IU Jewish Culture Center receives endowment to fight antisemitism
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Indiana University’s Jewish Culture Center is receiving a significant endowment to widen its scope and develop programming to combat antisemitism and better student and community understanding of the Jewish faith.
The university said the gift will “supercharge” the center’s ability to be a welcoming and educational hotspot on campus for students through an expansion of its events, classes and services.
IU did not immediately disclose the amount of the gift.
The center plans to work with the university First Year Experience program, an initiative to engage freshmen, to develop programming aimed to educate 100,000 students by 2033. It will also work with other culture centers, student groups and Greek life on campus.
The center will host more camaraderie events for Jewish and non-Jewish students as well as leadership trainings. Lastly, it will expand for-credit course opportunities and forward more research efforts to fight antisemitism.
“This gift will be transformational for our ability to create greater understanding across the campus and foster community for Jewish students, faculty and staff,” said Rabbi Sue Silberberg, inaugural director of the IU Jewish Culture Center and executive director of IU Hillel, in a news release. “Through the JCC, President Whitten and Indiana University are taking bold steps to recognize and elevate the depth of Jewish life and culture.”
In addition to the recent national wave of antisemitism, Bloomington and the university had seen a number of hateful acts targeting the local Jewish community. Since, a number of initiatives, both locally and nationally, have been launched to combat such hate.
About 10 to 12% of IU undergraduates are Jewish, according to IU Hillel, and IU estimates about 4,500 grad and undergrad students belong to the community.
IU said the Jewish Culture Center is one of the first to be established at a public university and is a model for other schools. The culture center, established last year, joins IU Hillel and Chabad IU as student resource and community centers on campus.
Jill and Ron Sedley are the donors behind the gift and have been active philanthropists, especially to Jewish cultural initiatives. They previously supported the Mezuzahs Project at IU, which gave out red mezuzahs for non-Jewish students to display in solidarity.
“Through their generosity, Ron and Jill Sedley will help ensure that we cultivate shared cross-cultural understanding and confront antisemitism through education and dialogue,” IU President Pamela Whitten said in the release. “Their gift and the programming it will support position IU as a national leader and reaffirm our ongoing support for IU’s Jewish community.”