. That is why I am not giving up. I will continue to call out antisemitism on my social media platform, demand that campus administrators take action, and I will continue to participate in activities that promote human rights, including raising awareness of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza—even though some students rip down the posters of them a minute after I hang them.
I call on others to break their silence and join me in Olami’s campaign for Zero Tolerance for antisemitism, including those outside the Jewish community who care about values like freedom, democracy and the protection of human rights.
Remember, every individual effort counts. Share your story, retweet important messages, and engage with content that promotes understanding and tolerance. Together, we can make a difference. I am waiting for you.
Logan Swerdloff is a junior majoring in economics at Binghamton University, where she serves as Zero Tolerance Ambassador for Olami, a global organization building Jewish identity and ensuring Jewish continuity.
We need to talk about antisemitism on all campuses, not just the elite ones
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06.03.2024
Let's begin on Oct. 12, just five days after the horrifying Hamas attack on Israel. Students were marching around my campus, Binghamton University, chanting anti-Semitic slogans such as "from the river to the sea," a chant laden with genocidal connotations. Rallies advocated for the globalized spread of “intifada,” a phrase often used to describe violent and deadly Palestinian terror against civilians in Israel. Recognizing the responsibility I held as someone with a significant Jewish social media platform —albeit one that had been mainly dedicated to humor—I knew I had to speak out.
Within hours of voicing my stance on social media my inbox and comments section were inundated with anti-Semitic remarks and threatening messages. Swastikas littered my notifications, and I received hourly threats, including horrifying statements like "How dare you, we tried our best to put you in Auschwitz" and "History will judge Hitler as a hero."
This was just the beginning of what has been a challenging, yet transformative, six months for me as a Jewish college student and Jewish American. While antisemitism on campuses has made headlines and resulted in government involvement, including hearings in Congress, the focus has been mainly on “elite” universities, places like Harvard and Columbia, and on events in big cities like New York and Los........
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