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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

President's Wednesday Message


For almost three decades, MCC has been host to the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Project. Funding for the project is provided by MCC Foundation donors and through the MCC Association, and HGHRP students have enriched the campus with leadership skills and global understanding learned through their participation. Over the years, we have come to see the topics addressed by HGHRP as historic or far from home, but after the most recent bomb threat against the JCC in Brighton, I asked HGHRP faculty leaders, Regina Fabbro and Jodi Oriel, to serve as guest authors for my weekly message to share the message of this important College effort. These are their words: a call to action for us all.


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Two years ago, MCC’s Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Project highlighted the global upsurge in antisemitic activity – including an estimated 40% increase in violent antisemitic attacks worldwide in 2014 – at its annual human rights faculty workshop. The information shared and the subsequent discussions of it were sobering. Yet now, our local community is experiencing a more intimate understanding of antisemitism, thanks in part to two bomb threats made against the Rochester Jewish Community Center in less than a week and the vandalizing of the Waad Hakolel Cemetery. Sadly, these incidents are reflective of a national problem. Over 100 JCCs across the country have received similar threats and Jewish cemeteries in St. Louis and Philadelphia have been desecrated in recent weeks.

Given this climate and concerned about reports that the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism soon will be defunded, the Project recently joined with over 100 international Holocaust organizations and scholars to publicly decry this action and call on citizens to do the same: “Ira Forman, the most recent Special Envoy in charge of that office, was our voice to a world in the throes of xenophobia and racism. He recently wrote, ‘Anti-Semitism is not only a Jewish problem; Jew-hatred — like other forms of religious and ethnic prejudice — is a threat to the very foundations of liberal democracies.’” A sharp rise in antisemitic activity, like the one being experienced now throughout the country, must be a concern for all citizens, including our students.

Perhaps not coincidentally, on Saturday, March 11th (the date of the most recent bomb threat made against the Rochester JCC), the Jewish community celebrated Purim. This festival commemorates the triumph of the Jewish people over Haman, who, according to the Book of Esther, planned to kill all Jews in the Persian Empire. It was, as Rabbi Eliezer Shenvald recently observed, the “[H]olocaust that was averted.” It is not the duty of some to ensure protection of those on the receiving end of threats: it’s the duty of all. In the midst of the fear created by threats of violence in our own communities, we must work vigorously to thwart their actualization. We must resolve to call out bigotry, participate in government for the benefit of all, and act when warning signs appear.

For the past 26 years, the HGHRP has been unwavering in its vigilance and willingness to speak against acts of hatred. By allying with international, national, and local community partners, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester, and MCC entities including the Diversity Council, the HGHRP continues to act as a bulwark against prejudice and violence. The many Holocaust survivors whom the HGHRP has hosted stand as a testament to both the alarming possible consequences of antisemitism and the power of those who act righteously. On Thursday, April 27th, the Project once again will welcome survivors to campus to share their testimonies and in doing so, it will commemorate, educate, and advocate for a peaceful future. We invite the MCC community to join us in standing against hatred.

Regina Fabbro, Endowed Chair. HGHRP, and Associate Professor of English
Jodi Oriel, Director, HGHRP, and Associate Director, Office of Student Life and Leadership Development

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Anne M. Kress
Office of the President
03/15/2017