Father/Daughter Legacy Duo Joins Fellow Oberlin College Alumni to Denounce Anti-Semitism on Campus

(January 18th, 2016) – In early December 2015, a small group with shared concerns about rising anti-Semitism on the Oberlin campus formed to protest and call for action. First, the group composed an open letter to the President and Board of Trustees of Oberlin College. They expressed firm opposition to documented anti-Semitic acts and statements, including harassment and threats against Jewish students who feel an allegiance to Israel. On January 3, Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov received the letter with 157 individual signatories, requesting inquiry, support, and relief for students impacted by anti-Semitism.

Dr. Melissa Landa, a 1986 graduate of Oberlin College, established the group after she was personally attacked on two online forums by pro-BDS Oberlin alumni and students. “They called me a Zionist cultist who is responsible for the deaths of innocent Palestinians, simply because I expressed my support for Israel,” she explained. “Experiencing the aggressive and dogmatic nature of the BDS movement for myself allowed me to empathize with Jewish students who are being bullied on campus and I wanted to do something about it.” Melissa was soon joined by Marta Braiterman Tanenbaum, South Salem resident, Rica Mendes, class of 1996, and her father, Pound Ridge resident Richard Mendes, class of 1959, and many other concerned Oberlin alumni.

The group collected first-hand reports of anti-Semitism from current students and recent graduates. It was evident that these experiences had caused a great deal of grief and turmoil for those recounting them. Some Jewish students had left Oberlin as a result of feeling that they were in an unsafe environment. Anna Band, a 2013 graduate of Oberlin recalled, “When I wrote my anti-BDS petition my senior year; I had people telling me I was a horrible person and sending me hate messages.” Additionally, the group followed news articles, to document the change in tone and atmosphere in regards to anti-semitism and the BDS movement.

Word traveled to friends and colleagues who oppose the BDS movement. The Facebook alumni task group quickly expanded to include 200 people from across the United States, Israel, Australia, and Taiwan. Signatories included diverse alumni from 1946 to 2015 and fifteen current students, representing an interfaith and multi-denominational team of individuals.

Other current students joined the group but expressed fear about signing the letter given the hostility they would have to endure on campus. An alumna parent, who asked to remain anonymous, explained, “My daughter is a current student and would add her name but is hesitant to do so because of the social stigma. She has been increasingly exceedingly uncomfortable on campus and can’t wait to graduate. Because of the toxic environment, I no longer feel I can recommend Oberlin and that makes me very sad.”

Rica Mendes had her experience of anti-semitism as a student starting her first month on campus in 1993. “When word got to the Oberlin Review, our campus newspaper, that I’d just returned from living in Israel, I received a request for an interview to discuss the Clinton-Rabin-Arafat peace negotiations. An overly eager student reporter decided to selectively quote me, making me appear quite anti-Palestinian. While I supported Israel, my position was that no leaders involved could fairly represent their constituents as there was too much animosity on all sides. However, because of the way I was purposely portrayed as being radically anti-Arafat, I faced name calling, harassing phone calls, and death threats. By the time I was a senior, Kwame Ture came to campus and incited a wave of anti-semitism. I was grateful I was only weeks away from graduating. However, the hostile antisemitic environment has forced me to step down as an Oberlin Alumni Recruiter, stop all donations and contributions, and see my daughter, who’d always planned to go to Oberlin, continuing our family legacy, decide that Oberlin College was not going to be considered anymore. My father and I could not stay silent any longer.”

Richard Mendes attended Oberlin from 1955 to 1959. “In those years, Oberlin was notable for an atmosphere of religious and racial tolerance. I can recall only one instance of antisemitism, when an Episcopal minister visiting from England made strongly antisemitic remarks at a meeting with a group of students. My Christian friends and the local minister, who all knew I was Jewish, looked like they wanted to crawl under the nearest rock. That the country, and particularly Oberlin, have departed so far from those values is very, very disturbing.”

Although the group has a broad range of views on current Israeli policies, they chose to set aside personal politics. Instead they addressed how the movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel (BDS) had engulfed the Oberlin campus over the last five years and created a hostile anti-Semitic environment.

The online community hopes also to collaborate on ways to engage other college alumni organizations to end the hostile activity generated by pro-BDS events on other campuses. In collaboration with Oberlin’s professional staff that supports Jewish students on campus, they are also discussing additional ways to assist current students who face anti-Semitism.

To see the Open Letter, follow the link below: 
https://sites.google.com/site/oberlinagainstantisemitism/