It was my junior year of high school, after the shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, when I truly realized I would have to deal with antisemitism as I grew up.
Throughout my college experience at UNC-Chapel Hill I witnessed a consistent level of hatred, but since Oct. 7 it has taken a turn for the worse. I graduated this month after majoring in Political Science & Peace, War and Defense. As an Undergraduate Senator and chair of the Undergraduate Senate Oversight and Advocacy Committee, I tried to use my voice to push back against the recent antisemitism I’ve experienced.
In recent months, as a kippah-wearing Jew on campus, I have been harassed, flipped off, yelled at from cars and the mezuzah fixed to the doorpost at my home went missing. The response I got from the university’s Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office was that they could not take action on any of these incidents.
This hatred is not new at UNC-CH. In previous years, swastikas have been found on campus and some professors have promoted ideas that have been perceived as antisemitic. Last spring at Still Life, one of the most popular clubs in Chapel Hill, a person directed a Nazi salute at me.
On March 26, UNC was featured in a video posted on the X account Stop Antisemitism — and not for the first time this academic year. This post featured UNC students erasing the names of the hostages being held in Gaza. On April 10, UNC-CH was given an “F” — a failing grade — on the Anti-Defamation League’s campus antisemitism report card.
Since Oct. 7 I’ve seen some UNC students sympathize with Hamas, a genocidal terrorist group that harms Israelis and Palestinians. Students shouted “We are Hamas” during a rally a week after the brutal Oct. 7 terrorist attack and fliers featuring Hamas imagery were posted around campus.
We’ve also seen an erosion of nuance on campus. I’ve been called a bad person for advocating for the release of hostages who’ve been in Hamas captivity for more than 200 days, and I’ve been told that “Bring Them Home” is hate speech by the president of my campus’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine.
There is no limit to grief. I can grieve the countless innocent lives lost in Gaza and also want to bring home the Israeli hostages. This erosion of nuance is dangerous.
As a representative of the Jewish community, I call on interim Chancellor Lee Roberts to take action to protect Jewish students on campus. The university has a Title VI legal responsibility to protect Jewish and Israeli Tar Heels. This includes protecting us from the glorification of terrorism and calls for political violence against Jews. The university’s Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office needs more antisemitism training and the Office of Student Conduct must be more responsive to handling antisemitism from student organizations. UNC should also adjust its policies to handle online harassment from students and groups on campus.
The UNC protests that turned violent April 30 show how important this issue is. Protesters attacked police and pro-American counter protesters, they ripped down the American flag and showed support for the Iranian-backed Houthis and the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). They also shouted calls for intifada and for Palestine to be Arab “from water to water.”
UNC should be a place of growth and welcome for all students, which is impossible if minority groups are made to feel unsafe. If the administration does not pay more attention to antisemitism on campus, I cannot in good conscience recommend that future students who are Jewish or Israeli attend this university.
On April 30 when asked what he’d tell Jewish students Chancellor Roberts said: “Tell the students that we are going to keep them safe from the very small minority of students who want to disrupt their experience. This university is for everybody.” This is a good start but it must be reflected in the way that UNC trains its staff, writes its policies and handles antisemitic incidents on campus and online.
UNC must be proactive in protecting Jewish and Israeli students. I love this university and want to see it become a safe place for all.
Max Pollack graduated earlier this month from UNC-Chapel Hill. He lives in Raleigh.
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