Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Campus Antisemitism topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Public commenter says Jewish students were pressured to disavow Israel and hide religious symbols on campus
Summary
During a public comment period, a speaker identified as a public commenter said Jewish students were stopped, harassed and physically blocked on campus unless they disavowed Israel and concealed religious symbols; the speaker tied the incidents to a family history of hiding Jewish identity under Nazi rule.
A public commenter told meeting attendees that Jewish students on a college campus were routinely stopped, harassed and physically blocked unless they "disavowed Israel's right to exist" and hid religious symbols such as "our star of David necklaces and our kippahs."
The commenter, who identified their experiences as coming from being a student, said they brought a family artifact to illustrate how chilling the pressure felt: "This is a copy of my grandfather's Nazi-issued work permit complete with a swastika," they said, explaining the document "was the only paper that allowed my grandfather to pass safely as a non-Jewish identification."
The speaker recounted that their grandfather, Solomon Frankel, had to assume a non-Jewish name, "Ivan Bandrowsky," to survive. "It is the greatest pride of my life and a rebuke to Hitler and the Nazis that 80 years after the Holocaust, I had the honor to name my son after my grandfather," the commenter said, adding that their son now "proudly carries the name Solomon Frankel."
Returning to their campus experience, the commenter said they were "shocked that I was expected to wear an activist-approved wristband and disavow my Jewish faith just to access public spaces." They framed the incidents as part of an intergenerational pattern of needing correct identification to pass safely and urged action so "it is the last."
The remarks were presented as personal testimony during the public comment period and were not accompanied by named institutional responses or policy proposals in the record. The speaker called for measures to prevent future students from facing similar pressure.
