tsdad
April 25, 2011, 8:50am
18
<p>It can be. In 2003, when my son was applying to college, USC was actively recruiting Jewish students. They even had an admission officer specifically tasked with that responsibility. Why? USC has had a less than sterling reputation with the large Jewish community in Southern California. Every decade there would be one problem that alienated the local Jewish community, which is one of the largest in the country. </p>
<p>See the following articles. </p>
<p>[Day</a> of the Jewish Trojan - Los Angeles Times](<a href=“http://articles.latimes.com/2002/dec/11/local/me-jews11]Day ”>Day of the Jewish Trojan )Roanoke.com ](<a href=“http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/261744]W&L ”>http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/261744 )</p>
<p>
It is no coincidence that Vanderbilt faces competition in its efforts to recruit Jews. Similar efforts have also begun on other campuses, such as University of Southern California, and for the same reason. USC worked hard to improve its rating and perceived that cross-town rival UCLA, Northern California’s UC Berkeley, and the Ivy League schools were all better ranked and all had more Jews. As of 2002, USC had a recruiter, Jessica F. Pashkow, to specialize in recruiting Jews and a faculty that is one-third Jewish. USC now has 8.2 percent Jewish enrollment, up from 4.6 percent a decade ago. And in the rankings, they have climbed to thirty-one.</p>
<p>Joining Vanderbilt and USC (according the Wall Street Journal story and the March 5, 1999, issue of Jewish Times) in Jewish recruitment are schools such as Southern Methodist, Texas Christian, and Duke. It may also not be coincidental that both Princeton and Dartmouth, which lagged the rest of the Ivy League in Jewish enrollment, recruited Jews to become their presidents, though both have recently stepped down from that role.
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<p>[Jewish</a> Achievement](<a href=“http://www.jewishachievement.com/domains/edu.html]Jewish ”>Jewish Achievement )</p>