Four years after Chancellor Gordon Gee’s public call for increased numbers of Jewish students in a 2002 Wall Street Journal article, Vanderbilt University has a student population that is 12 percent Jewish and has made its way onto Reform Judaism magazine’s list of the top 30 private schools that Jewish students choose.
In 2002 when the WSJ article was published, Vanderbilt had a Jewish population of 2 percent, a percentage that among top 25 schools was only greater than that of Notre Dame University. It was this fact that led Vanderbilt to focus recruitment efforts towards Jewish high school students.
“The reason we were so public about (recruiting Jewish students) is because we wanted people to know we were doing it,” said vice chancellor for public affairs Michael Schoenfeld. “There were a lot of top students that weren’t considering Vanderbilt, and that’s unacceptable to us.”
Schoenfeld likened the reasoning behind the building of the Schulman Center and the increased recruitment of Jewish students to the reasoning behind the major renovations that were done to the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center.
“We want Vanderbilt to be attractive to as many students as possible,” Schoenfeld said.
Schoenfeld, along with Dean of Admissions Doug Christiansen, said the push to attract Jewish students was part of a larger diversity project.
“What it all boils down to is we are trying to develop a diverse class of students with different backgrounds and perspectives so that the dynamic exchange can take place in the classroom,” Christiansen said. “As we continue to broaden our recruitment approach and diversify as a university, more Jewish students is only natural.”
Christiansen used the increase of minority students from 18.2 percent in 2000 to 28.6 percent in 2006 to point out that the Jewish community is not the only minority group that is experiencing unprecedented growth.
Administrators contribute the growth of the Jewish community to a variety of factors, of which meeting quotas is not one.
“How we make our selection decisions is a holistic process,” Christiansen said. “It’s not the issue of being Jewish, it’s the issue of your whole file and what you have to bring to the table.”
In fact, religious background is not used in Vanderbilt’s selection process, and there is no part of the current application that asks for a prospective student to reveal his or her religious preference.
Ari Dubin, executive director of Vanderbilt Hillel, feels that several factors were especially important in increasing the Jewish population.
“The way it evolved in practice is that three things came together. First, Vanderbilt increased its profile on the East Coast. The second thing that happened is that the top-tiered universities have become much more competitive than they were a decade ago, so people are being exposed to schools they may never have considered. The third is that when the building was built we could answer questions such as ‘Do we have religious services'’ and ‘Is there a Hillel building'’ affirmatively,” Dubin said.
Dubin also believes the WSJ article served to help people feel as if they did not have to worry about anti-semitism on campus.
Student Abby Mintz cites the 2002 article as one of the reasons she chose to come to Vanderbilt.
“I chose Vanderbilt because I heard in high school that they were actively trying to recruit Jewish students,” Mintz said. “It was more exciting to come here because everything was so brand new and the Jewish community was not yet established. I expected to see growth in the four years I was here.”
Currently in her third year at Vanderbilt, Mintz has noticed some dramatic changes on campus. An exciting moment for her occurred while she was at the poster sale at the beginning of the semester.
“While I was there, I saw two people walk by who had bar mitzvah t-shirts on and another who had on a shirt that said ‘Nice Jewish Boy.’ I never would have expected to see that at Vanderbilt.”
Mintz said that she feels comfortable being a Jewish student on campus – most of the time.
One of her worst memories is that of walking to class and seeing someone wearing a shirt that read “You can’t spell Jew without EW.”
“I know that is not typical at Vanderbilt, but it did happen. I don’t think its worse here than it is anywhere else. I think I am just more sensitive to it because the Jewish community here is smaller,” Mintz said.
Senior Emily Rolling agrees that some people on campus are unaware of Jewish culture.
“I think the campus is accepting of Jewish culture to a certain extent. People are not aware of holidays and practices as mush as I’m used to coming from where I came from,” Rolling said.
Although the increased number of Jewish students on campus has added a great deal of diversity and should be celebrated, Dubin believes that Vanderbilt must still work on increasing diversity within the Jewish community. Currently most Jews at Vanderbilt are either reform or conservative, and there are very few orthodox Jews.
According to Dubin, Vanderbilt must work to increase its kosher food options and introduce an orthodox religious service on campus in order for the university to become more attractive to orthodox Jewish students. He feels confident that these changes will happen in the near future.
For Dubin, one of the greatest accomplishments of Vanderbilt’s commitment to Jewish life is the effect that it has had on the way Vanderbilt is perceived locally.
“One of the most rewarding aspects of my time at Vanderbilt has been all of the people locally who told me that they used to tell Jewish friends and family members that Vanderbilt wouldn’t be the best place for them, but now they recommend Vanderbilt without hesitation,” Dubin said.
