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.”