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Friday April 5, 2002

Berkeley Hillel vandalism troubles Jews on campus

ALEXANDRA J. WALL
Bulletin Staff

Last Sunday morning, Rona Teitelman arrived at Berkeley Hillel to find an anti-Semitic obscenity scrawled on the dumpster.

Not only that, the front glass door had been shattered by a brick.

The executive administrator of Hillel called the police and found that the broken door had already been reported by a passerby the night of March 27, the first night of Passover.

Few students were around, both because of the holiday and spring break.

While investigative steps were taken after the broken door and the "Fuck Jews" graffiti were discovered, there are no suspects, and so the investigation is suspended, said Lt. Cynthia Harris of the Berkeley Police Department. "If we develop some leads, we will reopen the case," said Harris.

Although there is no proof that the incident is connected to the recent upsurge in violence in the Middle East, those familiar with the atmosphere on the U.C. Berkeley campus suspect that it most definitely is.

Adam Weisberg, executive director of Berkeley Hillel, said that "given the history of events at Berkeley Hillel over the past year and a half, I have no doubt whatsoever that this is related to what's going on in the Middle East and people's hateful and violent responses to it."

The campus director of the S.F.-based Israel Center agreed. "One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to see the connection," said Avner Even-Zohar.

Jonathan Bernstein, Central Pacific regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said that his organization has long looked to the college campuses "as a barometer of where society is heading." That is particularly disturbing, he said, since "these are people who are going to be the future leaders of our country, and you can get an idea what could possibly spread into the rest of society from the campuses. Looking at what's going on could make one very nervous right now, particularly at Berkeley."

Weisberg noted that for the students, an attack on Hillel was different from those on other Jewish institutions.

"Students think of it not only as a place to go for programs but as a home for them, so it feels very personal," he said.

"The rest of campus doesn't always feel so safe for Jewish students, so this was really a violation of a space that is safe," said Jessica Oleon, president of the Jewish Students Union. "It's important to have Hillel as a home base."

Oleon was one of about 30 students who attended a meeting on Tuesday afternoon to process the attack and talk about preventive measures that could be taken in the future.

Describing the meeting as tense, Oleon had asked the assistant chancellor and dean of students to attend because she wanted them to hear firsthand how Jewish students were feeling on campus.

The atmosphere at Berkeley has gotten so difficult, she said, that even those Jewish students with little or no connection to Israel feel under attack.

Installing security cameras around the Hillel building is under consideration. So is increasing a security presence when the building is in use, but the students want to find a balance.

"We want to protect people and allay any fears, but we don't want people to feel locked in or be even more scared because of the security presence," said Oleon.

As Jewish students report feeling more and more under siege on local campuses, the ADL hopes to offer students support.

"We're developing better strategies for getting the kind of responses we need from administrators and campus police," said Bernstein. In general, he said, "the response has been rather tepid, in my view, which sets a tone and creates an environment where these kinds of things are allowed to continue."

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