Following an attack on a Detroit-area synagogue and rising antisemitic threats nationwide, Sarah Shmoel, executive director of Hillel at Miami University, emailed students, parents and community members March 13, reaffirming her commitment to the Jewish organization’s safety.
“We are in regular communication with both the Oxford Police Department and Miami University Police Department and have asked them to increase patrols around our building and during events,” Shmoel wrote in the email.
Hillel’s team participates in annual safety training and secures their building with access only available through intentional entry. Additionally, cameras monitor the building 24-hours a day.
“We follow the principle we all know well: If we see something, we say something,” Shmoel wrote in the email.
Shmoel said she has not seen any backlash toward the Jewish community on Miami’s campus and feels that Miami and Oxford are safe places for students to be Jewish and to show their Jewish identity. Incidents at Miami remain far less frequent than what Jewish communities face at other universities and nationwide.
“As a Hillel director, seeing other Hillels and what they experience is very, very hard, and it makes me very sad personally,” Shmoel said. “However, I also have to recognize how lucky I am to be the executive director at Hillel at Miami, because it is such an amazing place for the Jewish community.”
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Jewish organizations have long operated under security protocols that most other campus religious groups do not need. For concerns extending into the residence halls, Shmoel said incidents must first be reported through the university’s Office of Community Standards.
“Hillel is much more than what is happening in our world,” Shmoel said. “We are a place where students can connect to share a meal. They can be themselves Jewishly, or just themselves as a person, openly in our space.”
Rabbi Yossi Greenberg, co-director of Chabad at Miami, is optimistic about the Jewish community in Oxford.
Chabad is an all-inclusive organization built around outreach and inclusion, focused on strengthening Jewish life rather than engaging in political battles, Greenberg said. Their mission does not change in the face of antisemitism.
“I will not call somebody out as anti-Semitic, just because I know people say that very loosely,” Greenberg said. “For years, I haven’t said the word because I always like to believe that people don’t have it in their heart, but recently I started using it, and I started feeling a little uncomfortable.”
Greenberg said Chabad is not sheltered from the hatred circulating on social media, but the community has made a conscious choice not to let it erode their pride in Jewish identity.
“You can’t stop being Jewish just because someone doesn’t like it,” Greenberg said. “We have to tolerate each other; we shouldn’t be blamed for what's going on in other parts of the world.”
When it comes to security, Chabad continues to stay in contact with the Miami University Police Department and the Oxford Police Department to ensure gatherings and holidays are protected.
“I’m not gonna sit and complain [about] why I need security,” Greenberg said. “I’m just gonna get the security and move on.”
Although areas around Hillel and Chabad are protected, residence halls are left unprotected and prone to incidents of antisemitism. Earlier this year, there were reports of antisemitic vandalism within residence halls.
“You’ve got to put up a video camera in every hallway in the dorm, and then we won't have any more problems,” Greenberg said. “The fact that Miami doesn't have a video camera in every single dorm hallway doesn't make any sense to me.”
The reason Miami is hesitant to install video cameras for surveillance in residence halls is based on privacy concerns.
Thatcher Gross, a first-year marketing major and a part of the Jewish community, said he feels generally safe as a Jewish student at Miami, and Oxford’s small-town environment puts him at ease.
“I feel more unsafe [in] big cities, [versus] a small town like Oxford,” Gross said.
Despite the relative calm atmosphere at Miami, Gross said many Jewish students remain guarded about expressing their identity on campus.
“Be careful about being outwardly Jewish, you never really know what people think, so you don't want to bring up that you're a minority,” Gross said.
For Greenberg, that is exactly the mindset he hopes the next generation of Jewish students can move past.
“Jewish students should feel safe, and Jewish students should go to Jewish events and [be] proud and never stop being who they are,” Greenberg said.
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