The presidents of two Christian universities have vowed to protect the safety and well-being of Jewish students and openly encouraged them to attend their campuses amid violent anti-Israel protests at universities across the United States.
“We write to express our deep shock and outrage at the sudden increase in hatred and violence against Jews and Israelis on college campuses across the country earlier this year,” Colorado Christian University President Eric Hogue and Indiana Wesleyan University President John Klug said in a joint letter.
Hogue and Klug said the Jew-hatred expressed on university campuses in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the continuing war in Gaza exposes “serious problems” in cultural institutions, including academic ones, that “must be addressed.”
“We want to make it clear to our nation and the world that Christian organizations in our country will not tolerate this type of behavior,” the letter, issued Wednesday, said.
“We also wish to express our deep concern that the horrific events we all witnessed at the end of the 2023-2024 school year are already being forgotten.”
The leaders said anti-Semitism runs counter to the Judeo-Christian values of “tolerance, freedom and human dignity” that have been promoted in academia for centuries.
“What we have seen in recent days is an insidious darkness creeping into academia, a darkness that is emblematic of other frightening times in history,” they said.
The presidents criticized other universities for welcoming clubs such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), saying they “openly promote anti-Semitism.”
“All university administrators must take decisive action to eradicate the seeds of hatred on campuses before they can take root in academic communities,” they said.
“We sincerely invite Jewish and Israeli students to come to our campus. You will be welcome and you will be safe.”
A prominent Jewish leader in New York praised Colorado Christian University and Wesleyan University for accepting Jewish students and expressed hope that other New York state universities, hotbeds of anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic sentiment, would follow suit.
“We hope their message will inspire other universities to do the same. It will send a message to other universities that they have to do more to protect their Jewish students,” said Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, vice president of the New York Association of Rabbis.
Complaints about anti-Semitism on campuses have affected campuses across the country, including those of Columbia University, the City University of New York, and Harvard University.
A survey conducted by the New York Solidarity Network found that roughly half of New York’s Jewish voters don’t believe New York’s college campuses will make an effort to make Jewish students feel safe enough for the upcoming fall semester.
