OCTOBER 7 REFLECTIONS
This is an online essay project created to commemorate one year since the October 7 massacre. One year since the worst atrocities perpetrated against Jews on a single day since the Holocaust.
Launching on the one-year anniversary of this brutal assault on Israel and the Jewish people, the project features faculty reflections on October 7 and its aftermath on U.S. campuses and the American academy. Below is a selection of these essays. More will be added in the weeks and months ahead.
The online collection of essays will ultimately serve as a companion resource to a forthcoming book co-edited by the Academic Engagement Network and Gratz College focusing on faculty responses and interventions to campus antisemitism in the aftermath of October 7.
Where I Stand
Uzi Baram, New College of Florida
As an archaeologist, I know many examples of hinge moments in human history, when a long-standing social order became reorganized – for the worst as well as for the better. All I can say is we need to reflect on how much our political and social world is changing. We need to remember the hostages and we need to keep standing to ensure a hopeful path to security and peace.
No Place in Academia
Jeffrey Blutinger, California State University, Long Beach
For the first time in my career, I no longer feel safe on my campus. I’m by no means the only one. So many Jewish faculty I know are looking at the exits, wondering how soon they can retire or go someplace else. I no longer feel that I have a home in academia.
Hard Events and a Now Urgent Voice
Gregory Brown, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where I have taught History for 26 years, has long been something of an oddity with respect to its Jewish community. In contrast to many campuses, where the Jewish community is larger and more visible on campus than in the surrounding city, we have been the opposite.
The Cruelty of it All
Jaroslava Halper, University of Georgia
How different it feels from June 6, 1967 and the aftermath when the quick and overwhelming victory of Israel over its enemies brought exuberant celebration of the still new Medina and a relief that the war was so short. Even in communist Prague, where I grew up, my family was able to find out about the newest progress on the battlefield by listening to BBC, Voice of America and Deutsche Well – we considered a great victory to get our news from heavily jammed “imperialist” radio broadcasts.
What's in Your Syllabus?
Jeffrey Herf, University of Maryland
The University exists to foster independent and critical thinking and seek truth about important matters. In order to that it is essential that students be exposed to a plurality of scholarly views. Yet, in recent years, too often, scholarship that looks on Israel favorably and casts a critical gaze on both secular and Islamist forms of antisemitic terrorist organizations does not find its way onto required readings in relevant courses.
How to Respond to 10/7? The Personal and the Professional
Peter Herman, San Diego State University
I never felt personally threatened by antisemitism, and it was easy to dismiss both left and right Jew-haters as loons. Antisemitism never impinged on my life, either professionally or personally. 10/7 changed that.
Countering the Dartmouth Intifada
Sergei Kan, Dartmouth College
Although student protests on Dartmouth campus against the IDF’s response to the October 7 massacre of Israelis by Hamas terrorists have not been as violent as the ones at such schools as Columbia or UCLA, we did experience our share of troubles in that area.
Ripped Apart: The Quandary for Progressive Jews
Ellen W. Kaplan, Smith College
A wrenching fissure between “heart” and “head” exacerbates the isolation I feel as a progressive American Jew. When assassins are assassinated, my heart cheers, but I discern no strategy, no enduring gain, no long-term solution. Only negative outcomes, and a looming World War.
Reflections on October 7 and its Aftermath
Cheryl Kier, Athabasca University
Given that highly educated people who work in higher education wrote and endorsed these one-sided statements, I worry that they are teaching and modeling for the next generation that it is perfectly acceptable to present information that fits one’s ideology without acknowledging there may be other viewpoints. This contravenes the mission of higher education.
It's Worse than I Thought
Jonathan Marks, Ursinus College
I cannot celebrate the late recognition, under pressure, by some university administrations, that protest isn’t always a sign of campus good health, that antisemitism merits attention, and that colleges and universities should avoid, in official statements, the appearance of partisanship.
The Kairos of Chaos: Crystalizing One Proactive Pathway
Christine Maxwell, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemtism and Policy
The ancients (according to Barbara Baert) had a word for the joy and the sorrow of an opportunity that suddenly presents itself but is just as suddenly gone: Kairos. In her exploration of Kairos as “the in-between space,” a space where decision-making happens, Baert points to a particular moment where links in information come together and present an opportune time for new understanding and action to occur.
The Right Side of History
Melinda Roth, George Washington University
Our educational system has been infiltrated and students are being indoctrinated with concepts like Israel is a white colonizer and committing genocide. Professors are using their classrooms to push their own political platforms. We have stopped teaching students to think critically.
Response to October 7 and its Aftermath
Theodore Sheskin, Cleveland State University
I am saddened that this shock has been followed by accusations of genocide committed by Israel, calls for economic and academic boycotts of Israel, calls for an arms embargo on Israel, and protests over the war in Gaza.
Israel’s Survival and the Campus Protests
Cherryl Smith, Sacramento State University
Students had learned their lessons well and yet what they had learned had left them with only the vaguest knowledge about Israel or Hamas or terrorism. They simply knew which side to be on.
Our faculty #KeepTheLightOn for their Jewish students.
