Another current Jewish student was told by a fellow student that he wouldn’t be friends with her if she did not accompany him to a Free Palestine rally. The Jewish professional relayed that incident. He knew about it because the student went to him immediately afterwards, visibly shaken.
Rica Mendes, Oberlin class of 1996, said that although both she and her father, Richard Mendes ’59, loved Oberlin when they attended, neither one will encourage Jewish students to go there now. Rica Mendes until recently was the Oberlin recruiter for West Chester, New York, but she resigned because of the recent surge of ugly anti-Semitism on campus.
Mendes said that “as bad as things were before 2013, there were red lines that were not crossed. Now there are no red lines at all.”
2013 was the year the student senate passed the BDS resolution. It opened the floodgates.
Several Oberlin insiders mentioned the extent to which any student who supports Israel in any way, even from a position considered far left most anywhere else, is silenced.
A parent of a current student explained that he went to visit the Hillel office when he brought his child to Oberlin for her freshman year.
“There was no Israeli flag, no posters of Israel, no flyers of Israeli programming. Nothing.” When this parent mentioned to several staff members what to him was a glaring absence, he was told “it would alienate too large a segment of the community.” Those staff and the then Hillel director are no longer at Oberlin.
Landa emphasized that the Oberlin Students and Alumni Against Anti-Semitism is a diverse group, representing just about every step along the spectrum of Judaism and it includes Christian supporters as well. This non-monolithic group also has widely disparate views on Israel, but, as Landa clearly stated:
we are not making a political statement about Israel, we are not discussing Israeli policies. That is not relevant. What is relevant to us is that students must not be attacked for their beliefs, because of their Jewishness or because a part of their Jewish identity includes support in any way for Israel. When a student is attacked for that, that attack is anti-Semitic.
Landa decided to help create a coalition of students and alumni after being attacked on two different Oberlin social media groups by BDS supporters.
“They called me a Zionist cultist who is responsible for the deaths of innocent Palestinians, simply because I expressed my support for Israel,” Landa explained.
A consistent theme reported by the Oberlin insiders was that pro-Israel students have no voice at Oberlin, their views are not welcome and they better keep that position quiet if they want to avoid becoming an outcast while at Oberlin.
One seemingly bright light was dimmed when the Jewish professional explained that although the administration had recently refused to approve the BDS resolution, “the six Israeli companies mentioned for divestment were not ones in which Oberlin was invested,” so the demand was ridiculous and the “victory” was hollow.
The Oberlin senior said, “As a Jew, I cannot recommend Oberlin to other Jews. I feel unsafe. People here are so adamant about being inclusive, so focused on fairness and justice, yet there is very little justice for those who care about Israel. That is not seen as a legitimate issue. It’s sad.”
That sentiment was echoed by almost every other Oberlin insider. The two who didn’t go that far said that instead they would strongly caution anyone considering the school, and make it clear that it would not be easy to openly express an opinion about Israel that wasn’t negative.
Are things worse for Jews than for other non-color minority groups? A current Oberlin student responded to this question with a simple response: “There are school sanctioned clubs whose primary purpose is to attack Israel. There are no clubs created to oppose the self-determination rights of any other group. There are no anti-rape victim clubs.”