By Esti Heller | The Algemeiner | September 11, 2024
When I first met Milagros “Milly” Peña — the president of SUNY (State University of New York) Purchase College — it was in the wake of two incidents involving Jewish safety on campus, both prior to October 7.
In the first incident, a vandalized Israeli flag was adorned with a classic blood libel. In the second, Hillel’s sukkah was intentionally overturned just one day after its construction.
In response to these incidents, I came prepared to my meeting with a list of ways that President Peña could make Jewish students feel safer on campus, including adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism and establishing antisemitism training. Overall, Peña was incredibly supportive, and I left that meeting hopeful towards the year ahead.
But after zero follow-up and several requests for updates, it became clear that I had received the first of what would be many empty promises.
Now, after having witnessed the turmoil that was unleashed on our campus last semester and Milly Peña’s capitulation to anti-Israel students’ demands, I’ve come to understand that the only way the Purchase administration will address the rampant Jew hatred on campus is if the Federal government orders them to do so.
That’s why on August 20, 2024, I, together with a student and the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department, filed a Title VI complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. During the last school year, Jewish students and I faced relentless harassment, threats, and intimidation, repeatedly driving us off of our own campus.
Far too many times, Hillel was forced to redirect funds intended for events to cover hotel rooms and transportation for students frightened to stay in their dorms. Although we consistently reached out to administrators to report incidents, we were largely ignored.
On February 12, 2024, an unofficial student group by the name of Raise the Consciousness (RTC) began advertising an event in collaboration with Samidoun, an organization known for fundraising for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — a US-designated terrorist organization. The group is banned in Germany for hosting explicitly anti-Jewish rallies.
I alerted Chief Dayton Tucker of the university police department and Lisa Miles-Boyce, Chief Diversity Officer, about the problem — sharing information directly exposing Samidoun’s ties to terrorism and their unabashed antisemitism. I received a quick thank you from Lisa and was redirected to Chief Tucker in case I had “questions or concerns.”
No organizers were contacted, and the event went forward as planned, during which students stood outside of a Jewish administrator’s office and told him to “count your f***ing days.”
The nonchalance with which administrators met RTC’s actions, even as they became more unhinged and outwardly pro-Hamas, continued throughout the year. Countless acts of vandalism were largely ignored, the only response being facilities staff who were forced to spend their day power-washing pavement in the freezing rain.
Eventually, after months of harassment, conduct violations, and antisemitic remarks, Peña decided to take action — not in the form of consequences for law defying students, but rather a healing circle. Of the roughly 40 attendees, about half were students — yet among them, only four were there to genuinely participate rather than protest. All four were Hillel members.
Curiously, at this event, administrators who had until that point been dismissing or outright ignoring students reporting antisemitism were suddenly eager to greet us as a camera flashed in our direction.
Despite Peña’s healing circle, antisemitism persisted, ultimately culminating on May 2, when RTC erected an illegal encampment. Jewish safety was threatened, with many students taking refuge in the Hillel lounge to avoid their peers’ glares and shouts of “free Palestine” and “long live the intifada” in their faces. Peña, knowing full well that students were intimidated into hiding, offered to meet with the protestors and shockingly agreed to almost every one of their demands, including full amnesty for the few students that faced consequences for actions such as vandalism, destruction of property, and assault that year.
Despite Jewish students’ tireless advocacy and strict adherence to campus policy throughout the school year, only the voices of those that had threatened and forced their way to the negotiating table were heard.
Jewish students and faculty tried to resolve the issues on campus behind closed doors countless times throughout the year. We endured antisemitic remarks hurled our way in the presence of administrators, and waited for responses that would never come. There were many days in which someone would return to the Hillel lounge exasperated after a meeting, having been denied basic acknowledgement of our experiences.
Now, as the campus reopens and RTC continues to expand on the demands they’d been granted last semester, it’s clear that there’s no more room for negotiation. SUNY Purchase must be held accountable for its dismissal of Jewish students’ rights to safety, dignity, and education. The future of Jewish life at Purchase is at risk, and it cannot afford to wait another moment for action.
Esti Heller graduated from SUNY Purchase with a degree in Creative Writing and Screenwriting in the spring of 2024. During her time at Purchase, she spent two years as president of the Hillel on campus and was the 2023-2024 StandWithUs Emerson Fellow.
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