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Care and concern for our Jewish student community

In this message to all students, the Division of Student Affairs and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life offer resources and support to dispel the fear people may feel given recent national and local news.

Dear students,

We are writing to reach every student who has been hurt in some way by the torrent of sad news describing unacceptable acts of harm, violence, and intolerance across the country and on our campus. While we focus today on antisemitism, we would like to remind everyone about resources available to all student communities. We hope our voices can help dispel the fear people may feel given recent news, and replace it with love, hope, and support.

We must be clear: Stanford stands with the Jewish community in vehemently rejecting antisemitism. While acts of racism and intolerance are not new, they remain alarming and hurtful. More acts of antisemitism were recently recorded in our nation than any previous time dating back to 1979. Last week, people displayed hateful anti-Jewish banners over Los Angeles and New York freeways. Last week also marked the fourth anniversary of the attack on Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue, in which eleven people were killed.

On Oct. 12, our own university admitted efforts to suppress Jewish student admissions in the 1950s. In September, two of our graduate students reported that a mezuzah, a sacred piece of parchment inscribed with a prayer and enclosed in a small case, was torn off their campus residence front door. The goal or impact of these acts and other acts of bias and violence is to intimidate and disempower; we condemn these efforts in their entirety.

We want to remind students of the campus resources available to you. Nothing is more powerful than being in community. Please consider checking in with the Office for Religious and Spiritual LifeHillel at Stanford, and The Rohr Chabad House at Stanford. The Taube Center for Jewish Studies offers opportunities to learn about relevant research and teaching. We would also like to remind you of these resources: Stanford Against HateMental Health Resources at StanfordProtected Identity Harm Reporting, and our Centers for Equity, Community and Leadership.

While the world we live in today feels far from the world we seek, Stanford has long been a place of optimism and action. We are committed to eliminating hatred directed at anyone because of who they are, and we continue to seek ways to ensure every student knows we stand by you and you belong here.

Sincerely,

Susie Brubaker-Cole
Vice Provost for Student Affairs

Mona Hicks
Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Students

Samuel Santos Jr.
Associate Vice Provost of Student Affairs for Inclusion, Community and Integrative Learning

Tiffany Steinwert
Dean for Religious and Spiritual Life

Laurie Hahn Tapper
Associate Dean for Religious and Spiritual Life, Campus Rabbi