What are you trying to imply with this post? As a stunch Israelfriend I use to read Solomonia a lot but must say I'm a little bit disappointed just now with. I can sympathize with this guy, I have myself been a victim of Jewish racism against Gentiles in Sweden, even though i fought antisemitism in my own country. I can understand his feelings and reaction.

So what is your problem with this guy? Is racism only a problem when Jews are victims, not perpetrators?

Well, the joke was in rather a poor taste. However, we all must remember what is said to people who can't take one, so...

No joke, the title is the author's.

Johanna, I'm moderately sympathetic to the plight of a non-Jew at a predominantly Jewish school (some of his experiences were probably legitimately wrong, others a product of his own misunderstandings or misplaced expectations...it's hardly surprising or racist to discover that many Jewish girls want to confine their dating to Jewish boys, for instance), but I think it's interesting that the kid so sorely set upon is also the one primarily responsible for an effort to bring today's most visible anti-semite (and I use the term advisedly) to campus as a question of balance.

Is it earth shattering? No. Interesting? Yes. The question at the start of the post is in equal measures rhetorical and sincere.

Well, to do you justice I read this Gentile guy's article once more and must say he does not sound like a teenager with woundeed feelings due to being turned downed by Jewish girls, which you imply. Actually, in my opinion he seems honestly and sincerely concerned over what he considers a very bad situation at Brandeis. (I am in no position to judge, I now absolutely nothing about American schools but if Jewish girls with Christian friends are ostracized by other Jews, then I think you have a big problem.)

I feel for this guy for I know what PK'ism has done to my country and what it feels to be discriminated against. As a Christian, or member of the so called Majority society, you just cannot defend yourself against racism as the minority - be it Muslim or Jewish - always by definition is right. A situation that some Jews and - to be fair - a lot of Muslims take unfair advantage of.

I don't have a problem with Jewish girls not wanting to date Gentiles, but I do have a problem with Jews accusing Christians of antisemitism for wanting to date only Christians. This is admittedly of topic, but I am used to this kind of dubblestandards from Swedish Jews.

I have lived in Israel one year and since the second intifada I've been there four times for shorter stays. As long as Israel is the wonderful democratic and just society it is I will go on defending her and fight antisemitism. That that doesn't mean that I'm turning a blind eye on Jewish prejudices either.

You might not understand this but I still feel you are pretty unfeeling toward this guy.

And I do believe that a predominantly Jewish school will survive a visit from your ex-president Carter, not that I agree with him at all on the Middle East issue.

A lot of this student's story doesn't ring true.

I at Brandeis for a year, in graduate school there a (very) long time ago. OK, that doesn't make me an expert. But I can tell you that when I was there was no sign of Jewish chauvinism, and non-Jewish students were a substantial part of the population. There was little in the way of a Jewish atmosphere, probably less than the minimal Catholic atmosphere you'll see at Catholic universities. As it happens, the vast majority of the other students in my department were not Jewish; same went for the professors. It is doubtful that the school has grown more Jewish since then, probably less so.

Also, I have serious doubts about his accounts of Jewish students using the word "goy." That is not a term commonly used by Jews born after 1950, except maybe in irony. It is a term used by our (WWII generation) parents, and one that would generally make us cringe. My guess is that the e-mail was written tongue-in-cheek.

That he might have felt left out, I can understand. If he were at a Catholic school (assuming, say that the author is Protestant), he might have experienced the same sort of "discrimination," i.e., refusal of some girls to date him because of his religion (maybe), insensitive jokes and e-mails, some cultural references and holidays that he would've found unfamiliar. It is lousy feeling like an outsider, but I don't think that constitutes discrimination.

As for girls refusing to date him, that may be true for some, but utterly untrue for most. Most Jewish girls date across the board. The idea of a majority of Jewish girls dating only Jewish guys went out decades ago. And Brandeis is not a school for religious Jews. This again strikes me as suspect.

Years ago, I heard of a Greek student wanting to leave Brandeis because it was "too Jewish" and "too capitalistic." A few years later, there was a conservative Irish-American grad student who left because Brandeis was too left wing (she switched to Boston College). Sometimes the qualities observed depend not just on the nature of the institution, but on the nature of the observer. You know, "in the eye of the beholder."

Also, we only have this student's word for it that these troubles of his stem from Jewish prejudice. Is it really true that all those girls turned him down because he was a gentile? Do other non-Jewish students there suffer the same fate? Is the non-Jewish student population declining as a result? We don't know how much of his own personality and attitudes (and attractiveness?) may have entered into the equation. My first boyfriend in college was a Hispanic guy at MIT (ok, it was in the 1970s) who wondered at the reactions of his fraternity fellows when he put up a big poster of Arafat on his door. Then he disingenuously told me that his fraternity was mostly Jewish.

This student's support for Jimmy Carter's presence at Brandeis may be a thoroughly valid desire to hear the man speak. Or it may be something else: perhaps a way of getting back at his fellow students who don't accept him. Or it may reflect something in his personality that was the cause of his unpopularity in the first place.

I'm a Brandeis alum (c/o '04), loved my time at the University, and I think the author of the piece is blowing things out of proportion.

There's a small segment of the Jewish population on the campus that is really tight-knit, and that could be the group that he's getting the cold shoulder from (and thinking about it, the most likely group you'd hear the term "goy" in). I'm not going to specifically identify this group/clique any further than what I've said.

As for the majority of Jewish student on the campus--they don't really care one way or the other about ones religion. Sure we may have joked (in good faith) about it with each other, but there were no hard feelings.

Having Carter come to campus on the other hand would be a big non starter on multiple levels. Furthermore, it's not an individual who the university administration should be inviting to the campus either (for multiple reasons, but that's another topic).

One thing I learned during my time at school was that you can't take everything too seriously. You've just got to let things slide now and then. The authors frustrations are one such thing.

JohanneV from Sweden,

Is it true that the majority of rapes in Sweden are commited by Muslims?

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20552

http://www.crim.su.se/pdf/Artiklar/euro12.pdf

http://fjordman.blogspot.com/2005/02/muslim-rape-epidemic-in-sweden-and.html

http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/938

"It is interesting to note that these Muslim immigrants state quite openly that they are involved in a “war,” and see participation in crime and harassment of the native population as such."

That guy at Brandeis should get a copy of Playboy and chill out. Or maybe he should go to Sweden and get the cold shoulder there too. Or maybe you know some hot chicks that you can set him up with.

I was also a "goy" at Brandeis [85].

Freshman year I experienced some of the dating issues, but not much of it.

This guy has issues. At least when I went, Brandeis was the opposite of the hostile environment he describes.