Following bias-related incidents at Colorado State University in the spring, two faculty members at CSU developed an action plan to combat anti-Semitism on campus.

Magdalena Serpa, foodscapes and health program leader at One Health Institute, and Carolin Aronis, affiliated faculty member of communication studies at CSU, submitted an action plan to the University after the Race, Bias and Equity Initiative was announced in mid September. 

The action plan evolved from a civic project Serpa was working on in June 2019 to provide prevention-based action.

“The proposed action plan is a set of actual suggestions for the University to adopt in order to cope with current anti-Semitism on campus and to prevent future incidents,” Aronis wrote in an email to The Collegian.

Aronis said it was clear that “instead of talking about these issues, we need to help improve the current situation.” 

The testimonies that students bring up about incidents that have happened to them are alarming, but they are usually told behind doors, not reported officially to the University.” -Carolin Aronis, CSU affiliated faculty member, communication studies

Citing the fact that there is no place on campus for Jewish support when incidents of anti-Semitism arise, Aronis said there need to be allies to help pave the way for people within the Jewish community to feel more welcomed, accepted and protected.

“The testimonies that students bring up about incidents that have happened to them are alarming, but they are usually told behind doors, not reported officially to the University,” Aronis wrote. 

With the University expressing interest in working with Aronis and Serpa, Aronis said she led the writing of the action plan in May and June with the input and support of the Jewish community in town and on campus.

“Rabbi (Yerachmiel) Gorelik and myself have dealt with anti-Semitism at CSU for quite a while, before meeting Magdalena (Serpa),” Aronis wrote. “But it was Magdalena (Serpa)  that pushed it seriously forward, offering an organized support to our community.”

Aronis said there was a feeling of hopelessness among the community in the spring of 2018 following incidents of anti-Semitism on campus, but she said Serpa stepped in at that moment and brought support from outside the Jewish community. 

Serpa said that she brought together a “wonderful group of experts from the CSU community” and consulted national and international experts to develop her civic project, for which she found two European action plans that set a foundation for why she proposed to develop an action plan.

She cited a plan developed in Norway in 2016 as well as a plan published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2018 that addressed anti-Semitism through education guidelines for policymakers. 

As a physician and public health person who has seen more than enough suffering and pain in her lifetime, I still hope to contribute — even if only a little bit — towards a more inclusive Fort Collins.” -Magdalena Serpa, health program leader, One Health Institute

While Aronis said she didn’t know of other universities that have instituted a similar plan, she said many other universities have integrated a few of the things she and Serpa suggested over the years. 

“Plans are adopted in places that need them and in places that have enough awareness to understand their importance,” Aronis wrote.

Some actions Aronis said she would like to see happen include creating a “center for Jews and allies at the Lory Student Center” and developing new courses about Jewish culture and Jewish history in the United States.

Scott Levin, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, will offer Aronis and Serpa’s plan to the ADL to encourage other universities to adopt it, Aronis said. 

“As a physician and public health person who has seen more than enough suffering and pain in her lifetime, I still hope to contribute — even if only a little bit — towards a more inclusive Fort Collins,” Serpa wrote in an email to The Collegian. 

Noah Pasley can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @PasleyNoah.