Jewish community unites despite increased intolerance through years

After a semester marked by displays of intolerance, IU will enter next semester with a renewed effort to promote unity on campus.

The recent string of hate crimes against the Jewish community at IU has attracted a large response by the campus in general. For members of the Jewish community, dealing with anti-Semitism is nothing new.

Between the start of the 2005 school year and the end of June 2010, 64 incidents of discrimination were reported against Jews.

Against all other religious groups combined, there were only 27 incidents in the same period. Last year, 70 percent of religious incidents were directed at the Jewish community, which IU’s Helene G. Simon Hillel Center estimates comprises 10 to 12 percent of the student population, or 3,800 to 4,000 students. This year’s attacks have already matched the number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2007 and 2008, according to reports from the Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs’ Incident Teams.

“As a Jew you assume someone out there is anti-Semitic,” said Trevor Sheade, secretary of IU’s Beta Gamma Chapter of Zeta Beta Tau, the nation’s first Jewish fraternity. “It’s so prevalent.”

He said anti-Semitism is one of the reasons why he wanted to join a Jewish fraternity.
“Within pledging I always hear talk about Jewish kids who are being called ‘Jew something,’” said Sheade. “That’s why people join a Jewish fraternity — so they don’t
get segregated.”

Sheade said there is good coming from the attacks.

“Kids who I’ve talked to, who I thought wouldn’t be interested, have wanted to take action,” he said.

Eric Love, director of the Office of Diversity Education, said groups, including ZBT, have started making plans to raise awareness about the issue of hate crimes and discrimination for next semester. Love said that minority groups on campus have shown solidarity with the Jewish community.

“I think there are some people who have a strong sense of social justice and who make a stance for gay people if they’re not gay, black people if they’re not black,” Love said. “Social justice is social justice, regardless who the target may be.”

Love said it’s hard to determine what is a hate crime and what isn’t because, ultimately, it comes down to intent. Reports filed to the Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs’ Incident Teams indicate that during the 2009-10 school year there were 121 reported incidents of harassment or discrimination on campus across different ethnicities, races, religions and genders, 14 of which targeted the Jewish community.

“I think in light of the most recent incidents, this semester has definitely been worse than almost any that I’ve seen,” Love said.

Hillel Center Student President Matthew Cohen said the response from the Bloomington community has been overwhelming in recent days.

“We received hundreds of calls and e-mails,” Cohen said.

All three men said that groups on campus have taken these displays of intolerance and used them as an opportunity for something positive. Cohen said negative events can do a lot to help refocus student attention to social justice on campus.

“When things are status quo, it slips people’s minds,” Cohen said. “When things happen, people are awakened.”

Both Sheade and Love said they hoped something positive would come out of these events. Love said events like the Unity Summit are parts of a conversation that will help make Bloomington a more tolerant place.

“I think that more people should care about how our neighbors are treated,” Love said. “When we’re talking about religious issues, they’re not Muslim issues or Jewish issues, they’re societal issues. That’s when we start to change society — when everyone is involved not because they’re affected but because they care.”