I have had the privilege over the past two years to serve as the president of the Jewish Faculty Staff Council at the University of Kansas, one of ten faculty staff councils for those based primarily on the Lawrence campus.
These councils are open to anyone — no requisite that one is Jewish or another identity.
As previously covered in The Chronicle, these councils are part of a larger effort at KU to make everyone feel welcome, including the Jewish community.
It has been a tumultuous and challenging two years (even more so these past few months) for the KU Jewish community. In this role, though, I have been the recipient of tremendous private goodwill and consolation, from administrators and faculty colleagues across the university. I am truly grateful to all of those who reached out to me, both in a personal capacity and as the representative of KU’s Jewish faculty and staff.
This private support is emblematic of the environment on our campus. I am proud to say that it has also been a tremendously exciting and uplifting two years at KU. Despite the challenges, Jewish faculty and staff are thriving in Lawrence in several ways, large and small. While no institution is perfect, KU is both a home for Jews and a place where Jews are doing tremendously important teaching, learning and research.
We need to do whatever we can to support that work continuing. Higher education remains a tremendously important force for good in the American Jewish experience. It’s a crucial rite of passage for young Jewish adults to become the best they can be and have their maximal lifetime contribution to repairing the world, and it’s still a crucial cornerstone of our society, producing academic research and new discoveries that enable our government and society to be the best it can be.
The Jewish Faculty Staff Council draws individuals from across the university – administrators including deans, vice provosts, department chairs and program directors; faculty at all ranks, including distinguished professors; and staff who work as research support, administrative associates, advisors, mental health counselors, statisticians, and in public relations, athletics, admissions and more.
We held numerous events over the past two years, often in partnership with other local Jewish organizations, including the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, KU Hillel and KU Chabad. Highlights included lunches with then KU Hillel Interim Executive Director Bailey Nakelsky and new Executive Director Ethan Helfand; co-sponsoring the Jewish Studies Program’s “Jews in the Americas” conference; lunch in the KU Hillel sukkah with KU Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications and Public Affairs Karla Leeper; bagels at KU Hillel with Congregation Beth Israel Abraham and Voliner’s Rabbi Mark Glass; KU’s Dr. David Burnham on “Digging into Jewish Sources on Dinosaurs with a Rabbi and a Paleontologist;” and a tour of KU Chabad’s new facility with Rabbi Zalman Tiechtel.
We also partnered with KU’s Impact and Belonging team to organize a virtual event on “Interrupting Antisemitism” with Jonah Boyarin (author of New York City’s official training on fighting antisemitism and son of former KU Professor Jonathan Boyarin). And we worked on smaller but crucial efforts to make Jewish life on campus better for faculty and staff, including working with KU Dining on how to provide certified kosher meals at their catered events (using frozen meals they were already selling on campus) and ensuring major administrative events (e.g., Vice Chancellor for Research finalist campus visits) weren’t scheduled on Jewish holidays or alternatively had makeup days scheduled (e.g., College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Visioning Day). This latter effort made use of the list of religious holidays managed by The Office of Civil Rights & Title IX and their guidance that “To ensure that students, staff, and faculty are able to participate in University activities, we strongly encourage you to avoid scheduling in conflict with spiritual days of significance.”
Looking forward, I am optimistic about what the future will bring KU’s Jewish Faculty and Staff under the leadership of incoming President Carolyn Caine and incoming Vice President Professor Ari Linden, with KU’s senior leadership’s strong relationship with the Jewish community (e.g., the chancellor speaking at the Federation’s annual meeting), Ethan Helfand leading KU Hillel, and with the new KU Chabad building. Rock Chalk!
David Slusky is a professor of Economics at the University of Kansas. This article represents his own opinions and perspectives and should not be interpreted or assumed to be those of the University of Kansas.
