By Melissa Marlowe, Special to JTNews
A little over a year ago, Mindy Goldberg was sitting in her political science class at the University of Washington. The discussion was focused on Pakistan, but the conversation quickly turned to the Middle East. Mindy sat, silent and unsure of how to respond while her classmates exchanged negative comments aimed at Israeli policies.
“I knew what the other students were saying was untrue, and they were propagating misinformation, but I didn’t know how to effectively reply,” she said.
Raised as an active member of her community, the UW junior was well schooled in Jewish customs and beliefs. Growing up in Bellevue, she attended the Jewish Day School for eight years, participated in activities at the Jewish Community Center and traveled to Israel with her classmates in eighth grade.
However, until very recently Mindy’s knowledge of the Middle East conflict was vague. According to recent population surveys, Mindy is not alone. In 1999, a freshman survey by the Cooperative Institute Research Program collected responses from 232,000 college students and found that over the past three decades, interest in politics has declined dramatically for both Jewish and non-Jewish freshmen.
The National Jewish population survey of 2000-2001 reported that only 20 percent of Jewish college students express a strong emotional attachment to Israel. All of this data adds up to a certain level of apathy amongst college students, says Goldberg, who was so uncomfortable with her own lack of knowledge that she decided to seek out some answers.
Already active at Hillel, Mindy went looking for a distinctly Israeli organization. She found it. Huskies for Israel, a group that strives to bring Israeli culture and history to the UW, advocates for promoting political activism. They have their work cut out for them. In a school as large as the UW, which boasted 37, 000 students last year, undergrads are easily isolated in social networks or living situations, and are not often involved in student groups.
One of the first Huskies for Israel activities that Mindy participated in was a petition signing. Last fall, the group secured over 1,000 signatures on a petition titled We Stand with Israel in Its Quest for Peace.
“It was very exciting to be a part of something that was so visible,” says Goldberg. “The petition was co-sponsored by other groups and printed in the campus newspaper, the Daily. Printing the petition in the paper was a great accomplishment for the group. After a few years of continued tense debate surrounding Israel, the Daily decided to restrict the number of editorials printed by adding new criteria to the content.
“Almost every day, for a year, there would be an editorial about Israel,” says Alex Sundby, Daily Editor-in-Chief. “The content did not vary, authors kept mounting the same argument again and again. We’ve decided that unless the editorial presents a new spin on the topic, we will refrain from printing them in the paper.”
The paper has since narrowed its focus to issues regarding the immediate campus population.
Since becoming involved with Huskies, Mindy has focused on building political awareness through alternative channels, both among the UW Jewish community, and with other student groups.
“A lot of the work our group does is behind the scenes, creating partnerships, and building bridges.”
Last year, Mindy represented Huskies on the UW Student Senate.
“Our position on the senate had been vacant and I thought it was important to have a presence in student government, let everyone know that Huskies for Israel cares about what’s going on at campus.”
Goldberg’s involvement in the senate has expanded her base of knowledge as well. She has begun to keep tabs on a corporate responsibility bill that was recently proposed for the school.
“Last year the senate set up a task force to investigate the corporations that UW invests in, and where those corporations invest abroad. The hope is to prevent human rights abuses,” she says.
Mindy’s concern is that the bill may begin to resemble divestment campaigns that have gained popularity at Harvard and M.I.T., which have called for these East Coast universities to stop investing in companies that do business in Israel. Those campaigns have not met with much success.
“So far this year there hasn’t been a reason to be overly concerned,” says Goldberg, “but I still attend the meetings just to see what’s going on.”
After taking over the presidency of Huskies in the fall of 2003, Mindy has had her hands full. The junior has been governing the twice-monthly meetings that bring in about 20 active members. The meetings focus around discussions of upcoming community opportunities and planning events.
“Contrary to some perceptions of our group, we do not discuss politics,” states Goldberg. “We prefer not to address the differences in our beliefs, but rather focus on our common goal of working towards a secure Israel.”
Other goals for Goldberg include raising name recognition for the group. Because anti-Israel sentiments are not as pervasive as in the past, Mindy feels that student may not be seeking out Israeli organizations.
“However” she says, “it’s still essential to be active, it’s just as important if not more so. It’s so important for people to know how the United States relationship with Israel works, and how as students, individuals can affect future actions by becoming involved in campaigns.”
For Mindy, knowledge and activism has meant the difference between living a meaningful life and living a life with meaning.
For more information about Huskies for Israel, including ways to become involved, Mindy can be contacted at [email protected].
Transcript Trendsetters focuses on members of the local Jewish community under 35 that are making a difference in people’s lives. Do you know of someone who should be a Trendsetter? Let us know by calling 206-441-4553 or sending an e-mail to [email protected]