Wellesley College has abruptly removed its Hillel director and Jewish chaplain as part of a restructuring, angering Jewish students who say they feel abandoned by the administration amid tension with a campus Palestinian group.
The college eliminated the two part-time lay positions last week, leaving the Jewish campus group with only a part-time director for the remainder of the school year. The college plans to hire a rabbi, who will work full time, by the next academic year.
Students said they were stunned by the ousters, leaving them midsemester without a crucial network of support.
“The college’s handling of the situation was really bizarre and upsetting for the entire Jewish community,” said junior Jordan Hannink, who was copresident of Wellesley College Hillel last year. “We’re going from having tremendous support to having virtually none.”
News of the removals was reported Friday by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Many Jewish students at the women’s college say they have felt uneasy this semester due to a campaign by a pro-Palestinian activist group, Wellesley Students for Justice in Palestine, which has displayed pictures of Palestinian children killed in the conflict with Israel and a poster that asks “What does Zionism mean to you?”
Originally published in the Boston Globe