Political science sophomore Jesse Yaker, president of MSU’s largest Jewish fraternity on campus Alpha Epsilon Pi, said the worst anti-Semitic act he experienced at MSU happened at his fraternity.
A composite picture of fraternity members was vandalized with Nazi symbols and “Hitler mustaches” were drawn on the members in the picture.
“That affected me so personally,” Yaker said. “Other than that, I haven’t had any other anti-Semitism on campus.”
Yaker wears a Star of David on his necklace when he walks around campus.
He said no one has ever made a big deal of it.
International relations junior and vice president of the Jewish Student Union Jacob Gordon detailed an instance when he was approached by a student who said they were from Palestine.
With so much conflict between Israel and Palestine, Gordon said they were able to speak respectively and non-violently.
“It could have been blown out of proportion,” Gordon said.
Gordon said that more dialogue between students and minority groups is the key to rid MSU of any form of bigotry or xenophobia. He said he believes MSU is providing enough resources for students, however students are not aware of these resources.
Comparative culture and politics senior Nathaniel Strauss estimates about 20 percent of Jewish students have experienced some sort of microaggression.
Strauss said those microaggressions came from ignorance rather than actual hatred toward the Jewish community.
Strauss said in his four years as a student he has not experienced any anti-Semitic incident to his memory, only what others have told him they have experienced.
Most of these issues, he said, happen within the resident halls because new students might not have been exposed to Jewish culture.
Currently, Strauss serves as the president of the JSU. The JSU provides Jewish students opportunities to explore their cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
“We (Jewish Student Union) so frequently are talking about problematic actions and problematic words,” Strauss said. “There are students that are very uncomfortable and do not want to say anything.”
Strauss also mentioned the Jewish Student Union is working with other groups to set up an online training for incoming students about race, gender and ethnicity.
This training would model the SAFE E-learning program in structure.
Despite some incidents, Gordon, Strauss and Yaker said overall they feel safe as Jewish students at MSU.
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