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Commentary
by Dr. Gerhard Falk |
Jewish College Students
Over 80% of Jewish high
school graduates attend college. Almost all Jewish college students are admitted
to large and so-called “prestigious” universities. Although we are only 1.8%
of the American population, 23% of students at such “Ivy League” schools as
Harvard University, Yale, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania are
Jewish.
The reason for this
academic “success” lies first and foremost in the ability of Jewish parents
to pay for the tuition and other expenses at such schools. Usually, the “Ivy
League” schools cost upward of $20,000 a year.
The second reason for the
academic “success” of Jews is our scholarly tradition. Even in the
“shtetl” or small towns of Europe, Jews accorded the highest social status
to the Talmudic scholars and rabbis (Be sure to read Life Is With People
by Herzog and Zborowski. That book gives you a detailed picture of life in the
Yiddish speaking European communities before 1939).
The third reason for
Jewish academic success is that Jews were at all times excluded from the most
common occupations and were therefore forced to gain access to such independent
sources of income as law, medicine, accounting, etc. All these require a good
deal of schooling.
In view of the academic
success we have enjoyed, we are now faced with two developments on the campuses
of American universities. One is that schools which heretofore had few if any
Jewish students are now actively seeking Jewish enrollment.
Vanderbilt University,
located in Nashville, Tennessee, is now openly recruiting Jewish students. The
president of that university, Gordon Gee, told the Wall Street Journal: “Yes,
we are targeting Jewish students. There is nothing wrong with that. That’s not
affirmative action. That’s smart thinking.” How smart may be seen by
comparing the national average on Scholastic Aptitude Tests, which is 1,020, to
the Jewish average, which is 1,161. Only Unitarians exceed Jews with an average
SAT score of 1,209.
The reason for this is
that a large number of Unitarians are in fact Jewnitarians.
Vanderbilt University is
not alone in its efforts to gain more Jewish students. Southern Methodist
University located in Dallas and Texas Christian University located in Forth
Worth have now hired Jewish Studies professors and have built up a Judaica
collection in their libraries. In addition, a number of Christian universities
have offered merit scholarships to Jews. This is also true of the University of
Alabama and others.
Meanwhile, two problems
face Jewish students at American universities. One is called “affirmative
action”. This method of accepting students favors minority students who may
have lower grades than Jewish applicants but are admitted nonetheless.
An excellent example of
this policy is the method used by the University of Michigan Law School. There a
large number of Jews apply each year. It is unlikely that the admissions policy
of that school is anti-Jewish. (Note: it cannot be anti-Semitic since we are not
Semites. The Arabs and the Israelis are Semites because they speak Semitic
languages). However, the outcome of admitting “minorities” with lower Law
School Aptitude Test results than is true of Euro-Americans leads to the
rejection of many Jewish applicants with high LSAT scores. This policy has been
upheld by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and is now headed to the Supreme
Court. In any event, Jews are disproportionately rejected by American
universities for racial reasons, i.e., being of European or Caucasoid race.
(Note: There is no Jewish race. We are a religion and culture but we are not a
biological subdivision of the human species).
Jewish students and
professors are now also faced with another problem within the universities. That
problem is Arab hate mongering. There are now numerous Arab students on the
campuses of our universities. Many are “well heeled” children of wealthy
Arab oil millionaires.
These Arab students are
currently engaged in exploiting the commitment to free speech which is the basis
of all American education. Of course, no one will dispute the rights of the Arab
students to present their views to anyone willing to listen and to do so in
whatever manner they seek.
However, during the
academic year ending now Arabs, almost all foreigners, have attacked Jewish
students on our campuses by not only using verbal expressions of hatred and
contempt but also by becoming violent and assaulting Jewish students on each
campus.
An example of this kind of
violence occurred at San Francisco State University on May 6, 2002. There the
Hillel director had to be rescued by the campus police when Arab students and
their supporters threatened to “Kill the Jews” and distributed pamphlets
denying the Holocaust and asserting that Jews celebrate all Jewish holidays by
drinking the blood of non-Jewish people. These foreigners use their opportunity
to study in American universities to shout that “Hitler should have killed all
of you” and other epithets.
The vilest and crudest
form of anti-Jewish hatred are carried to our campuses by the Arab contingent
there. In some universities Arab professors and their supporters “teach”
anti-Jewish courses, all in the name of “free speech”. Arab students often
bring incendiary anti-Jewish speakers to the campus. These speakers use Goebbels
(Joseph Goebbels was Hitler’s propaganda minister) style rhetoric to incite
students to commit violence against the Jews on the campus.
The university president
at San Francisco has given the names of anti-Jewish rioters at that university
to the district attorney for prosecution. Yet, the anti-Jewish outbursts go on.
Evidently, outside of San Francisco, the same administrators and faculty who
denounce even the appearance of racism if directed at other minorities find it
legitimate for foreigners to assault American Jews in our schools.
In sum, we now find that
the American population is generally friendly to Jews, as evidenced by the large
number of Jewish politicians elected from areas which have hardly any Jewish
voters. Yet, foreigners come here now and bring with them their hatreds and
their ancient bigotry. It is time to demand from our elected officials that they
pass legislation leading to the prompt expulsion of those foreigners who incite
hatred on our campuses. Why not write to senators Charles Schumer and
Hillary Clinton about this? We can also write to our congressmen, John La Falce,
etc.
Do it now.
Shalom
u’vracha.
Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications,
including Stigma: How We Treat Outsiders.
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