In the past couple of months, students at the University of Michigan are seeking out past professors to write them letters of recommendation for future internships, job opportunities, and study abroad programs. And while it seems that most college professors would be honored to write a letter of recommendation for one of their students, University of Michigan professors are more than willing to write their students a letter of recommendation unless his or her students pursue studying in Israel. So to a University of Michigan professor, their Middle Eastern political opinions, specifically their solidarity for Palestinians, seems to trump their students' academic interests.
Now, this has been an issue for multiple students at the University of Michigan since the start of the Fall 2018 semester. Two students have reached out to different professors, asking for letters of recommendation. In both cases, the professors responded almost instantaneously after receiving the email, but then rebuked their approval once the students expressed that they wanted to study abroad in the State of Israel. The professors do not revoke writing letters of recommendation because they feel as though Israel is unsafe for a student to travel to, but rather, professors have expressed that due to their pro-Palestinian political position, they are "boycotting Israel".
Why does an American professor feel the need to boycott the only democracy throughout the Middle East? What is it about Israel that repulses an American professor at the University of Michigan to the point where she cannot even partially participate in any motion of any student she knows studying there for an entire semester or summer? Also, one of the few students who got denied a letter of recommendation from his professor is of Israeli descent, has family members that still live there, and calls Israel his "home away from home". And yet, his professors' politics are able to inhibit his future goals of living abroad in the country of his family...how is that fair?
How can we not call that just another form of Anti-Semitism? As a side note, I do not think that disagreeing with Israel means your Anti-Semitic. A person can rightfully criticize Israel's actions against Palestine, and they can possess strong opinions regarding them. However, anti-Semitism is when that criticism becomes not only extreme but affects others. University of Michigan professors are completely entitled to their own Palestinian solidarity, but their personal opinions come off as Anti-Semitic when they refuse to help a student study in Israel just because of those opinions. Especially since the University of Michigan as a whole does not have any strong boycotts against any other country...it is only Israel whom they want to verbally denounce.
Furthermore, a professor's personal opinions should not interfere with a student's academic aspirations. Would these professors have said the same if the same student had intended to study abroad in Moscow? Do you think their pro-American or pro-Ukrainian loyalties would sway their opinion so much so that they would refuse to even think about sending a student abroad to Russia? This is a prime example of the double standard which Israel--including Israeli Americans or American Jews--continue to experience today on college campuses across the country.
If Americans only think of the 1940s when they hear the word: "Anti-Semitism", then they need to wake up. Acts of Anti-Semitism are just as frequent, if not more, on college campuses and across America if you are able to recognize the underlying hatred for Israel amidst claims of Palestinian solidarity. Universities, including but not limited to the University of Michigan, need to start acknowledging, confronting, and terminating all forms of anti-Semitism on college campuses. The first steps towards this goal for the University of Michigan are: allowing students to study abroad in whatever country that is a safe option for them and reprimanding professors whose political opinions block the passions of their students.
