Dear Editor,

I am writing as a concerned parent with a daughter who is a first year student. I also have considerable expertise in dealing with hate and violence having been the Project Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and President and CEO of the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, writing on antisemitism, the Holocaust, racism, genocide and mass murder. I worked in Rwanda.

The first communication parents received from the university indicated all of the resources that the university offers to protect and support its students. There was a notable and most obvious omission: an expression of outrage at the acts of hatred, a manifest expression of solidarity with those who have been its targets, a determination to remake Syracuse into the caring, safe and inclusive community it should be and it must be.

Having just returned from Pittsburgh which marked the first anniversary of the murder of 11 Jews at the Tree of Life Synagogue, permit me to express to you what I learned there. This is an opportunity for the university to proclaim clearly, loudly and proudly that Syracuse University must become a community that celebrates its pluralism and one in which the many different people who call the campus home are committed to one another and the common task of learning. Syracuse University can be known as a community ripped apart by intimidating and hateful acts against minorities or it can become known as a community that has drawn together to defeat hate, division and violence.

There should be a march against hatred now, before Thanksgiving break. Have the football team and basketball team and every other Syracuse University team wear logos that express solidarity with the victims of hatred and the unity of the community in the wake of such expressions of hatred. Pittsburgh developed the logo of Pittsburgh Strong because the community came together. Professors should wear it to class. Students should wear it all over campus. Let the administration wear it as a symbol of unity and solidarity.

The Syracuse community must come together so it can be Syracuse strong. If minority groups feel unsafe on campus, let them not walk alone. In the Civil Rights movement, the presence of Whites made African Americans actually feel safer. Walk together arm in arm proudly, defiantly, but carry your phones to record and broadcast any assaults.

Sincerely,

Michael Berenbaum

American Jewish University

Published on November 21, 2019 at 7:33 pm