ADL Completes 5th Year of Program to Empower Day School Senior Class to Address Anti-Semitic and Anti-Israel Bias on College Campus

  • February 27, 2015

For the fifth year in a row, ADL has trained the entire senior class at New Community Jewish High School in confronting and responding to anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity on college campuses.  On February 23, 24 and 25, two-thirds of the senior class participated in ADL’s Words to Action workshop, an interactive program designed to empower and equip college-bound and college students with constructive and effective responses to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias that they may face on college campuses.  The other one-third of the class was trained in October 2014.

As ADL has reported on its blog, Access ADL: California Campuses See Increase in Anti-Israel Activity, and through its new backgrounder, ADL Backgrounder: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) – The Global Campaign to Delegitimize Israel, the words and tactics used by anti-Israel activists on campus are evolving and Jewish students need new resources and skills to deal with these issues both proactively and reactively.

The participating students learned about ADL’s definitions of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and anti-Israel bias.  They explored several case studies and discussed ways to respond constructively to these scenarios, taken from real-life examples.  They also received many resources, including ADL’s Fighting Back: A Handbook for Responding to Anti-Israel Rallies on College and University Campuses.

Student evaluations from the most recent program indicated that they learned a great deal from the training and particularly enjoyed the interactive activities and practice scenarios.  Comments included the following:

  • “Stand up more for myself, my community and others around me experiencing hate.”
  • “The scenarios worked well in my opinion because I thought about what I would really do in that position.”
  • “Be confident in standing up for Israel.”
  • “Thank you!  I enjoyed this program and will use the information I learned if confronted with this on campus.”

This program is available to high school and college students.  For further information, contact us or call 310-446-8000.