Active Hillels

Muffy333 · 10-27-2007, 04:08 PM

My daughter is very involved in her temple youth group (reform) and will probably be happier at a college that has an active Hillel. We're considering state schools in the Northeast, although she visited NYU Hillel and the people there were incredibly friendly (don't think she'll get in though). Any suggestions?

paying3tuitions · 10-27-2007, 04:15 PM

Plug in the name of any school and see what Hillel says:

http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLOC/Search.aspx

As an example for a state university, here's what you find if you type in University of Massachusetts at Amherst:
http://www.hillel.org/HillelApps/JLO...AgencyId=17864

Are you also seeking anecdotes? You know your kid can email the student president of the hillel that year, or the advisor, with questions. In my experience, they're good about writing back. Probably all those Bar Mitzvah ThankYou notes, a good habit.

wjb · 10-27-2007, 04:21 PM

Muffy --

Among state schools in the Northeast, U of Maryland and Rutgers have particularly strong Hillels. SUNY Binghamton has an active Hillel, too.

Hillel.org is a great place to start. Don't stop there, though. Use the links provided to look at the colleges' own websites. They contain fuller and more accurate info. Your daughter can also start an e-mail dialogue with a Hillel officer or the Hillel rabbi.

paying3tuitions · 10-27-2007, 04:27 PM

As well, since you know the movement you're interested in (in your case, Reform), google up the Union for Reform Judaism to get a list of the congregations located near a school. Some students enjoy going to a standing congregation with people of every age, which is different than Hillel with its college focus.

Or, if you do as my kids did, apply for an off-campus job teaching at the Sunday School or midweek Hebrew by contacting these local synagogues (see their website and go for "education director") if financial aid is needed. They often pay better than the on-campus wage.

The combination of Hillel and the community's own synagogues usually provides a lot of what students seek, especially if they don't take a shine to the hillel. In general, though, college students favor hillel because it's programmed for their age-group.

More observant kids sometimes look up the chabad organization to augment the Hillel. (BTW, 20 years ago there was Chabad at Amherst, so that's another solution for the LAC dilemma, in some --not all-- suburban or rural communities.

paying3tuitions · 10-27-2007, 04:45 PM

I'm crazy about the great kids at SUNY-BUffalo Hillel. Given the way New York runs, you might try any SUNY for data from that hillel site (and verify with local correspondence, a great suggestion). SUNY's are decentralized, with many small ones (Fredonia, Oneonta..) around the state, some mid-sized (New Paltz, Binghamton, Purchase) and the huge ones (Buffalo, Albany).

That makes NY different from most states, where there's one major state campus, such as UMBC (U of Md. Baltimore County) or UMass at Amherst.

We're hearing back reports from our congregants' kids that indicate it's helpful if the student population of Jewish kids exceeds l0%. We had a college evening last Thanksgiving, so interesting, in which 3 kids who had been active at temple youth group compared their freshman experiences; one from Brandeis, one from SUNY-Oneonta or Fredonia (can't quite be sure, but the idea is a smaller SUNY than Binghamton), and one from SUNY-BUffalo.

The college freshman from the smaller SUNY said she wished there were more students to choose from, but she found that she was proud to represent and describe (frequently!) Jewish life to many curious students. She felt a bit of pressure to know things she didn't know, at times. She added, "it's always the same l0 Jewish kids."

The SUNY-Buffalo kid basically said, "Hillel rocks," just so much fun.

The Brandeis kid (that's a private uni, however) said she was having a deep and wonderful experience sampling many different kinds of Jewish living, but she felt unprepared in her knowledge base at times relative to Conservative and ORthodox background kids.

My advice to kids is that if they've been very involved while in h.s., they might find under l0% Jewish not enough people; between l0-20% acceptable, and over 20% plentiful.

I think it's really smart to consider this as a criterion, if it's been important to your D thus far.

Chedva · 10-27-2007, 04:50 PM

It's not a state school, but University of Rochester has a very active Hillel, both traditional and Reform. My d is more active than she was at home.

Additionally, many students at Rochester do teach Hebrew or Sunday school at local synagogues.

Another state school with an active Hillel is UMass Amherst. According to its website, about 70% of the 3000 students who identify themselves as Jewish participate to some degree in Hillel.

Muffy333 · 10-27-2007, 05:02 PM

My D visited the Hillel at UMass; liked that.

Interesting about Buffalo! I'll have her check that out.

Marian · 10-27-2007, 05:03 PM

University of Maryland at College Park. This is Maryland's flagship state university. (The University of Maryland at Baltimore County, mentioned in another post in this thread, is an up-and-coming school within the state system that is known for some really excellent career programs, but it's not Maryland's principal state university.)

UMCP has a lot of Jewish students and thriving Jewish organizations.

My son is a student at UMCP. He is not Jewish, but he knows many students who are. He says that many of them are kids who grew up heavily involved in Jewish youth groups and who considered these organizations an important part of their lives. At Maryland, they have been able to continue their involvement in Jewish organizations.

Don't be scared off by the Southern architecture of the Maryland campus. UMCP is not Southern, culturally speaking. Most of the kids are from the DC or Baltimore suburbs, and most of the out-of-staters are from New York or New Jersey. Don't be scared off by the size, either. Maryland has a lot of special interest programs for freshmen and sophomores that help to make the huge campus seem smaller for new students.

huskem55 · 10-27-2007, 05:08 PM

is she only interested in large universities?
I've heard good things about the hillels at UConn, Syracuse, and Binghamton.

also a little caveat: don't depend on the reported number of jewish students on campus- my sister attends a school where supposedly over 30% of students are jewish, but she complains that they never do anything. if i were you, i'd try to get my hands on an events calendar from the jewish students organization to try to see how active it actually is.

paying3tuitions · 10-27-2007, 05:14 PM

Also keep your radar screen up for quirky organizations located in the same community as the state university. FOr example, 3 miles from UMass at Amherst is also the National Yiddish Book Center (on the campus of Hampshire College) which has programs of klezmer music, cultural offerings and so on. So that just adds to the UMass at Amherst scene (a free PVTA shuttle bus runs between the 5 campuses).

paying3tuitions · 10-27-2007, 05:16 PM

Quote:

get my hands on an events calendar from the jewish students organization to try to see how active it actually is

good advice, plus emailing the leadership and rabbi.

Some places have fewer enrolled hillel kids but the programs are dynamic.
"They Try Harder."

Remember to look in the course catalogue, too, for academic offerings; check under
departments such as: Religion, Jewish Studies, History, Near East Studies, Hebrew language, archaeology.

dg5052 · 10-27-2007, 05:22 PM

We have had these same concerns. In checking out the Hillel website, pay attention to the dates of the events described, and/or the last date it was updated.

One we looked at hadn't been updated since April 2003--we took that as a bad sign.

I would also agree with contacting the Hillel director or advisor and/or a student officer.

In addition, when my kids were visiting college campuses, we contacted the Hillel director to find a student with whom they could do an overnight. With one notable exception, all these kids turned out to be great.

Good luck!

blossom · 10-27-2007, 07:58 PM

NB- don't cross a school off the list because the website is obsolete. The kids all communicate via listserv's (kids eating in the kosher kitchen have one, kids interested in Environmental Judaism have one, etc.) so the website is often not used by the active kids and staff.

Also call the Hillel to see if they employ a JCSC Fellow-- this is a national program which sends young kids in their 20's to work on outreach. They are members of the Hillel professional staff, and will be very much in the know as to how many kids are active, how many kids do stuff in the community but not physically at Hillel, how many frat members are active Jewishly, etc.

Muffy333 · 10-27-2007, 08:24 PM

But if the website is obsolete the Hillel is not being aggressive about letting people know they exist!! So not updating since 2003 is kind of revealing. But yes, my kid should be emailing some of these people.

unbelievablem · 10-27-2007, 08:52 PM

Quote:

But if the website is obsolete the Hillel is not being aggressive about letting people know they exist!! So not updating since 2003 is kind of revealing.

i wouldn't necessarily assume this -- obsolete website means they don't have someone willing/able to spend the time it takes to keep it up to date -- they are generally dependent on there being a student volunteer ready and willing to do this. also realize, students may well be using facebook groups to keep their campus population informed -- something that you as an outsider may simply not see.

you don't mention your child's credentials -- state schools will vary greatly in selectivity. binghamton, maryland, deleware, umass amherst have strong hillels. they vary in size and selectivity.