A blog post recently appeared in my inbox from Frances Lee, the new interfaith chaplain at Sarah Lawrence College, reflecting on the challenges of the fall 2024 semester. That term was marked by violent protests and disruptions led by Students for Justice in Palestine and their allies—events that gained national attention. As a Jewish professor who supports Israel’s right to self-defense and was personally threatened and harassed during these protests, I read Lee’s blog with disbelief.
Lee described feeling professionally and spiritually isolated amid the turmoil, giving the impression that Lee alone bore the burden of the semester’s unrest. This framing is deeply troubling. Jewish students and faculty, including myself, endured the brunt of the protests, facing fear, threats, and alienation. Moreover, Lee’s claim of working in a non-religious environment disregards the presence of multiple religious organizations on campus and notable nearby groups that could have been vital allies for supporting students of all backgrounds during last semester’s crisis.
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One of the Spiritual Life office’s main priorities is to broaden the “network of religious and spiritual community resources in Bronxville, Yonkers, and Westchester for Sarah Lawrence students” and advise “the religious and spiritual student organizations, in addition to mentoring students to create new organizations to represent the diversity of traditions on campus.”
Sarah Lawrence is close to New York and is located in a major metropolitan region with deep and broad religious communities and resources. I know of numerous religious and faith-based groups in and around the region that would love to engage with the Sarah Lawrence community. It is perplexing, then, that Lee reports feeling lonely as a religious professional on campus when there is already a plethora of religious and spiritual student groups on and around campus.
While I can’t speak to various Christian or other faith-centered groups and their attempts to connect with the campus community, I can comment on the Jewish community. What I know for certain is that both Hillel International and Chabad have long been spiritual partners on campuses around the nation, and both groups expressed interest in being part of the community many times over the years but have been rebuked and threatened by various administrators. Jewish community leaders shared stories with me, and in the Title VI complaint, Sarah Lawrence officials refused to give Hillel space to work on campus and connect with students and the college community.
Astonishingly, unwelcoming behavior has continued into the fall. In response to the now open investigation of the College by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the College tried to denigrate Hillel again—which helped file and coordinate the complaint on behalf of Jewish College students—by stating that “It is our understanding that the complaint was filed by an organization outside the College and not by a member of the Sarah Lawrence community or internal organization.”
Incidentally, Title VI complaints can be filed by any number of parties, and the OCR will act on them, as is the case in Case Number 02-24-2528, where Sarah Lawrence was forced to end race-based exclusions for student opportunities. A non-community member filed this complaint, and the OCR acted for the College was in clear breach of—in the OCR’s words—“The regulation implementing Title VI, at 34 C.F.R. § 100.3(a), provides that no person shall, on the basis of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program to which Title VI applies.”
If Lee feels isolated from other religious professionals and seeks partners to strengthen religious and spiritual life on Sarah Lawrence’s campus, it’s puzzling why Lee didn’t reach out to the many Jewish groups nearby looking to support students or even to me—a public and practicing Jewish professor actively supporting Jewish students—or take visible, proactive steps to assist Jewish students struggling last term amid calls for intifada and persistent anti-Zionist rhetoric. Students felt scared, threatened, isolated, and hurt and needed campus partners and support, and they reported to me that they had practically none.
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Going forward, Lee must prioritize rebuilding relationships with Jewish groups that have been sidelined for years and collaborate with other faith-based organizations in the region to foster a more inclusive and supportive campus environment.
It is worth noting that creating such relationships is not usual either. Many schools welcome Chabad and Hillel and happily enjoy a more vibrant and diverse Jewish community with the additional spiritual support that Lee craves. When I was an undergraduate at Stanford University, faculty partnered with Jewish groups all the time to support students, and some of my favorite memories of my college days were celebrating holidays with faculty. At Harvard, where Lee and I independently pursued graduate studies, it is well known that both organizations have large off-campus facilities and regularly partner with the Harvard Chaplains and Memorial Church. Chabad on campus even notes on its homepage that they have a presence on over 950 collegiate campuses and serves over 150,000 Jewish students nationwide. Hillel International is even larger and more well-known and currently has relationships with over 1,000 campuses and 180,000 students. Religious groups seem to share the Spiritual Life office’s stated intentions but remain closed off to the college community.
I remain bewildered as to why Sarah Lawrence has been so inhospitable and hostile to Jewish groups over the years, but that must change. Sarah Lawernce has a new office of spirituality and an administrator who feels alone and isolated and is searching for support. There is no reason, then, not to connect and welcome Jewish groups back to campus—about twenty percent of the undergraduate population is Jewish—and foster a truly diverse, open, and supportive religious landscape that is the norm as so many other schools; this would be a benefit to everyone.
Image of Sarah Lawrence Sign by MTSOfan on Flickr
