By: Yael Lerman | The Times of Israel | January 10, 2024
This story is a cautionary tale—and, we hope, an empowering one—to Israelis applying to universities in the U.S. You may find yourself under greater scrutiny, rejected from admissions, or your scholarship in jeopardy, simply because you are Israeli. After all, think about who is looking at your application. Many of those working in admissions offices today are former students exposed to virulent anti-Israel activity while on campus. Now some of them have become admissions officers and may believe they can get away with excluding Israeli applicants. In doing so, they are committing unlawful national origin discrimination, whether out of ignorance, a devotion to “intersectionality,” or personal political animus. Here is how we fought back against one such case and won.
Last year, Shiran, an Israeli, applied to the Art Institute of Chicago’s graduate program. She created a stellar application and fulfilled all requirements. It never occurred to her that she could be rejected because she is Israeli.
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