Campus joins together

PAT JOHNSON

The Jewish community at the University of British Columbia has been inundated with messages of support after a recent act of vandalism shattered the front windows of its Hillel House. A roundtable discussion Nov. 10 brought together police, campus leaders, professors, students and others who brainstormed next steps in the aftermath of the startling attack.

Jewish students arrived at school Nov. 6 to find that the front windows of the Jewish student centre had been smashed by two football-sized boulders. No written messages were left to indicate motivation and police have no suspects. The incident happened in the hours after six Hillel students assisted Holocaust survivors in lighting candles representing the Six Million at the annual community commemoration of Kristallnacht – the 1938 "Night of Broken Glass."

"We feel extremely violated," said Elysha Ames, student president of UBC Hillel at the meeting. "This is more than just a building to us."

Jeff Friedrich, vice-president of UBC's Alma Mater Society, the student government, spoke of his body's sense of outrage. The AMS released a statement condemning the vandalism as an act of anti-Semitism.

"The most disturbing part of this is that it's occurred on a university campus," Friedrich said.

Representatives of UBC campus security and the RCMP attended, noting the difficulty of policing a large place like the university.

While participants at the roundtable operated on the assumption the vandalism was a hate crime, RCMP Corporal Brian Decock warned there is no conclusive evidence that this was not a random act that just happened to target a Jewish institution.

"This may be a random act of vandalism," said Decock.

There was no hate graffiti or messages other than the two rocks, noted the RCMP officer.

But Eyal Lichtmann, Hillel's executive director, contested the officer's suggestion.

"To us, the rocks are the message," he said.

Lichtmann said that alleging anti-Semitism is "not a card we're willing to play readily." But, after three consecutive annual attacks, he said, there is a pattern of intimidation. Hillel has been victimized on several recent occasions, including a year ago this month when, after the Israeli and Jordanian ambassadors to Canada spoke on campus about their efforts for peace, side windows at Hillel House were smashed. A year earlier, about $5,000 in damage was done by vandals.

Noemi Gal-Or, representing the B.C. Campus Action Coalition, a group of Jewish and non-Jewish professors, faculty and staff at post-secondary institutions in the province, urged proactive measures to combat bigotry on campus.

"There need to be statements, maybe posters, maybe newsletters, maybe events," she said. While vandalism may be an act of misguided young people, Gal-Or noted that anti-Semitism needs to be challenged among staff as well.

"Anti-Semitism is not limited only to students," she said.

Alon Hendel, an Israeli UBC student, said the attack was his first experience with anti-Semitism.

"This is very new to me," said Hendel. "We learn about anti-Semitism in books, but things like this don't happen in Israel."

Hendel shared Gal-Or's insistence that proactive measures are needed.

"Enough of sitting on the fence," he said. "This is not a direct hit on Hillel. This is a direct hit on tolerance, on freedom of speech and accept[ance] of diversity of people."

Frustration seemed evident at several points during the meeting, including when one student wondered why no institutional precedent exists for dealing with apparent hate crimes.

"I am unsettled that this has happened and there is no precedent of how to deal with it," said Allegra Levy. "This is the time to set one."

She expressed a common refrain from students that the attack did not frighten them but heightened their resolve and strengthened their commitment to fight prejudice.

"We're not going to pack up our peyas and leave," said Levy.

Lichtmann said he didn't want to send the wrong message.

"UBC is not a terrible place to be," he said. "It's a fantastic place to be." But two or three vandals can disturb the peace. One approach he said Hillel will continue is to build joint programming between Jewish and other student groups on campus. He said he was heartened by the unequivocal and unsolicited support offered to Hillel by the university and Jewish community.

Pat Johnson is a freelance writer and editor and director of development and communications for Vancouver Hillel Foundation.

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