Vehi sheamdah. In every generation…
There is nothing new under the sun. We have to realize that the relatively brief respite in institutional antisemitism after the Holocaust is most definitively over.
It is still very possible for a Jewish student to attend these schools. They just have to keep their heads down, not wear anything that identifies them as Jews, and realize who their antisemitic classmates are. My kid is finishing up this way. Or they can stand up for themselves and other Jews, by peaceful counter demonstrations that effectively show just exactly what it is that the pro-Hamas demonstrators are calling for. My kid does not choose to do this, chooses instead to focus on their education. I don’t know whether I would have discouraged them from starting there, under these circumstances, but the schools that are allowing antisemitic disruptions are also schools that offer certain educational advantages. I just would have made damned sure that my kid understood what they could be facing. And besides, who knows whether the schools that have discouraged antisemitic demonstrations (or haven’t yet had to deal with them) will be different by next year?
So I guess that I would just allow my kid to make their own decision, as long as it was an informed decision.
I’m very glad that I don’t have a senior this year. I fully expect that graduation ceremonies will be disrupted by antisemitic demonstrations, since most schools have not taken any serious action as of yet against past disruptors.