A law professor at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Jewish Studies (CJS) has resigned after criticizing the institute for its silence in the face of rising national and campus anti-Semitism during the fighting between Israel and Gaza and the willingness of many of its professors to condemn Israel as a way to gain a “golden entry ticket” of acceptance into progressive academia.
“I see no place for me to remain affiliated with CJS which has turned into an echo chamber of silence and in which those, such as myself, who are unapologetic Zionists feel increasingly isolated,” Professor Oren Gross wrote in a letter he sent to the CJS on June 1 and posted to Facebook. “Most of you stayed silent when Israel was attacked (again!). Some of you thought it opportune to shine your golden entry ticket to progressive circles by actually condemning the Jewish state.”
He added, “Most of you stayed silent even when anti-Semitism and physical violence against Jews in the United States increased, this time not by individuals wearing red MAGA hats but rather the colors of the Palestinian flag.”
Gross wrote that CJS has turned into a forum that institutionally rejects any “principled position-taking” in support of Israel.
He said that the institute remains “safe” for its professors “as long as one shies away from engaging with vicious, hurtful attacks especially from within the University.”
He continued, “I cannot help but recall Mordechai's caution to Queen Esther: ‘If you keep silent in this crisis, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from another quarter, while you and your father’s house will perish.’”
Gross had been affiliated with CJS for years as he considered Jewish studies to be of vital importance.
“My own scholarship and research have engaged with such matters as Jewish law, the Weimar Republic, and Jews in Germany more broadly as well as courses taught (on the legal aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict) or planned (Jewish Law),” he said. “I shall thus seek to establish new and vigorous fora for the pursuit of Jewish and Israel studies at the University of Minnesota as well as outside its academic walls.”
Gross stated his resignation was effective immediately.
In March, after a contentious campus wide debate, students at the University of Minnesota voted to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, with 58 percent in support.
Gross told the Algemeiner that Jewish faculty had an obligation to support Jewish students during a time when Jews on campus are increasingly being targeted.
“I expect Jewish faculty will stand with their Jewish students. That’s part of our commitment and our obligation. That’s part of, to me, the job description … standing with Jewish students who feel intimidated both emotionally and unfortunately, physically on campus,” he said. “If we remain silent in this, we remain silent at our peril.”