JTA — Conservative students at Brandeis University are condemning their school’s ad that says the university is “anything but conservative.”
The ad, which appeared in The New York Times Magazine on Sunday, was titled, “Brandy’s Was Founded by Jews. But, it’s anything but conservative.” According to an online statement from the school, the two-page spread was part of a campaign launched in May that aims to “mix humor, seriousness and emphasize its Jewish heritage.” “to be displayed.
Brandeis was founded in 1948 by Jews in the Boston area as a non-sectarian university to serve as an alternative to elite colleges in the Northeast that had strict quotas limiting the number of Jews. It is named after the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice Lewis Brandeis, has the Hebrew language on its seal, and has a large Jewish student population.
Now some of those students — who say they see Brandeis as a comfortable place for Orthodox Jews — are condemning their school’s message in the ad. On Tuesday, leaders of the Brandeis Orthodox Organization, a student group, sent an email to its members saying they were “horrified and disappointed to see something like this come from our university.”
“We know that for decades, Brandeis has provided Orthodox Jewish students like us a place where they can comfortably grow and succeed,” said the email, which was addressed by the group’s president and vice president, Matt. Shapiro and Shoshana Solomon. “However, the statements made in this ad were unacceptable and contrary to Brandeis’ values.”
Both students said they are in contact with university administration to ensure that a similar message is not published again, and that conservative students are recognized and respected on campus. In recent days, the ad has been criticized by other Orthodox Jews, who wrote on social media that they found it offensive.
depressing ad from @BrandeisU,
But I find it seriously distasteful when faced with all those *real* Orthodox Jews. pic.twitter.com/jpN2nDzCqN
— David / Dovid Bashevkin (@DBashIdeas) 25 June 2023
The university said in a statement that the ad was “a play on words to highlight Brandeis’ unique story and history of innovation – as are the other ads in the campaign,” and that the university is “deeply committed to the members of our conservative community.” Is” .”
The statement said that “the ad was not intended to offend, but to highlight both the diversity of our community and our unusual origin story.”
The statement did not include an apology, but did include an encouragement to “read the full advertisement”, which proudly discussed how Brandeis was founded by American Jews of all denominations.
Meshulam Unger, an incoming senior who last year served as vice president of the Brandeis Orthodox organization, told JTA he believed the mistake was “inadvertent,” but felt the ad tone— Def was
Unger said, “Orthodox people in particular are used to being portrayed a certain way in the media,” adding that the ad “touched on that feeling in the Kisses of conservative people, that it’s a very unfair character.” —representation that is flat out wrong, and it’s based on aspects of the community that are incorrect but are, unfortunately, common perceptions.”
Unger said that “on a pure factual basis,” it is true that the school has a diverse student body and is “particularly diverse with respect to Jewish issues and the Jewish people.”
“She said, I mean, it’s not an apology,” he said. “So that’s unfortunate.”
