A Visit with Professor Eitan Hersh

Camp Ramah New England was proud to host Professor Eitan Hersh last week for a special hadracha (learning and training) session with our tzevet (staff). Eitan is a political scientist and professor at Tufts University. While much of his research focuses on American elections, over the past three years he has begun surveying both Jewish and non-Jewish American college students amid rising antisemitism and anti-Zionism on campus.

During his visit, Eitan delivered an engaging talk on his latest research. His survey looks at social tension on campus, feelings and attitudes towards Israel, Jewish identity on campus, and feelings about socializing with Jews. For the college students in the room, he was able to outline different patterns of behavior observed on rural and urban campuses and across socioeconomic status. Ethan’s data was fascinating, and it was amazing to see the engagement from the tzevet (staff) in the room. Many of them have experienced the trends he described, and Eitan left plenty of space for questions and discussion. He was also open about his own experience as a Jewish college professor this year.

Eitan shared lessons about how he facilitates conversation across difference in his own work. At Tufts, he teaches a course on conversative thought to primarily liberal students. He spoke about how he elicits difference in opinion on the first day of class to challenge students to sit with their discomfort and see that disagreement is all around them. He offered advice to our tzevet (staff) about how they might be able to listen to others in debate, emphasize with them, and move forward after agreeing to disagree. This was a great expansion upon the work we have been doing with our tzevet all kayitz (summer) long. We hope these conversations and lessons will be helpful to our tzevet beyond their time here at camp, as they prepare to return to their homes and campuses in the fall.

Photo credit: Anna Miller/Tufts University