Classroom Battlegrounds: Pro-Israel students return to school upbeat

For the first time in some time, Jewish students will go to college campuses without any trepidation about anticipated anti-Israel activities. With most of the political attention directed toward the election, absent any major incidents in the Middle East, Israel does not figure to be an issue this year.

This is not to say that Israel will be spared any scrutiny. The usual suspects will make the rounds giving anti-Israel lectures and the same propagandists masquerading as tenured professors will be misinforming their classes. The pro-Israel students, however, increasingly dominate the debate on the quad and most of the theatrics, such as "apartheid" walls and mock checkpoints have disappeared as it became clear they were having no impact. No new attacks on Israel are on the horizon so there is no sense of having to gear up for widespread confrontations.

Last year Walt and Mearsheimer were the rage. In the end, they had minimal impact and sold so few books that the publisher reportedly took a financial bath. Having had their 15 minutes of fame, they have faded back into academic oblivion where they belong. Their book, unfortunately, is likely to be adopted in many courses by anti-Israel professors and those who don't know better, but this is another example of why the focus of those interested in changing the campus environment needs to be more on what happens inside the classroom.

Sympathy still exists for the Palestinians and students can be expected to rake Israel over the coals for its settlement policies, the security fence and the blockade of Gaza. The volume of these attacks has been muted, however, by the greater attention given to the war in Iraq and the fissures within the Palestinian movement. The Hamas takeover of Gaza and continuing civil war with Fatah has weakened the anti-Israel forces' attempts to blame Israel for all the Palestinians' ills. Last year Israel;s detractors couldn't even muster the energy to stage what had been an annual Palestinian hate fest put on by the Palestinian Solidarity Movement.

Continuing a trend that began with the creation of the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC), pro-Israel students are likely to focus most of their attention on their own agenda, which includes voter registration and education, restoring study abroad opportunities in Israel and promoting an interest in Israel studies.

The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise will also be bolstering the field of Israel studies this year by sponsoring 27 visiting Israeli professors at campuses across the country. Some of Israel's best minds will be teaching students at major universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Brown, Rice and UCLA. Among the more interesting placements are Notre Dame and a joint appointment at Hebrew Union College and USC. The impact of these professors, who each teach four courses, at least two on modern Israel, will be magnified by speaking tours sponsored by the ICC.

A study of the visiting scholar program by Brandeis University indicates that it is helping to transform the campus.

We can also expect greater top down support from presidents of universities, several of whom traveled to Israel this summer and came back with a greater appreciation of Israel and the opportunities for collaborative scholarship and student exchanges.

This year more attention will also be given to students returning from birthright trips. The one longstanding knock on the program has been its failure to do more with alumni. AICE is piloting a program at George Washington and American Universities to bring them together with visiting scholars for informal "coffee house" meetings to offer them a chance to learn more about Israel and continue their connection to each other and to the homeland.

It will also remain important for students to "bang the drum for Israel" by having ongoing events that highlight Israeli politics, history and culture. By setting a positive agenda through lectures, hip hop concerts and handing out falafels, students on campus become more comfortable with their Jewish identity, present a positive image of Israel and allow students to make connections with Israel. This proactive approach also means it is the other side that has to react; pro-Israel students no longer have to feel defensive.

Pro-Israel students are winning the war on campus, but it is no time to be complacent. Students coming out of high school are still ill-prepared for campus debates and separating fact from fiction in their classes, and too many do not know the aleph-bet of Israeli political history. Many organizations remain committed to training these and other students to be advocates, and this will continue to be a vital need even if the campuses are less contentious than in recent years because the issues will remain in the public sphere for the foreseeable future.

It is nice to have a positive outlook to begin the year. If all goes well, the end of year report will be equally upbeat. In the meantime, philanthropists can make help ensure this outcome by investing in promoting the academic study of Israel through visiting scholars, chairs and centers of Israel studies; students can contribute by investing their passion and energy into programs that celebrate Israel and connect their fellow students to the country; and organizations can increase their support for student programming and training.

Let the learning commence.

Dr. Mitchell Bard is the Director of AICE and the Jewish Virtual Library. His latest book is Will Israel Survive? (Palgrave).