How academic efforts to boycott Israel harm our students

By Jill S. Schneiderman, Opinion for The Washington Post

In March 2014, I and my co-teacher stood with 27 Vassar College students at the sparkling Auja Spring in the parched West Bank of the Palestinian territories. We listened attentively as environmental educators from the Auja Eco Center and a Palestinian graduate student from Al-Quds University explained the Auja village’s dependency on this sole water source. Sadly, this learning experience almost didn’t happen. My colleague and I were nearly prevented from embarking on the trip by opposition from a surprising source: the faculty and students of our own academic institution.

I am a tenured geology professor at Vassar , an elite liberal-arts school . I research, teach and write about the complex and intimate connections between land and water resources and social justice. For the study trip I led to Israel and the Palestinian territories, I created a syllabus designed to explore difficult issues and engage diverse perspectives that was vetted by Vassar’s faculty and administration. I have successfully led numerous similar trips to locations such as the Appalachian Mountains and the Mojave Desert. My modest goals for such trips are to impart knowledge and share experiences with my students that can be realized only by traveling to the regions we are examining. In studying arid regions without seeing the situation with their own eyes, it is difficult for students from places where water is relatively abundant to think about solutions to the problems that occur when local residents must share a meager supply.

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Jill S. Schneiderman is a professor of earth science at Vassar College.

New Group: Students Supporting Israel (SSI)

Students Supporting Israel (SSI) is a Pro-Israel international campus movement that supports the State of Israel.

Our mission is to be a clear and confident Pro-Israel voice on college campuses, and to support students in grassroots Pro-Israel advocacy.

Supporting Israel on Campus!

We provide students on college campuses and universities with the opportunity to support the position of Israel in the Middle East, and reassure students who opposed the demonization of the state of Israel on campus that they are not alone but a part of a larger, united movement.

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AJU program helps young adults explore the many connections between nature and Jewish values

By Roberto Loiederman for Tribe Magazine

“Experiential learning depends on ‘wow’ moments,” said Aryeh Goldman, 26, coordinator of the Jewish Experiential and Nature Educators (JENE) Fellowship at American Jewish University (AJU). “That’s when, suddenly, you see nature in a new way.”

Some of these moments can be planned, like making fire by striking rocks or witnessing the miracle of plant growth. But, Goldman said, the experiences that stay with you the longest are often accidental, as when a recent group of Fellows had to deal with a dead peacock whose extravagant beauty they’d admired.

Twice a year, in the spring and fall, a few Fellows arrive at AJU’s Brandeis-Bardin Campus (BBC) in Simi Valley for a session that lasts three to four months. Although the number of Fellows is flexible, it generally ranges from two to five each session. (For information or to apply, visit confbbc.aju.edu.)

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KIVUNIM - An Experiential Program of Study for College Students

Our Mission

KIVUNIM’s college-age program inspires its students to forge a lifelong relationship with Israel and the Jewish People through our travels across the world - gaining understanding of Jewish life and history together with that of the many cultures, religions and worldviews amongst whom the Jewish people grew in its 2000 year Diaspora. Our international travels build and deepen Jewish identity within the context of an emerging sense of “world-consciousness” both as Jews and as citizens of the world. We welcome students from all backgrounds in the belief that mutual understanding can only enhance the possibilities for greater peace and justice.

We are based in Jerusalem where we encounter Israel openly: appreciating its grand and historic achievements together with its unfulfilled goals and aspirations. We encourage a perception on the part of our students that there is work yet to be done and that they have a role to play in the fulfillment of the Zionist promise.

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Covenant Awards 2012 - Peter Geffen from The Covenant Foundation on Vimeo.