UI students ensure representative for Jewish students
CLEO KREJCI, Iowa City Press-Citizen
April 23, 2021
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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Kendall Michaels was disturbed by years of anti-Semitic incidents she witnessed as a student at the University of Iowa.
She and other Jewish students recall being asked where their “horns” are, being afraid after a local Jewish student organization was vandalized during a Shabbat dinner, and, in Michaels’ case, seeing a fellow student’s Snapchat story with a swastika and the caption “I hate all Jews.”
This school year, Michaels decided to turn to her peers for help in making the campus more welcoming for Jewish students. She found allies in the student government, and they came up with a plan to add a representative on that body who could advocate for the university’s roughly 600 Jewish students.
Kendall Michaels was disturbed by years of anti-Semitic incidents she witnessed as a student at the University of Iowa.
She and other Jewish students recall being asked where their horns are, being afraid after a local Jewish student organization was vandalized during a Shabbat dinner, and, in Michaels case, seeing a fellow student s Snapchat story with a swastika and the caption I hate all Jews.
This school year, Michaels decided to turn to her peers for help in making the campus more welcoming for Jewish students. She found allies in the student government, and they came up with a plan to add a representative on that body who could advocate for the university s roughly 600 Jewish students.
A view of the University of Iowa campus (Wikimedia Commons/via JTA)
JTA When the University of Iowa student senate debated a bill to give special representation to Jews on campus, Nick Nachtman voted no.
Other minority groups had been given their own seats in the Undergraduate Student Government, chosen by their respective student organizations. The Jewish senator would be chosen by students at Hillel.
In Nachtman’s view, that was a problem.
“Unfortunately as I was researching Hillel International, I’ve seen quite a connection that holds a specifically positive view of the State of Israel,” said Nachtman, a first-year student at the university who is not Jewish. “I worry that having such a strong power connected to the people who are making this decision could influence them to hold a political belief in an office that shouldn’t have a political belief.”
Schaeffer Hall, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. Photo: Flickr.
JNS.org – The Undergraduate Student Government at the University of Iowa passed a bill on Tuesday to establish a Jewish constituency senator who will begin in the fall semester, reported the student-run publication
The legislation was first rejected on March 24 but brought back for a vote after Jewish students caused an uproar over the need for representation in student government. It passed with 95 percent voting “yes” on April 6.
“At its core, this is anti-discrimination legislation,” said Sen. Prakruti Pancholi while introducing the legislation. “It is our job as USG to condemn all forms of discrimination on campus that undergraduate students face.”
How students quietly quelled a debate over Judaism and Zionism at University of Iowa – J jweekly.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jweekly.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.