We are the Co-Presidents of the Davidson Jewish Student Union (JSU), writing in light of recent events to offer our perspective on Jewish life at Davidson and the vital role played by the JSU. We are both seniors, and as we traverse our final year, it is impossible to understate the role of the JSU in shaping our time at Davidson. The Jewish population at Davidson is small – roughly five percent of the student body – but despite our size, JSU has fostered a warm, tightly knit, and lively community. Our organization hosts biweekly Shabbat dinners, cultural events such as last week’s Bagel Brunch, and works to maintain ties with the town of Davidson’s broader Jewish community. We are very proud of the state of Jewish life at Davidson, and we are committed to making sure future generations of Jewish students have the opportunities we had.

Being Jewish on a college campus is complicated, and the diversity of the Jewish experience makes the JSU’s role quite complex. Our members come from Jewish communities of all sorts, and arriving here can be a culture shock. For many members of the JSU, the first few weeks at Davidson come with the responsibility of being someone’s first Jewish friend or acquaintance. JSU provides a place for Jewish Davidsonians to meet, mingle and bond over a shared culture, faith, and sense of humor. 

As the old joke goes, two Jews and three opinions. Argument and debate are central to the Jewish tradition, and have been for thousands of years. Jews are taught from an early age to question and argue with parents, rabbis, and even G-d. A love of reasoned debate is embedded in every Jewish community, and these are values we carry forward in our response to the on-campus conversation over the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The past few years have been a turbulent period for Jewish organizations on college campuses throughout the country. Many have faced a rising tide of antisemitism as well as polarizing internal debates. We consider ourselves very fortunate. While other college campuses have experienced violence, here at Davidson we have mostly avoided hostility. We believe that students have made their voices heard and contributed to a campus culture that similarly values respectful dialogue and ideological diversity. 

Concerning the recent lawsuit by Young America’s Foundation  – filed with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, calling out Davidson College for violating Title VI, Title IX, and administrative directives from President Donald Trump – we reiterate that they do not and cannot speak on behalf of the Davidson Jewish community. Neither do we. JSU’s membership is politically diverse and we are an explicitly apolitical organization. We do not engage in political activity or advocacy and we strive to remain neutral on controversial, hot-button issues. We are also not lawyers, and are incapable of making any assessment as to the legal merits of the complaint.

Nevertheless, we are troubled by the recent lawsuit for several reasons. For one, we strongly dispute the plaintiff’s assertions that antisemitism is “rampant” at Davidson. We believe that, while there have been minor incidents of antisemitism on campus, they have been sporadic and not the result of any action or inaction by the administration. We find the plaintiff’s claim that they personally “bore discrimination…on behalf of their Jewish classmates,” despite not being Jewish themselves, to be questionable.

This lawsuit revolves around last year’s October 7th Memorial, which marked the first anniversary of the single greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. JSU was initially approached by the Davidson Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter and asked to co-sponsor their event. We declined in favor of focusing on our own memorial. While our event highlighted the personal stories and lives lost during the October 7th massacre, we feel that YAF used their memorial to advance a partisan agenda, choosing to attack their political opponents during what should have been a solemn reckoning with the tremendous human cost of the conflict. 

This week brought some good news in the form of a ceasefire in Gaza and the promise of a path to peace in the Middle East. We are praying for an end to the cycle of violence in Israel and Gaza, and for the memory of all those lost during the conflict. The first word we learned in Hebrew school was שָׁלוֹם – shalom. It is a word that has many meanings, but the most underused is the simplest: peace.