Podcasts about education advocacy

Dr. Joyce Brooks's story is one of transformation, from a young girl growing up in the segregated South to a respected educator, community leader, and lifelong advocate for public education. In this episode of Elevate Education, Dr. Brooks reflects on the experiences that shaped her belief in the power of learning and how those experiences led her to stand up for students, support families, and model leadership rooted in service. You'll hear: How early life experiences can shape a commitment to advocacy What educators and families can do to form strong, trusting partnerships Why community voice matters in shaping strong schools How anyone, regardless of title, can lead with care and conviction Dr. Brooks reminds us that lasting impact often begins with a single step: the decision to care, to act, and to advocate for what's right for students. Resources from this episode:  https://blackparentnetwork.org/  

NACAC's David Hawkins and Sean Robins discuss the administration's changes to education policy, including efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and anti-DEI initiatives, and how these policies impact students, institutions, and the college admission landscape. They also share opportunities and strategies for advocacy. (Recorded on March 18, 2025)NACAC advocacy and policy updates: https://www.nacacnet.org/advocacy/take-action/

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, calling it Operation Al Aqsa. For journalist Yardena Schwartz, the massacre was a chilling echo of the 1929 Hebron Massacre—the brutal slaughter of nearly 70 Jews, incited by propaganda that Jews sought to seize the Al Aqsa Mosque. At the time, she was deep into writing her first book, Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab-Israeli Conflict. In this episode, Yardena shares how history repeated itself, how the October 7 attack reshaped her book, and why understanding the past is essential to making sense of the present. ___ Read:  Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine That Ignited the Arab Israeli Conflict Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: Untold stories of Jews who left or were driven from Arab nations and Iran Social media influencer Hen Mazzig on leaving Tunisia Chef Einat Admony on leaving Iran Playwright Oren Safdie on leaving Syria Cartoonist Carol Isaacs on leaving Iraq Novelist Andre Aciman on leaving Egypt People of the Pod:  Latest Episode: Higher Education in Turmoil: Balancing Academic Freedom and the Fight Against Antisemitism Held Hostage in Gaza: A Mother's Fight for Freedom and Justice Yossi Klein Halevi on the Convergence of Politics and Religion at Jerusalem's Temple Mount Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Interview with Yardena Schwartz: Manya Brachear Pashman: Hello, and welcome to People of the Pod, brought to you by American Jewish Committee. Each week, we take you beyond the headlines to help you understand what they all mean for America, Israel and the Jewish people. I'm your host Manya Brachear Pashman:. In October 2023 journalist Yardena Schwartz was in the middle of writing her first book exploring the rarely talked about 1929 Hebron massacre, in which nearly 70 Jews were murdered, dozens more injured by their Muslim neighbors during riots incited by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who spread lies that Jews wanted to take over the Al Aqsa Mosque. When she heard reports of the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas dubbed Operation Al Aqsa, she realized just how relevant and prescient her book would be, and began drafting some new chapters. Yardena is with us now to discuss that book titled Ghosts of a Holy War: The 1929 Massacre in Palestine that ignited the Arab Israeli conflict. Yardena, welcome to People of the Pod.  Yardena Schwartz: Great to be here, Manya. Manya Brachear Pashman: So full disclosure to you and our audience. You attended Columbia Journalism School 10 years after I did, and you took Professor Ari Goldman's class on covering religions 10 years after I did that, class had always traveled to Israel, and I had hoped it would be my ticket to go to Israel for the first time, but the Second Intifada prevented that, and we went to Russia and Ukraine. Instead, your class did go to Israel, and that was your first visit to Hebron, correct?  Yardena Schwartz: So it was in 2011 and we went to Hebron for one day out of our 10 day trip to Israel, and it was my first time there. I was the only Jewish student in our class. It was about 15 of us, and I was the only one who had been to Israel. I had been all over Israel, but I had never been to Chevron. And our tour was with Breaking the Silence, an organization of former Israeli soldiers who had served in Hebron or in other parts of the West Bank and wanted Israelis to know what was happening in Hebron and how Palestinians were living there, and the various restrictions that were put in place as a result of terrorist attacks. But nevertheless, you know, those restrictions were extremely disturbing, and that brief visit in 2011 made me really never want to go back to Hebron. And when I moved to Israel two years later to become a freelance journalist there, and, you know, to move to Israel because I loved Israel, and still obviously love Israel, I didn't really go back to Chevron because I, you know, was really troubled by what I saw there. But this book took me, of course, back to Chevron hundreds of times, spending hundreds of hours there. And it came to be, you know, my expertise in this conflict, in my reporting. And you know, of course, Heron is kind of the main character in this book, Manya Brachear Pashman: Tell us how you came to find out about this massacre. Was it mentioned during that class visit in 2011 or was it later that you learned about it? Yardena Schwartz: So that was one of the most interesting things about my early adventure into writing this book, was that I had of course been to have Ron, and yet, during that day that we spent there learning so much about the history of this place, this deeply holy place to so many people, there was no mention of the massacre of 1929, so, you know, I knew that Chevron is, you know, the second holiest city in Judaism, the burial place of Abraham And the matrix and patriarchs of the Jewish people. And you know the first place where King David established his kingdom before Jerusalem. So it was holy before Jerusalem. And yet I had no idea that this ancient Jewish community in Hebron had been decimated in 1929 in one of the worst pogroms ever perpetrated. We all know about the kishineff pogrom of 1904 and yet the pogrom in 1929 in Hebron, perpetrated by the Muslim residents of Hebron, against their Jewish neighbors, was more deadly and more gruesome than the kishineff pogrom, and it effectively ended 1000s of years of Jewish presence in this holy city. And so when I was told by my mentor, Yossi Klein Halevi, the amazing writer, that there was a family in Memphis, Tennessee that had discovered a box of letters in their attic written by a young American man from. Memphis, who had traveled to Chevron in 1928 to study at the Hebron yeshiva, which was at the time, the most prestigious yeshiva in the land of Israel in what was then, of course, British Mandate Palestine. And that this young man had been killed in that massacre. Yet his letters, you know, painted this vivid portrait of what Chevron was before the massacre that took his life. I was immediately fascinated. And I, you know, wanted to meet this family, read these letters and see how I could bring the story to life. And I was introduced to them by, yes, in 2019 so that's when I began working on my book. And you know, as you mentioned, I was still writing the book in 2023 on October 7, and this book I had been writing about this massacre nearly a century ago immediately became more relevant than I ever hoped it would be.  Manya Brachear Pashman: The young American man from Memphis. His name was David Schoenberg. Give our listeners a history lesson. Tell us about this 1929 massacre. So Yardena Schwartz: On August 24 1929 also a Shabbat morning in crevorone, every Jewish family had locked their doors and windows. They were cowering in fear as 1000s of Muslim men rioted outside their homes, throwing rocks at their windows, breaking down their doors and essentially hunting down Jews, much like they did on October 7, families were slaughtered. Women and teenage girls were raped by their neighbors in front of their family members. Infants were murdered in their mother's arms. Children watched as their parents were butchered by their neighbors, rabbis, yeshiva students were castrated and Arabic speaking Jews, you know, Sephardi, Mizrahi, Jews, who composed about half of the Jewish population in Hebron at the time, and were very friendly with their Arab neighbors. You know, they went to each other's weddings and holidays, went to each other's shops, and these people were also slaughtered. It wasn't just the yeshiva students who had come from Europe or from America to study there, or, you know, the Ashkenazi Jewish families. It was, you know, Arabic speaking Jews whose families had been there for generations and had lived side by side in peace with their Muslim neighbors for centuries. They too were slaughtered. Manya Brachear Pashman: Why did their Muslim neighbors turn on them so suddenly and violently? The Yardena Schwartz: rioters that day were shouting Allahu Akbar. They claimed to be defending Islam and Al Aqsa from this supposed Jewish plot to destroy Al Aqsa in order to rebuild the Third Temple. This is what they had been told by their leaders and by Imams and their mosques and in Hebron, that Lai had also extended to the tomb of the patriarchs and matriarchs, which is known in Arabic as the Ibrahimi mosque. Imams there had told Muslims in Hebron that the Jews of Hebron were planning to conquer Ibrahimi mosque in order to turn it into a synagogue. So this incitement and this disinformation that continues to drive the conflict today. Really began in 1929 the rumors about this supposed Jewish plot to destroy Al Aqsa that began in 1928 around the same time that David Schoenberg arrived in Palestine to study at the yeshiva. Manya Brachear Pashman: So in addition to the letters that David Schoenberg wrote to his family back in Tennessee. How else did you piece together this history? How did you go about reporting and researching it? Who kept records?  Yardena Schwartz: So it's really interesting, because I was so surprised by the lack of literature on this really dramatic moment in history, in the history of Israel, the history of this conflict. And yet, despite the fact there are really no books in English, at least, about the massacre and about these riots and what led to them, there were mountains of, you know, testimony from victims and survivors. The British carried out this commission after the riots that produced this 400 page report filled with testimony of British officials, Arab officials, Jewish officials, survivors. So there was just so much material to work with. Also, survivors ended up writing books about their experiences in Hebron, very similar to David's letters, in a way, because they wrote not only about the riots and the massacre itself, but also what they experienced in Hebron before they too, wrote about, you know, the relatively peaceful relations between the city's Jewish minority and the Arab majority. And I also relied on archival newspaper reports so the. Riots really occupied the front pages of American newspapers for about a week, because it took about a week for the British to quell the riots, and they did so with an air, land and sea campaign. They sent warships and war planes from across the British Empire and sent troops from other parts of the British Empire. Because one of the reasons the riots were so effective, in a way, you know, were so deadly, especially in kharag, was because there was just no military force in Palestine. At the time, the British did not have a Palestine military force, and it was only after the 1929 riots that they did have troops in Palestine. Until then, they had the Palestine police force, and that police force was mostly Arabs. In Hebron, for example, there were about 40 policemen under the stewardship of one British police chief, and all but one of those policemen were Arabs, and many of them participated in the massacre or stood by outside of Jewish homes and allowed the mobs to enter the homes and carry out their slaughter. And Manya Brachear Pashman: I'm curious. There was a lot of newspaper coverage, but what about the international community's response beyond the British Empire? Yardena Schwartz: So there were actually protests around the world against the massacre in New York. 35,000 people marched through the streets of Manhattan to protest the British failure to protect their Jewish subjects from these riots. Most of the marchers were Jewish, but nevertheless, I mean 35,000 people. We didn't see anything like that after October 7. Of course, we saw the opposite people marching through the streets of New York and cities around the world supporting the mass of October 7. You know, I mentioned this March in New York, but similar protests were held around the world, mostly in Jewish communities. So in Poland, Warsaw and in England, there were protests against the British failure to protect Jews in Palestine from these riots. And the American government was livid with the British and they sent statements put out, statements to the press, criticizing the British inaction, the British failure to protect the Jewish subjects and the American citizens who were in Palestine at the time, there were eight Americans killed in Hebron on August 24 1929. Out of the 67 Jewish men, women and children who were killed, and all of them were unarmed. The Haganah at the time, you know, the underground Jewish Defense Force that would later become the nucleus of the IDF, the Haganah was active then, mostly in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, there were no Haganah members in Hebron. The Hebron Jewish community was very traditional, very religious, and when Haganah came to Hebron two days before the riots erupted, they because they knew that these riots were going to happen. There had been calls from Arab officials to riot, to attack Jewish communities across Palestine. And so the Haganah came to Hebron to warn Jewish leaders of Hebron that they could either come there to protect them or evacuate them to Jerusalem to safety until the riots subsided and the Jewish leaders of Hebron were unanimous in their opposition. They said, No, you know, we're friends with our Arab neighbors. They'll never hurt us. We trust them. If anything happens elsewhere, it won't happen here. And they believed that because, not only because they had such a good relationship with their Arab neighbors and friends, but also because in previous outbursts of violence in other years, like in 1920 1921 when they were much smaller riots and much less deadly riots. When those riots reached other parts of Palestine, they didn't reach Hebron because of those relations and because they weren't fueled by incitement and disinformation, which was what led the riots of 1929 to be so massive and so deadly, and what led them to be embraced by previously peaceful neighbors. Manya Brachear Pashman: How did that disinformation travel in 1929 How did it reach those neighbors in Hebron? Yardena Schwartz: When we talk about disinformation and misinformation today, we think of it as this, you know, modern plague of, you know, the social media era, or, you know our fractured media landscape. But back in 1929 disinformation was rampant, and it also traveled through Arabic newspapers. They were publishing these statements by Arab officials, mostly the Grand Mufti Hajime Husseini, who was the leader of Palestinian Muslims under British rule, he began this rumor that the Jews of Palestine were plotting to conquer Al Aqsa mosque to rebuild their ancient temple. Of course, Al Aqsa is built upon the ruins of the ancient temples. Temple Mount is the holiest place for Jews in the world. And in 1929, Jews were forbidden from accessing the Temple Mount because it was considered, you know, a solely holy Muslim site. But the closest place they could pray was the Western Wall, the Kotel. And Jews who were demanding British protection to pray in peace at the Western Wall without being attacked by Muslims as a result of this disinformation campaign were then painted by the Arabic press as working to conquer the Western Wall, turn it into a synagogue, and then from there, take Al Aqsa Mosque.  So this disinformation traveled from the very highest of Muslim officials. So the imams in mosques across Palestine, specifically in Al Aqsa and in Hebron, were repeating these rumors, these lies about this supposed Jewish plot. Those lies were then being published in flyers that were put in city squares. Jewish officials were warning the British and telling, you know, they should have known and they should have done more to end this campaign of disinformation, not only to achieve peace in this land that they were ruling over, but also because they were responsible for installing hajamina Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, into his position they had chosen him for that position, that all powerful position. And so they were responsible, in a way, for all of these lies that he was spreading. And yet they took no responsibility.  And even in the commission that they sent to Palestine from London to investigate the causes of the riots, despite the fact that, you know, if you read these, you know, 400 pages, I don't recommend it. It's a tough reading. But, you know, I did that for this book. And it's so clear from all of these hearings that this disinformation campaign was very obvious, very clear and very clearly to blame for the riots. And yet, because saying so would have made the British responsible for so much death, their conclusions in this commission was that it was Jewish immigration to Palestine and Jewish land purchases at the time that had sparked the riots, and that it was this Jewish demonstration, peaceful demonstration at the Western Wall on to Shabaab in August of 1929 that had sparked these riots.  So there's just, you know, this absolute lack of accountability, not only for the Mufti, who retained his position and became even more powerful and more popular as a leader after these riots, but also for the British and instead, you know, the Jewish victims were blamed for their suffering. At the time, Jews were just 20% of the Palestinian population, which was just 1 million people. Of course, today, Israel is home to more than 10 million people. So you know, clearly there was room for everyone. And the Jews at the time were very peaceful. The Haganah was a very, you know, weak, decentralized force, and after these riots, it became much stronger, and Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews, more traditional Jews who had not joined the Haganah before 1929 had not really embraced Zionism before 1929 now agreed that if Jews were going to be safe in our homeland, then we would need our own army. Manya Brachear Pashman: Can we talk a little bit about the turn toward radicalization and extremism during this time, and what role that has played in the years since? Yardena Schwartz: you know, the Zionist leadership was very adamant that Jews in Palestine should not be carrying out attacks against Arabs in Palestine. You know, it should be really about defending Jews, preventing attacks, but not carrying out retaliatory attacks. But as we've seen throughout the century, of this conflict. You know, extremism begets extremism. And you know, when violence is being used by one side, it is going to be used by the other side as well. And so the rise of a more militant form of Zionism was a direct result of 1929 and this feeling of just helplessness and this feeling of relying on this foreign power, the British, to protect them, and realizing that no foreign power was going to protect the Jews of Palestine and that Jews would have to protect themselves, and the radicalism and the extremism within the Muslim population, particularly the Muslim leadership of Palestine, really just accelerated after the massacre, because they saw that it succeeded. I mean, the British punished the Jewish population of Palestine for the riots by vastly limiting Jewish immigration, vastly limiting Jewish land purchases. Notice, I use the word land purchases because, contrary to a lot of the disinformation we hear. Much today, none of this land was being stolen. It was being purchased by Jews from Muslim land owners. Many of them were absentee landowners. Many of them were from the wealthiest families in Palestine. And many of them were members of, you know, this anti Zionist, pro Mufti circle, who were then telling their own people that Jews are stealing your land and evicting you from your land, when, in fact, it was these wealthy Arab landowners who were selling their land to Jews at exorbitant prices. Manya Brachear Pashman: Did you establish a motive for the Mufti and what were his intentions spreading this disinformation? Yardena Schwartz: Great question. So it was very clear. I mean, he never admitted this, but it was very clear what his motives were, and that was to counter the criticism and accusations of corruption that had dogged him for years, until he began this campaign of propaganda which led much of that criticism and much of those stories of his corruption within the Arabic press and among his Arab rivals to essentially disappear, because now they had a much more threatening enemy, and that enemy was the Jewish community of Palestine, who was plotting to destroy Al Aqsa, conquer Al Aqsa, rebuild their temple, take over Palestine and his campaign worked. You know, after that propaganda campaign became so successful, there were very few people willing to stand up to him and to criticize him, because after 1929 when he became so much more powerful, he began a campaign of assassinations and intimidation and violence used against not only his political rivals and dissidents, but also just Anyone who favored cooperation between Arabs and Jews in Palestine. So there were various mayors of Arab cities who wanted to work together with the Jewish community of those cities or with other Jewish leaders to bring about various economic initiatives, for instance. And some of those mayors were assassinated by the muftis henchmen, or they were just intimidated into silence and into kind of embracing his platform, which was that Palestine is and has always been and should always be, a purely Muslim land, and that there is no place for any kind of Jewish sovereignty or Jewish power in that land.  So, you know, the Mufti, in 1936 he ended up leading a violent rebellion against the British. And the British at that point, had gotten tired of ruling Palestine. They realized it was much more work than they were interested in doing, and they were interested in leaving Palestine, handing over governance to the local population to the Jews and Arabs of Palestine, and they had been interested in figuring out what could be done. Could there be a binational state with equal representation, or representative governance? If Jews are 40% of the population and Arabs are 60% then there could be some kind of governance on those ratios, all of those solutions, including a two state solution, which was presented in 1937 all of those solutions were rejected by the grand mufti, and his platform was embraced by the other Arab officials within Palestine, because if it wasn't, they could face death or violence. And he even rejected the idea of Jews remaining in Palestine under Arab rule. You know when the British said to him, okay, so what will be done with the 400,000 Jews who are in Palestine right now? He said they can't stay. So he didn't only reject the two state solution. He rejected, you know, this bi national, equal utopian society that we hear proposed by so many in pro Palestine movement today. You know, all of these solutions have been on the table for a century and always. They have been rejected by Palestinian leaders, whether it was the Grand Mufti or his apprentice, his young cousin, yas Arafat. Manya Brachear Pashman: Ah, okay, so what happened to Grand Mufti Husseini? Did he stick around? So The Mufti was eventually, finally wanted for arrest by the British after his rebellion claimed the life of a British official. Until then, it had only claimed the lives of Jews and Arabs, but once a British official was killed, then the British had decided that they'd had enough of the Mufti, and they ordered his arrest. He fled Palestine. He ended up in Iraq, where he was involved in riots there the far hood in which many Jews were massacred, perhaps hundreds, if not over 1000 Jews were slaughtered in Baghdad, which was at the time home to about. 100,000 Jews. He then fled Iraq and ended up in Berlin, where he lived from 1941 to 1945 in a Nazi financed mansion, and he led the Arab branch of Joseph Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda. He was the Nazi's leading voice in the Arab world, he spread Nazi propaganda throughout the Muslim world and recruited 10s of 1000s of Muslims to fight for the Nazis, including in the Waffen SS and when the war ended, when world war two ended, and the UN wanted him for Nazi war crimes, he was wanted for Nazi war crimes, placed on the UN's list of Nazi war criminals. Once again, he fled, first to France, then to Cairo, eventually settling in Beirut, where he continued to lead his people's jihad against the Jews of Palestine. So when, in 1947, when the UN voted to partition British Mandate Palestine into an Arab state and a Jewish state so that the British could finally leave Palestine. He declared jihad, and he rejected the Partition Plan, along with every other Arab state which also rejected it. Of course, the Jews of Palestine embraced it, celebrated it, and the very next day after the UN vote, riots erupted throughout Palestine, and he helped. He was kind of pulling the strings of that Jihad taking place in Palestine. And in fact, 1000 Muslim men who he had recruited for the Waffen. SS joined that holy war in Palestine. The Mufti helped create the army of the holy war. Yasser Arafat, who was also in Beirut at the time, also assisted the army of the holy war. He actually fought in the war that began in 1947 alongside the Muslim Brotherhood. So, you know the legacy that the Mufti had? You know, it doesn't end there. It continued to his dying day in 1974 and Arafat took over his mantle as the leader of the Palestinian people. And you know, we see how the disinformation and incitement and rejection of Jewish sovereignty in any part of the ancient land of Israel has continued to be a prominent force in Palestinian politics no matter who was in charge. You know, the Fatah, Mahmoud, Abbas and Hamas, of course, perpetuate the same lies about Al Aqsa. They perpetuate the same denial of a Jewish right to live in peace in our homeland, deny the history of Jewish presence in Israel. So, you know, it's really astounding to me how little is known about the Grand Mufti and how little is known about his impact on this conflict, and particularly in the very beginnings, the ground zero of this conflict in 1929 Manya Brachear Pashman: It's so interesting. We talk so much about Hitler, right? And his antisemitism, but we don't talk about Husseini. Yardena Schwartz: Yeah, and they were good friends. I mean, they met in 1941 shortly after the Mufti arrived, he had a private chauffeur. He was lavishly paid by the Nazis, and he was good friends with Himmler. He toured concentration camps. He knew very well about the final solution. Hitler himself considered the Mufti an honorary Aryan. I mean, the Mufti had blue eyes, fair skin, light hair. Hitler believed that Husseini had Roman blood, and he saw him as someone who could lead the Nazi forces once they arrived in the Middle East. He saw him as, you know, a great ally of the Nazis. He didn't just participate in the Nazis quest to eradicate the Jewish population of Europe and eventually arrive in Palestine, but he also the Mufti worked to convince various European leaders not to allow Jewish refugees from fleeing Europe and not allowing them to come to Palestine. He told them, send them to Poland, and he knew very well what was happening in Poland. Manya Brachear Pashman: So I want to go back to this family in Tennessee, the genesis of this story, and I'm curious. David Schoenberg's niece said that at one point in the book, she said they're Southern, so they sweep ugly under the rug in the south. And so they just didn't talk about that. And when I read that, I thought, actually, that's kind of a Jewish approach, not a southern approach, except we wouldn't say we sweep things under the rug. We move on, right? We treasure our resilience, and we move on from that pain and we build anew. But is moving on really in the Jewish community's best interest? Is that how we end up forgetting and letting this history and this very important history fade?. Yardena Schwartz: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think it is possible to do both. It is possible to take great pride in our resilience and in our strength and our ability to experience so much devastation and suffering, and yet every time emerge stronger.  I mean, think about the Holocaust. First of all, for many years, we did sweep that under the rug. Survivors were discouraged from speaking about what they went through. They were seen as, you know, especially in Israel, they were seen as, you know, people who went like sheep to the slaughter. It wasn't something to talk about. It was something to move on from. And yet now we are able to hold both in both hands. You know. We're able to honor and commemorate the memory and speak about the atrocities that millions of Jews suffered during the Holocaust, while also celebrating where we went after the Holocaust. I mean, three years after the Holocaust, Israel was born. You know, that's just, on its own, you know, a remarkable symbol of our resilience and our strength as a people. But I think the way we commemorate the Holocaust is a really great example of how we do both how we honor the memory and use that as a lesson so that it never happens again.  And yet, I think that when it comes to the conflict and the various forces that have led us to where we are today, there is this tendency to kind of try to move on and not really speak about how we got here. And it's really a shame, because I think that this is the only way we'll ever find a way out of this tragic cycle of violence, is if we learn how we got here, the forces that continue to drive this conflict after a century, and you know, the people who brought us here. Not only the Grand Mufti, but also, you know, the leaders today who are very much capitalizing on fear and religion, exploiting religion for their own, their own interests, and utilizing disinformation to remain in power. And I think that, you know, we can't afford not to speak about these things and not to know about our own history. It's really telling that, you know, even in Jewish communities, where people know so much about Israel and about this conflict, there is just a complete lack of knowledge of, you know, the very bedrock of this conflict. And I think without that knowledge, we'll never get out of this mess. Manya Brachear Pashman: Yardena, thank you so much. This is such a wonderful book, and congratulations on writing it.  Yardena Schwartz: Thank you so much.  Manya Brachear Pashman: If you missed last week's episode, be sure to tune in for my conversation with Dr Laura Shaw Frank, Director of AJC Center for Education Advocacy. We discussed the delicate balance between combating antisemitism, safeguarding free speech, and ensuring campuses remain safe for all students.  Thank you for listening. This episode is brought to you by AJC. Our producer is Atara Lakritz. Our sound engineer is TK Broderick. You can subscribe to People of the Pod on Apple podcasts, Spotify or Google podcasts, or learn more at ajc.org/PeopleofthePod. The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC. We'd love to hear your views and opinions or your questions. You can reach us at PeopleofthePod@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends. Tag us on social media with hashtag People of the Pod and hop on to Apple podcasts to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us. Tune in next week for another episode of People of the Pod.

Diana Fannon will share her story about her epilepsy journey and how that shaped who she is and what she is doing today. At the age of 17, she was diagnosed with epilepsy—a life-changing moment that shaped her journey in profound ways. She went on to attend Yale University, navigating challenges and embracing resilience. Over the years, she has transformed these experiences into a mission to inspire and empower others. Website: https://www.disabilityedpros.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/disability.ed/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/disabilityedpros/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/diana-fannon-ed-d/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@disabilityedpros You may also contact him through email, Jamesperduespeaks@comcast.net

Following the Trump administration's decision to revoke $400 million in federal funding over Columbia University's failure to protect Jewish students, the university announced sweeping policy changes. Meanwhile, the U.S. moved to deport former Columbia student and pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, accusing him of concealing his ties to UNRWA and participating in antisemitic campus protests. Dr. Laura Shaw Frank, Director of AJC's Center for Education Advocacy, joins People of the Pod to discuss the delicate balance between combating antisemitism, safeguarding free speech, and ensuring campuses remain safe for all students. ___ Resources: Leaders for Tomorrow: AJC's Flagship Leadership Development Initiative for High School Students AJC Supports Action on Antisemitism, Warns Against Overly Broad Funding Cuts Guidance and Programs for Higher Education Spaces The State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report  AJC Statement on ICE Proceeding Against Mahmoud Khalil Listen – AJC Podcasts: -The Forgotten Exodus: with Hen Mazzig, Einat Admony, and more. -People of the Pod:  Spat On and Silenced: 2 Jewish Students on Fighting Campus Hate Meet the MIT Scientists Fighting Academic Boycotts of Israel Will Ireland Finally Stop Paying Lip Service When it Comes to Combating Antisemitism? Held Hostage in Gaza: A Mother's Fight for Freedom and Justice Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Conversation with Laura Shaw Frank: Aaron Bregman: Hi, this is Aaron Bregman, AJC's Director of High School Affairs. If you're the parent of a Jewish high school student, you've probably asked yourself, "How can I help my teen feel proud and prepared to lead in today's world?" Well, that's exactly what AJC's Leaders for Tomorrow program, or LFT, is all about. LFT gives Jewish teens the tools to navigate challenging conversations and advocAte about antisemitism and Israel—whether in the classroom, online, or in their community spaces. Our monthly deep-dive sessions into the issues faced by Jews - both historically and today - become the place where LFT students find community, build confidence, and strengthen their Jewish identity. If your teen is ready to expand their understanding of what it means to be a Jewish leader — have them visit AJC.org/LFT to learn more. Let's give them the tools they need to step up, speak out, and lead with pride. Again, that's AJC.org/LFT.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   Three federal agencies said this week that they welcomed the policy changes that Columbia University announced Friday, following the Trump administration's revocation of $400 million in federal funding. The government recalled the funding in response to the university's failure to enforce its own rules to protect Jewish students after the terror attacks of October 7, 2023. Masked protesters of the Israel Hamas War spewed antisemitic rhetoric, built encampments that blocked students from attending classes and, in some cases, took over classes.  Also this week, the government announced new charges against Mahmoud Khalil, an Algerian citizen and green card holder here in the United States, and a former Columbia University graduate student who was detained due to his activism on campus. International students on other campuses also have been detained in the weeks since. As a community that values academic freedom, as well as freedom of expression, and democracy, how do we balance those values with the importance of fighting antisemitism and making sure our campuses are safe for Jewish students?  With me to discuss this balancing act is Laura Shaw Frank, director of the AJC Center for Education Advocacy and director of AJC's Department of Contemporary Jewish Life. Laura, welcome to People of the Pod.  Laura Shaw Frank:   Thanks, Manya. Good to be with you.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   So let's start with the issue of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student. He was detained due to his activism on campus. And we're learning from government this week that he reportedly did not disclose that he was a member of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNWRA) as a political officer.  And he was also part of Colombia's Apartheid Divest movement when he applied to become a permanent resident in 2024. He was taken into custody, though, in a very troubling way. And frankly, he was one of the few who didn't conceal his identity during the protests and encampments. He negotiated with the University. What is AJC's stance on this? Laura Shaw Frank:   Great question Manya, and it deserves a very, very careful and nuanced answer. So I want to start by saying that AJC, as it has always done, is striving enormously to remain the very nuanced and careful voice that we always have about every issue, and particularly about the issues that we're talking about here, which are so so fraught in a moment that is so so fraught. AJC issued a statement that we published on X and on our website that talked about the fact that we deplore so many of Mahmoud Khalil's views and actions. And at the same time, it is critically important that the government follow all rules of due process and protections of free expression that we have in our country. And I wanted to emphasize, while I am an attorney, my law degree is incredibly rusty, and I'm not going to pretend to know all the legal ins and outs here, but I do know this, that free speech does attach, even for non-citizens in this country. So we're trying to express a very careful position here. It is possible that Khalil needs to be deported. It is very possible. What has to happen, though, is a trial with due process that is open, transparent and legal. And once those factual findings are determined, if it is the case that Khalil has violated United States law, and has provided material support for terror, and I know the government is actually no longer relying on that particular statute, or has endangered US interests, I don't remember exactly the language that the statute has, but endangered US interests, then he can be deported.  But we want to make sure that even as we deplore so much of what he has stood for--he's been the spokesperson for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, which is sort of an umbrella organization for many, many other student organizations at Columbia, including Students for Justice in Palestine, which was banned from campus, and some other groups which have espoused terribly antisemitic and anti-Israel views and actions on campus. They have engaged in protest activity that has been at times violent and exclusionary of Jewish students.  There's a lot to be horrified by there. And even as we abhor all of that, we love America, we love due process, we love democracy, and we feel very fiercely that those norms have to be upheld, and we hope that the government will uphold them. We expressed that concern because of the circumstances of his detention, and we're watching the case closely. Manya Brachear Pashman:   We also have the government threatening to cancel about $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia. This is a separate matter, but those cuts could include funding for scholarship and research and law. Education and health care. You know, a number of students and scholars alike are very afraid that this could backfire, if indeed, this is done at other universities across the country, in the name of protecting Jewish students. That the backlash could actually hurt the Jewish community.  Do you think that there is some credence to that? And if so, how do we prevent that? Laura Shaw Frank:   It's a great question, so I want to stop for a second before I answer the question, and talk a little bit about the position AJC has taken with respect to the $400 million. We issued a statement, a letter to the government, to the task force, about the $400 million. Where we, again, expressed our enormous gratitude to the administration for shining a light on antisemitism and for taking it seriously. Which it needs to be taken incredibly seriously in this moment. And we fear that it has not been taken seriously enough until this moment, so we're very grateful that the administration is taking it seriously.  And at the same time, we expressed our concern about the $400 million dollars being withheld because of what that $400 million will fund. That $400 million is largely funding for research, scientific and medical research, and we know that in this moment, there is a great deal of research money that is being withheld in various places in this country from universities that is funding really critical research. Pediatric brain cancer, Parkinson's disease, COVID. Whatever it is, that research is incredibly important.  So we want to make sure that even as the government is doing the good work of shining a light on antisemitism and ensuring that our higher education institutions are not harboring and fostering atmospheres of antisemitism. We want to make sure that they are simultaneously not using a hatchet rather than a scalpel in order to attack the problem.  We are keenly aware that much of the most antisemitic discourse that occurs on campus among faculty is discourse that comes out of humanities departments and not generally out of science, research, medicine departments. And it feels wrong to perhaps be withholding the funds from those who are not the problem. Generally, humanities departments don't get hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the federal government. The research that they do is of a different scale. It's less expensive. Frankly, they don't have to run labs, so the funding is really mostly in that medical and science realm.  So I wanted to just start by saying that, and would definitely encourage folks to take a look at the letter that AJC sent to the task force. With respect to your question about whether this is going to backfire against the Jewish community. It is definitely a concern that we've thought about at AJC. There have been many moments in Jewish history where Jews have become scapegoats for policies of governments, or policies in a society, or failures of a society. I'm thinking of two in this particular moment that are just popping into my head.  One of them was the Khmelnytsky massacres in 1648 and 49. I know that sounds like a long time ago, but feels kind of relevant. When Jews, who were representing the nobles in exchanges with peasants, collecting taxes, things of that nature, were attacked and murdered in tens of thousands. And Jews were really, you know, was there antisemitism involved? Absolutely. Were Jews being scapegoated for rage against nobles? Also, absolutely. So I'm thinking about that.  I'm also thinking about the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany in the 1920s and 30s, where this myth of the German population being stabbed in the back by the Jews who quote, unquote, made them lose World War I–which is, of course, obscene and ridiculous–led the way for Nazi ideology finding a foothold in German society. So I'm thinking of those moments when Jews became a scapegoat. And I'm keenly aware of how much our universities rely on research dollars to do their work, and also the anger that so many who are working in that space must be feeling in this moment. It does make me fearful to think that those who are working in the research and those who need the research, you know, people who are struggling with health issues, people who are relying on cutting edge research to help them, could say, No, this is all the Jews' fault. It's all because of them. They're causing the government to do this and that. You know, it feeds into that antisemitism trope of control. I do worry about the Jews becoming the target.  What should we do about that? I think it's very important for us to have the open lines of communication that we're grateful to have with government officials, with elected officials and appointed officials in the Administration and across the aisle in Congress, with Democratic and Republican elected officials. I think it's important for them to understand, at least, you know, from AJC's perspective, that we hope that as they continue to shine that very important spotlight on antisemitism, and continue to ensure that we hold our institutions of higher education to the standard which they must be held to, taking antisemitism very seriously and combating it with all of their power and strength. That at the same time, we want to make sure that the strategies that the government is using to address this issue are strategies that will truly address the problem. And we hope that our statements, our transparency about our stance, will help this country see the views of the Jewish community in this moment. That there are diverse views in the Jewish community, that we do care deeply about the success of higher education, about the success and the importance of research dollars, and that we also care deeply that the administration is taking antisemitism seriously. So really trying to hold that very special AJC nuance. Manya Brachear Pashman:   I know AJC offers an entire package of strategies to combat antisemitism in many different arenas, including university campuses. And I want to take a look at some of the changes that Columbia announced in response to the government's threats to cut funds, to restore those funds. They said that they would make it easier to report harassment and enable the provost to deal with disciplinary action against students who are involved in protests. These seem to reflect some of the strategies that AJC has shared, Yes? Laura Shaw Frank:   Yes, for sure. I want to say, before I respond, that there seems to be a bit of murkiness right now, as we are recording, regarding sort of where some of the some of the agreement stands. So I'm just going to just note that, that it could be that by the time we air this episode, things will be different. But AJC's strategy for higher education administrators, which could be found on our website, and you can probably link to that in the show notes too, calls for very clear codes of conduct. Calls for enforcement, clear enforcement of those codes of conduct.  We don't specifically say where discipline should be situated, because every university has a different kind of plan for how, how that should be situated. And I know that's an issue that appears to be ongoingly unclear between the government and Columbia right now, so I'm not going to say where that's landing. It's not clear to me where it's landing, yet.  But there's no question that the kinds of asks that the federal government or demands, really that the federal government has made of Columbia, are demands that are rooted in the same issues that we have highlighted on campus. So there's this issue of discipline. Not just codes of conduct, but also the enforcement of codes of conduct. We've seen very often, including at Columbia, that there are rules that are on the books, but they're not actually enforced in reality. And they're useless if they're not enforced in reality. So that's one thing that we have been very clear about in our plan.  We also have encouraged universities to think about faculty, to think about the role that faculty plays on a campus, and that's also been a part of the Columbia agreement with the federal government. Again, this is a little bit murky, still, but the federal government had asked for the Middle East and African Studies Department, maybe Asian Studies. I'm not sure exactly what the title of the department is to be put in receivership. That is a very extreme thing that can be done. Universities do it if a department is completely failing in whatever way. They could put it in receivership, give it over to somebody else to head.  And it seems, at least as of this moment, that what Columbia has done is appoint a new Vice President who is going to oversee studies in the Middle East and Jewish studies, but it's not really exactly receivership. So I'm not going to opine on what they've done, but what I will opine on is what AJC is asking campuses to do in this moment. We've alluded to it in our campus plan that we have up on the website, but we are going to shortly be issuing updated guidance specifically about how we think universities should be addressing the issue of faculty members who are creating an atmosphere that's making Jews feel harassed, or that they're advancing antisemitism. Our State of Antisemitism Report that was released about a month and a half ago showed that, I think it's 32% of students felt that their faculty members were advancing an antisemitic atmosphere or an atmosphere that was harassing of them.  And I want to be clear that obviously this is a question of feel, right? We ask the students, do you feel that way? And we know that feelings are not empirical data. Every person has their own set of feelings. And what some students might feel is antisemitic. Other students might say, no, no, that's not antisemitic. That's simply a different viewpoint. That's a perfectly legitimate viewpoint.  So with that caveat, I want to say that we're very concerned about that statistic, and we do think that it reflects a reality on campus, specifically on campuses like Columbia. And what we are asking universities to do at this moment is to think really carefully about how they're talking to faculty. How are they professionalizing their faculty?  Our Director of Academic Affairs, Dr. Sara Coodin, has been working a great deal on coming up with a plan of what we would like to ask universities to work on in this moment, to work on the summer when they have some downtime. How are they going to talk to their faculty, especially emerging faculty, TA's,graduate students and young, untenured faculty about what their responsibilities are. What are their responsibilities to have classrooms with multiple viewpoints?  What are their responsibilities to not treat their classrooms as activist spaces for their own political ideologies? What are their responsibilities to not require students to take actions that are political in nature. Such as, we're going to hold class in the encampment today, or I'm canceling class in order for students to go to protest. Those are not appropriate. They are not responsible actions on the part of faculty. They do not fall under the category of academic freedom, they're not responsible.  So academic freedom is a very wide ranging notion, and it's really important. I do want to emphasize very important. We do want faculty members to have academic freedom. They have to be able to pursue the research, the thinking that they do pursue without being curtailed, without being censored. And at the same time, faculty has that privilege, and they also do have responsibilities. And by the way, we're not the only ones who think that. There are national organizations, academic organizations, that have outlined the responsibilities of faculty.  So as we kind of look at this issue with Columbia, the issue of those departments that are the government has asked for receivership, and Columbia has appointed this vice president, the issue that we would like to sort of home in on is this issue of: what are we doing to ensure that we are creating campuses where faculty understand their role in pedagogy, their role in teaching, their role in upholding University spaces that are places of vibrant dialog and discourse–and not activism for the professor's particular viewpoints. Manya Brachear Pashman:   I'm curious, there's been a lot of talk about Columbia failing its Jewish students, and these measures, these threats from the government are really the government's way of trying to repair that. Trying to motivate Columbia to to fix that and serve its Jewish students. But I'm curious if it's not just the Jewish students that Columbia is failing by not protecting Jewish students. In what ways are–and not just Columbia, but–universities in general failing students in this moment, maybe even students including Mahmoud Khalil? Laura Shaw Frank:   I'm so glad you asked that question. I think it's such an important question. We look at universities, at the Center for Education Advocacy, and I think that so many Americans look at universities this way, as places where we are growing the next generation of citizens. Not even the next, they are citizens, many of them, some of them are foreign students and green card holders, et cetera. But we're raising the next generation of Americans, American leadership in our university and college spaces.  And we believe so firmly and so strongly that the ways that antisemitism plays out on campus are so intertwined with general notions of anti-democracy and anti-civics. And that solving antisemitism actually involves solving for these anti-democratic tendencies on certain campuses. And so we do firmly believe that the universities are failing all students in this moment.  What we need as a society, as we become more and more polarized and more and more siloed, what we need universities to do is help us come together, is: help us think about, what are the facts that we can discuss together, debate together, even as we have different interpretations of those facts. Even if we have different opinions about where those facts should lead us. How do we discuss the issues that are so problematic in our society? How will we be able to solve them?  And that, for antisemitism, plays out in a way about, you know, Jewish students are a tiny minority, right, even on campuses where there's a large Jewish population. What does large look like? 10, 15%? On some campuses it's more than that, but it's still quite small. And Jews are two and a half percent of American society. So Jews are a minority. It's very important for us to be in spaces where different views will be included, where different opinions are on the table.  Additionally, of course, discourse about Israel is so important to Jews, and we know from the Pew study and from our AJC studies that four in five Jews, over 80% of Jews, see Israel as important to their Jewish identity. So discourse on campus about Israel that ends up being so one-sided, so ignoring of facts and realities, and so demonizing of Israel and of Zionists and of the Jewish people, that's not healthy for Jews and fosters enormous antisemitism, and it simultaneously is so detrimental, and dangerous for all of us.  It's not solely discourse about Israel that is at issue. It is any time that a university is sending faculty members into the classroom who are all of the same mindset, who all have the same attitude, who are all teaching the same views and not preparing young people with the ability to debate and come up with their own views. Fact-based views, not imaginary views, fact-based views. That's incredibly, incredibly important.  One other piece that I want to mention, that I think when campuses fail to enforce their rules, why they're damaging not just Jewish students, but all students. When you think about a campus that has their library taken over by protesters, or their classrooms taken over by protesters, or the dining hall being blocked by protesters. That's not just preventing Jewish students from accessing those university facilities. It's preventing all students.  Students are on campus to learn, whether they're in a community college, a state university, a small liberal arts college, a private university, whatever it is, they are there to learn. They are paying tuition, in many cases, tens of thousands of dollars, close to $100,000 in tuition in some places, to learn and for these students to have the ability to take away other students' ability to learn is a way that the university is failing all of its students. That has to be stopped. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You talked about using classroom space, using library space, as you know, co-opting it for protest purposes or to express particular points of view. But what about the quad? What about the open space on campus? You know, there appears to be, again, it's still murky, but there appears to be an outright ban now on protests on Columbia's campus. Is that a reasonable approach or should campuses have some sort of vehicle for demonstration and expression, somewhere on its property? Laura Shaw Frank:   Absolutely, campuses should allow for protest. Protest is a right in America. Now, private campuses do not have to give students the right to protest, because that's private space. The government isn't allowed to infringe on protests, so public universities would not be able to do that. But most private campuses have adopted the First Amendment and hold by it on their campuses, including Columbia.  It is critically important that students, faculty members, anyone in American society, be permitted to peacefully protest. What can be done in order to keep campuses functional, and what many campuses have done, is employ time, place, and manner restrictions. That's a phrase that probably a lot of our listeners have heard before.  You're not allowed to curtail speech–which, protest is, of course, a form of speech–you're not allowed to curtail speech based on a particular viewpoint. You can't say, these people are allowed to talk, but those people, because we don't like their opinion, they're not allowed to talk. But what you can do is have something that is viewpoint-neutral. So time, place and manner restrictions are viewpoint neutral. What does that mean?  It means that you can say, on a campus, you're allowed to protest, but it's only between 12 and 1pm on the south quad with no megaphones, right? That's time, place, manner. I believe, and I think we all at AJC believe, that protests should be allowed to happen, and that good, solid time, place, and manner restrictions should be put into place to ensure that those protests are not going to prevent, as we just talked about, students from accessing the resources on campus they need to access, from learning in classrooms. There was a protest at Columbia that took place in a classroom, which was horrifying. I have to tell you that even the most left wing anti-Israel professors tweeted, posted on X against what those students did.  So campuses can create those time, place and manner restrictions and enforce them. And that way, they're permitting free speech. And this is what the Supreme Court has held again and again. And at the same time, prevented protesters from kind of destroying campus, from tearing it all down. And I think that that's really the way to go. Some campuses, by the way, have created spaces, special spaces for protest, like, if you're going to protest, you have to do it in the protest quarter, whatever it is, and I think that's a really good idea.  I'm an alum of Columbia, so I know how small Columbia's campus is. That might not work on Columbia's campus, but certainly time, place, and manner restrictions are critical, critical to campus safety and peace in this moment, and critical to protect the rights of all students, including Jewish students. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And on the topic of protests, as I was reading up on the latest developments, I saw a student quoted, she was quoted saying, ‘It's essentially going to ban any protest that it thinks is antisemitic slash pro-Palestine. I guess we're mixing up those words now.'  And I cringed, and I thought, No, we're not. And what are universities doing to educate their students on that difference? Or is that still missing from the equation? Laura Shaw Frank:   So I actually want to start, if I may, not in universities, but in K-12 schools. The Center for Education Advocacy works with people across the education spectrum, starting in kindergarten and going all the way through graduate school. And I think that's so important, because one of the things we hear from the many university presidents that we are working with in this moment is: we can't fix it.  We are asking our K-12 schools to engage in responsible education about the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and we have particular curricular providers that we recommend for them to use in this moment, I want to say that they are terrified to do that, and I understand why they're terrified to do that. Everyone is worried that the minute they open their mouth, they're going to be attacked by some person or another, some group or another.  And I get that. And I also believe, as do the presidents of these universities believe, that we cannot send students to campus when this issue is such a front burner issue. We cannot send students to campus with no ability to deal with it, with no framework of understanding, with no understanding of the way social media is playing with all of us. That education has to take place in K-12 spaces. So I wanted to say that first.  And now I'll talk about campus. Universities are not yet there at all, at all, at all, with talking about these issues in a nuanced and careful and intelligent way. We can never be in a position where we are conflating antisemitism and pro-Palestinian. That is simply ridiculous. One can be a very proud Zionist and be pro-Palestinian, in the sense of wanting Palestinians to have self determination, wanting them to be free, to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  AJC has long, long been on the books supporting a two-state solution, which I believe is pro-Palestinian in nature. Even as we have very few people who are also in the Middle East who are pro two-state solution in this moment. And I understand that.  Education of students to be able to think and act and speak responsibly in this moment means helping students understand what the differences are between being pro-Palestinian and being antisemitic. I'm thinking about phrases like ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,' which lands on Jewish ears, as we know from research that's been done at the University of Chicago, lands on the majority of Jewish ears as genocidal in nature.  I'm thinking about phrases like 'globalize the Intifada,' which also lands on Jewish ears in a very particular way is targeting them, us, and education needs to take place to help students understand the way certain phrases the way certain language lands with Jews and why it lands that way, and how antisemitism plays out in society, and at the same time, education has to take place so students understand the conflict that's going on in the Middle East.  They might think about having debates between different professors, faculty members, students, that are open to the public, open to all, students that present this nuanced and careful view, that help people think through this issue in a careful and educated way. I also think that universities should probably engage in perhaps requiring a class. And I know some universities have started to do this. Stanford University has started to do this, and others as well, requiring a class about responsible speech.  And what I mean by that is: free speech is a right. You don't have to be responsible about it. You can be irresponsible. It's a right. What does it mean to understand the impact of your words?  How do we use speech to bring people together? How do we use speech to build bridges instead of tear people apart? So I think those are two ways that universities could look at this moment in terms of education. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Anything I haven't asked you, Laura, that you think needs to be addressed in this murky moment? Laura Shaw Frank:   I hope that our listeners and everyone who's following the stories on campus right now can take a breath and think carefully and in a nuanced way about what's going on and how they're going to speak about what's going on. I hope that people can see that we can hold two truths, that the government is shining a necessary light on antisemitism, at the same time as universities are very concerned, as are we about some of the ways that light is being shined, or some of the particular strategies the government is using.  It is so important in this moment where polarization is the root of so many of our problems, for us not to further polarize the conversation, but instead to think about the ways to speak productively, to speak in a forward thinking way, to speak in a way that's going to bring people together toward the solution for our universities and not further tear us all apart. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Thank you so much for this conversation, Laura, it is one that I have been wanting to have for a while, and I think that you are exactly the right person to have it with. So thank you for just really breaking it down for us.  Laura Shaw Frank:   Thank you so much, Manya.

The U.S. Department of Education is expected to shrink by half. The Trump administration has laid off more than 1,300 workers, and 21 states including Minnesota have sued to stop the layoffs. One of the agency's major roles is to make sure students with disabilities can get an education. Special education programs are required by law, and they remain intact. But parent advocates in Minnesota say they are watching for other impacts, including indirect ones. Gretchen Godfrey is the associate director of the Minnesota-based organization, PACER Center. She joined MPR News host Nina Moini to explain how parents of students with disabilities interact with the Department of Education and how the staffing cuts may affect Minnesota students.

Join Dr. Stephanie and Tiffany in an interactive discussion which will help you delve deeper into understanding your rights as a parent with a school-age child with disabilities. You will have a solid understanding of the variety of support plans, how to navigate the school teams, and how to ensure your child is getting everything they need to be successful within school!About our Guest:Tiffany Yandle  is a non-attorney Special Education Advocate and President of In Bloom Advocacy. She has a 15+ year history of teaching Special Education and school administration in North Carolina public schools. She is passionate about reaching an equitable, personalized education for all students. She specializes in Special Education Laws and regulations, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Community Engagement in schools, and Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Imagine being spat on as you walk across your college campus simply because you're Jewish or being asked whether you're a “good Jew” or a “bad Jew.” As part of AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report, AJC and Hillel International partnered to document the experiences of Jewish students on campus over the past year. The findings are deeply troubling: nearly a third of Jewish students in the U.S. reported feeling uncomfortable or unsafe at a campus event because of their Jewish identity, and 43% avoided expressing their views on Israel due to fears of antisemitism. In the second installment of this two-part series, meet two students whose experiences reflect these alarming statistics: Evan Cohen, a senior computer science major at the University of Michigan and Vice Chair of Hillel International's Israel Leadership Network, and Daniel Solomon, a junior studying political science and urban studies at Brown University who serves on AJC's Campus Global Board. Resources: -AJC's Center for Education Advocacy -5 Takeaways from AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report -Go Behind the Numbers: Hear directly from American Jews about what it's like to be Jewish in America  Test Your Knowledge: -How much do you really know about how antisemitism affects Americans? Take this one-minute quiz and put your knowledge to the test. Start now. Listen – AJC Podcasts: -The Forgotten Exodus: with Hen Mazzig, Einat Admony, and more. -People of the Pod:  Unpacking Trump's Gaza Plan The Oldest Holocaust Survivor Siblings: A Tale of Family, Survival, and Hope Israeli Hostages Freed: Inside the Emotional Reunions, High-Stakes Negotiations, and What's Next Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Conversation with Evan Cohen and Daniel Solomon: Manya Brachear Pashman: As part of AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 report, AJC and Hillel International partnered to document Jewish students' experiences during their time on campus. Last year, the report found that 43% of Jewish college students avoided expressing their views about Israel on campus or to classmates because of fears of antisemitism. 22% of Jewish students report feeling or being excluded from a group or an event on campus because they're Jewish, and 32% of American Jewish students said they have felt uncomfortable or unsafe at a campus event because of their Jewish identity.  Here to share their perspective on the ground are two students who have become advocates for their Jewish peers. Evan Cohen, a senior computer science major at the University of Michigan, is the vice chair of Hillel International's Israel Leadership Network. And Daniel Solomon, a junior political science and urban studies major at Brown University who serves on AJC's Campus Global Board. Evan, Daniel, welcome to People of the Pod. Evan Cohen:   I wish it was under better circumstances, but, you know, it's a pleasure to be here. Daniel Solomon:   Thank you so much for having me. Manya Brachear Pashman: So gentlemen, I just read a bunch of findings from the most recent report. Do they seem too high or too low based on your national vantage points? Evan? Evan Cohen:   So I think these findings are, sadly, not that surprising. We've seen and experienced an unprecedented amount of antisemitism over the past year and a half, give or take. Clearly, it's rising. Clearly students are experiencing this on their campuses, myself included. I definitely think that, you know, there's probably some cases where students are experiencing it more. In some cases it's less, but I think, you know, in general, it's way too high, like we should not be seeing as much antisemism on campuses. Manya Brachear Pashman: And Daniel, what do you think?  Daniel Solomon:   You know, the numbers seem about right. I have the opportunity of helping lead AJC's Campus Global Board, which really has a very wide perspective across the world and also across the United State. And we recently just met as a board in Lisbon where we discussed at length new trends over the past year in college antisemitism and around the world. And this really holds. We really found that this data is reflective of what we find in our qualitative experiences. Manya Brachear Pashman: One finding I did not just share at the beginning is that roughly 35% of American Jewish college students or recent graduates report having personally experienced antisemitism at least once during their time on campus. Did either of you have a personal encounter of your own over the past year?  Evan Cohen:   So a number of months ago, I was walking through the center of campus with a rabbi and a friend of mine, and we were spat at. And the unfortunate reality is, not only were we spat at, but when I tried to report this, I was basically told that, without identifying the individual by name, there was nothing that the university could do. And this was extremely frustrating, because we were spat at. That was a deeply upsetting experience.  It's something that no one should have to go through just for being Jewish, but the fact that there was almost nothing that could be done about it. Besides, you know, maybe you know, here's how we can support you, which was not something that I was particularly in need of. It was disappointing to see that there was no strong response to that. Daniel Solomon:   So shortly after October 7, my friends and I in our apartment, we held a small gathering, and you know, some friends brought mutual friends, and their friends brought mutual friends, which is totally fine. And so someone who I didn't know came up to me and looked at my door frame, and I have a mezuzah on my door frame. And she said, is that your Jew thing?  Which, yes, it is, but it's called a mezuzah. And she said, Well, are you a good Jew or a bad Jew? And I said, What do you mean by that? And I knew exactly what she meant by that. She meant, are you a Zionist? Or are you an anti-Zionist Jew? And the conversation ended shortly thereafter, and we asked her if she would leave.  Manya Brachear Pashman: This report came after the protests and the encampments that roiled college campuses, mostly in the spring of 2024 of the Jewish students who witnessed anti-Israel demonstrations after the October 7 terrorist attacks, 51% said that these protests or encampments made them feel unsafe on campus. How did your universities handle the encampments that popped up on your campuses? Evan Cohen:   There was an encampment on our campus, it sprung up the morning of the first Passover Seder of last year. And I remember receiving a text at six in the morning or something. I woke up, the first message I saw was, Evan, Do you know what's going on? And I said, Oh my god, another thing to deal with. You know, it's about to be Passover like we're supposed to be preparing for the Seder. And, you know, I think that at our university was handled extremely poorly, you know? We were told the encampment is contained, yet it grew in size, you know.  So at first it took over the main part of the center of the Diag, which is the main center of campus area at the University of Michigan, and slowly crept out into farther and farther areas of that center of campus Diag. And it was really disappointing, because at the end of the year, when it's finally warm, students are out there, they're hammocking, they're playing sports, even just reading and studying. And at that point, there was nobody besides those in the encampment. And so it really destroyed the end of year atmosphere that everyone always looks forward to. And again, like I said, I think it was handled very poorly. The university did not contain it. The university waited until after graduation.  They were hoping, I believe they were hoping, that if they waited until after graduation, there wouldn't be disruptions at the graduation. While I personally did not graduate last spring, I  had friends who did, and there were disruptions at that graduation. So clearly, that strategy did not work, did not pay off.  Sometime after graduation, they announced that the encampment was being removed because of fire hazards. Now these fire hazards were hazards the entire time the encampment was there, I saw students plugging in various electronic devices, keeping themselves warm with space heaters.  That's not something that you're supposed to be able to do there, and I do have experience, because I've had to reserve that space for, you know, pro-Israel activities in the past, and so I very much understand, first, what the rules and regulations are and how that process works. Very clearly, these rules were violated. And not only that, there was clear antisemitic imaging and speech that was spewing out of this encampment.  Daniel Solomon:   So, you know, first and foremost, our campus is a very big advocate of free speech, just collectively. So, you know, when the encampment originally went up, you know, the university made sure to emphasize the fact that, you know, it is free speech. But free speech, you know, has, you know, consequences, in the sense that setting up an encampment is against the university policy.  So, within those guidelines, you know, the encampment was up for probably a day or two, and then I remember one evening, the members of the encampment started yelling to globalize the Intifada. And this was sort of the call on the university's end to say this is actually not okay. This is when it teeters on free speech and free expression. And, you know, voicing your opinions, however different they might be than most, this is actually when it gets into hate speech. And so that's sort of the moment that our university leadership really, really took, took control of the encampment, and it ended shortly thereafter.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Of course, most antisemitic content and the anti-Israel vitriol is primarily spread online and on social media, and the data back that up, almost seven in 10 American Jews, 67% reported seeing or hearing anti semitism online or on social media in the past 12 months. The number jumps to 83% for young American Jews between the ages of 18 and 29 so your peers, how has social media, the digital landscape, shaped your encounters with antisemitism? Daniel Solomon:   Social media is a big part of of our generation, and a part of how we how we bond together. Similar to other universities, Brown has a platform called side chat. Other universities, they might be called Yik Yak or something else. But the only way to access this app, which is a private a private company, not, you know, affiliated with brown, but the only way to actually access the brown only channel in Sidechat is to use your Brown email. So it's sort of an anonymous message board where anyone can post whatever they feel, whatever they think. Sometimes it's funny memes. Sometimes it's satire.  In the context of the post October 7 world on Brown's campus, it was nothing, but, you know, atrocious really. It was really just a cesspool and a hotbed of antisemitism. And anti-Israel rhetoric that absolutely veered into antisemitism, but also really just classic, flat out antisemitism, you know, pointing out Jews in in, in great positions of authority in the country, and on college campuses specifically, and sort of trying to connect dots that really aren't connectable. And so Side chat was really just a really terrible hotbed of antisemitism.  And then also, you know, those who were more bold antiSemites would really just blatantly, you know, leave comments in Instagram posts, you know, with their profile name visible, so you knew exactly who they are. And so, you know, the digital, the digital landscape, was absolutely a pretty crucial part of what comprised, you know, the anti semitism happening.  You know, as I mentioned before, the campus, the campus that we see now is really the one, is really the one that I that I remember, you know, in my freshman year, the one that I made some of my closest friends, on the one where I developed some of my, you know, some of my academic ambitions. The campus that I really fell in love with is the one that I'm seeing now, and much different than the situation that we were in last year. Evan Cohen:   I could talk about, you know, two specific examples. One example was the president of our SJP chapter. Sometime, I want to say, around last March, posted something to her personal public account that said something along the lines of death to everyone who supports the Zionist state, death and more, death and worse. And I believe that Regent Acker, who was on the podcast relatively recently, actually spoke about this, I think.  And that was deeply disappointing to see, because, you know, studies have shown. I even read a study recently, I think it said that about 80% of American Jews support Israel, meaning they believe in Zionism, the right for Israel to exist safely and securely, for Jews to live there in our ancestral homeland. And so to say that, you know, that's basically calling for the death of Jews, the death of fellow classmates, fellow students. So that was, you know, extremely challenging to see and to deal with.  And ultimately, there were effectively no consequences. The student graduated last, last spring. And you know, we saw, we saw nothing, no repercussions from this, this activity. Another example of online anti semitism. What I experienced was during a trip to Israel last May. As part of this trip, I was going to be bearing witness to the atrocities of October 7, and so we were sharing, me and another student from the University were sharing some of our experiences, and a screenshot was taken of us, and then over, over, on top of it were overlaid messages like settlers scum, and these students were celebrating genocide.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Evan, how have these encounters, both on campus with the encampments and on social media? How have they informed your time working with Hillel on an international level? Evan Cohen:   You know, it's very clear that antisemitism is extremely prevalent. It's clear that anti-Zionism, anti-Israel sentiment, is very prevalent, and that we need to be constantly working toward combating it and supporting students on different campuses, this manifests in different ways. So it requires different tactics, different strategies, depending on what school you're at, depending on what your individual needs are.  But now being in this leadership position, it's amazing to be able to try to offer that support and use my experiences to then help other students on their campuses deal with the troubles that they are going through and what they are experiencing. Manya Brachear Pashman: I want to point out that a lot of this happened after the October 7 terrorist attack. A lot of what you're talking about, of course, the survey itself. But antisemitism doesn't just come from anti-Israel corners and Evan I know there were instances of demonstrators waving Nazi flags in Howell and Fowlerville outside a production of The Diary of Anne Frank. Those are small towns about 30 or 40 miles away from Ann Arbor. Have there been expressions of antisemitism from the far right on Michigan's campus? I think Evan Cohen:   I think it was like the 2022-2023, academic year, the students received hate mail specifically targeting Jews, saying that Jews run the media, that they're responsible for COVID messages similar to that. I want to say that was even around the High Holidays timeframe. And so this was found like, you know, passed out around off campus, student housing. And so a number of students received messages like that. You know, we also saw post October 7 swastikas on or near Jewish buildings, for example, at Hillel one time. And so, you know, we're definitely seeing anti semitism from both sides.  Manya Brachear Pashman: Daniel, your campus Antisemitism Task Force, for lack of a better term, it initially formed in response to hatred from the far right. Is that right or is that correct? Daniel Solomon:   Yeah. So when I was a when I was a freshman, in my freshman fall, a terrible anti semitic threat was sent to the campus rabbi and executive director of the Brown-RISD Hillel that serves both Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, and that's sort of where we sort of came together and started really having very proactive and very productive meetings with with Brown's administration.  Partially, I, you know, I will plug just a little bit that. I think that part, you know, the reason why I was so zealous to get involved was the training I received with American Jewish Committee, with the LFT program, the Leaders for Tomorrow High School Program.  So we really came together. Started having these conversations with Brown's administration, and created this really, really positive relationship, which I think is a pretty Hallmark component of being a Brown student, is this really, is this really great relationship that we formed? And I think that, you know, leading into October, 7, part of what made Brown's response so effective was that we had this really dynamic relationship with administrators already, and that, you know, there's really no gap in between Brown's institutional Jewish leaders and Brown's administration.  We have, you know, an incredibly supportive administration. And I think that was something that we saw following the incident and fall of 2022, and something that we continue to see all throughout you know, the post October 7 world. Manya Brachear Pashman: And Daniel, I'll ask you the same question I just asked Evan, how has that experience, that experience on Brown's campus, informed your time on AJC's Campus Global Board? Daniel Solomon:   To be honest, it's actually a little bit of the opposite. I feel as though my time on AJC's campus global board has really provided such an incredible opportunity to understand the global landscape of campus antisemitism. And also, of course, you know, we want to emphasize the global landscape of Jewish joy that's happening on college campuses, because that is definitely not in short supply. Manya Brachear Pashman: You know, I'm curious, do you get questions from your peers back home, your younger peers, questions about whether or not your campuses are the right choice, the right fit for them?  Evan Cohen:   I think it's really important to mention that the Jewish students on campus do absolutely have a home here. We're working extremely hard to ensure that there is Jewish joy on campus, and there are organizations here to support Jewish students. It's imperative that Jews come to campus, that we continue to build a supportive community and that, you know, we're not just hiding, we're not just shying away from this. We're actively working towards improving campus and campuses drastically improved in the 2024-2025 school year compared to the 23-24 school year. So, you know, we're standing strong. We're standing proud, and we're not going to back down.  There is a thriving Jewish community, and we're here to support you. We want you to come here. The University of Michigan has such a large Jewish population in part because a long time ago, the Ivy League schools had quotas on the number of Jews who could attend, and so the University of Michigan did not as such. We have a very strong Jewish community here, and I highly recommend coming here as long as you can bear, as long as you can bear and withstand the cold. Manya Brachear Pashman: Thank you both for joining us, and reflecting on the difficulties of 2024. May 2025 be more peaceful on your campuses.  Evan Cohen:   Thank you very much for having me.  Daniel Solomon:   Thank you for having me. 

In this episode, Nicole Neily, founder of Parents Defending Education, shares her unexpected journey into education advocacy, driven by her passion for civil liberties and personal experiences as a parent. The discussion delves into the challenges of parenting in today's society, the erosion of trust in institutions, and the future of education, particularly in higher education. Nicole emphasizes the importance of treating children equally and expresses optimism for the future while offering valuable life advice about the importance of connection and engagement. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Wednesday & Friday.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What would you do if jars of urine were thrown through the windows of your house in the middle of the night? How would you feel if antisemitic messages were spray painted on your cars? How would you respond if you were targeted simply because you're Jewish? In the first installment of a 2-part series, meet a face behind the alarming findings of AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report, the first analysis of the impact of antisemitism on American Jews and the U.S. general public for the full-year following Hamas' October 7, 2023 massacre of Israelis. In this week's episode, Jordan Acker, a lawyer and member of the University of Michigan's Board of Regents, shares what happened to him and his family in late 2024 when they were personally targeted by anti-Israel and antisemitic protesters. He criticizes the broader campus climate and faculty's response, while emphasizing the need for productive dialogue and understanding as a way forward, all the while stressing the importance of standing up to antisemitism. Resources: -AJC's Center for Education Advocacy -5 Takeaways from AJC's State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report -Go Behind the Numbers: Hear directly from American Jews about what it's like to be Jewish in America  Test Your Knowledge: -How much do you really know about how antisemitism affects Americans? Take this one-minute quiz and put your knowledge to the test. Start now. Listen – AJC Podcasts: -The Forgotten Exodus: with Hen Mazzig, Einat Admony, and more. -People of the Pod:  Unpacking Trump's Gaza Plan The Oldest Holocaust Survivor Siblings: A Tale of Family, Survival, and Hope Israeli Hostages Freed: Inside the Emotional Reunions, High-Stakes Negotiations, and What's Next Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Conversation with Jordan Acker: Manya Brachear Pashman:   For six years now, AJC has published the State of Antisemitism in America Report, and each year the findings become more alarming and sad. This year's report found that 77% of American Jews say they feel less safe as a Jewish person in the United States because of the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023. A majority of American Jews, 56%, said they changed their behavior out of fear of antisemitism, opting not to wear a Star of David, or put up a mezuzah.  And a third of American Jews say they have been the personal target of antisemitism, in person or virtually, at least once over the last year. While the numbers alone are telling, the encounters with antisemitism behind those numbers are even more powerful.  Here to discuss these findings, and sadly, his own family's experience with antisemitism in 2024 is Jordan Acker, a member of the University of Michigan's Board of Regents. Mr. Acker, welcome to People of the Pod. Jordan Acker:   Thank you so much for having me. On such an unpleasant topic, but . . . Manya Brachear Pashman:   Despite the circumstances, it's a pleasure to speak with you as well.  So I want to tell our audience a little bit about what you experienced in the last year. Last May, the doorbell camera at your home showed a stranger, with their face covered, walking up to the front door, laying a list of demands, signed by the University of Michigan Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Laid those demands on your front porch.  And then a month later, your law office in suburban Detroit was vandalized with anti-Israel phrases, profanity, directed at you personally. And then in December, you and your family awoke one morning to a pretty horrifying sight.  So could you kind of walk through what you encountered last year?  Jordan Acker:   Yeah, absolutely. So you know, what's interesting about this is that as much as I oppose BDS, I was not the person on the board who was speaking about it, the people that were speaking about it were actually my non-Jewish colleagues. We're an elected body, six Democrats, two Republicans, and universally, we oppose the idea of boycotts, divestment and sanctions, and we said so. We've affirmed this in 2018, we affirmed this in 2023.  And at some point, while we had an encampment on our campus, it remained relatively peaceful to what other campuses have dealt with, until they started showing up at our homes. We had this happen, a list of demands. Ironically, including, defunding the police was one of the demands. And then, you know, it went to a different level, when it went from all of my colleagues to just me getting the treatment.  My office is an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. They went to my office in the middle of the night and spray painted messages all over it, including profanities. But they caused over $100,000 worth of damage. And I don't think that location was unintentional. I think that as people were waking up in the neighborhood, going to synagogue the next day, they wanted to make sure that people in that neighborhood saw what had been done. It was certainly on purpose.  And what was so disturbing about it was that three student groups actually posted photos of it in the middle of the night on Instagram, before the police knew about it, before we knew about it, and then quickly took them down, obviously, because, you know, they realize this is a crime. And then things had remained relatively quiet through the fall.  Experiences had been much different than prior semesters, until I was awoken about two in the morning to jars of urine being thrown through my window. And this had followed up several instances of similar incidents. On October 7, the president of our university, who's not Jewish, his personal home was vandalized. The Jewish Federation in Metro Detroit was also vandalized. The head of our endowment, a member of law enforcement, all of their homes were vandalized with pretty much the same messages. Ethnic related, calling them cowards, demanding divestment. Of course, the worst part for me was obviously the jars flying through my home. I have three small children, and having my oldest woken up to that was terrible. But they spray painted my wife's car with messages to divest, but also upside down triangles, which I think most Jews now take to see as a direct threat. That is a Hamas symbol for a target. And as I've said before, I'm not in the Israeli military. I'm not a military target. I'm not a target at all. I'm a trustee of a public university in the Midwest.  And this kind of behavior, frankly, is unacceptable. It's unacceptable from any members of our community, regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum. And frankly, it's deeply antisemitic. And the fact that there's some people that are questioning that, or wonder why, is part of the problem, part of why we've gotten here. It's a deeply troubling time, I think, for American Jews, for a lot of these reasons. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You said that you are the only Regent who has been targeted in this way any any sense of why. Jordan Acker:   It's a good question. You know, I think there's a few different layers to this. I think being Jewish is a big part of the layer, obviously. But also a part of it is that I have a public social media presence. It's something I've maintained since, frankly, when I was running for this office. This is an elected office, obviously, in Michigan. And I think that has something to do with it, for sure. But the degree in the manner is very, very different. And it's really hard to understand why it would happen in this particular way. Again, except for, you know, an excuse to engage in violent behavior. You know what's so disturbing about this, and what is so heartbreaking to me is that, I understand, you know, for those who are on the other side of this issue, who care deeply about Palestinian rights and Palestinians having their own state? I care about that. I'm the only regent that actually met with SJP prior to October 7. Not because we agree on everything. We do not. But because there's some things that we do agree on. And by the way, the vast majority of American Jews agree on. I think that's what's been so disturbing about everything that's happened since October the 7th in America, is that you probably have no group of Americans that's more empathetic or sympathetic to Palestinians than American Jews. And yet, there's obviously a large group of this protest movement, or the remains of it at this point, that are deeply antisemitic and are using Palestinians essentially as a weapon to go after and to isolate American Jews. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Are you the only Jewish regent? Jordan Acker:   I'm not. At the time, we had three actually, of our eight-member board, were Jewish. But our board is almost universally pro-Israel and almost universally opposed to BDS, and has been for a very long time. And there are lots of reasons for that, but this is, you know, perhaps the person who's been most outspoken about this, interestingly enough, is Denise Ilitch, who, you know, if they were looking to attack a pro Israel business. Well, there are two Little Caesars locations on campus. Right, again, this has nothing to do with being pro-Israel. Coming to my office has a very distinct, very specific message that they're trying to send. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You said there are a number of reasons why the Board of Regents is universally opposed to BDS. Can you explain those reasons?  Jordan Acker:   I think the first one, and I can only obviously speak for myself on this. The board speaks through its pronouncements and its decisions, but the biggest one actually is that, generally speaking, academic boycotts do not add anything to the conversation. They don't get people closer to resolving conflict. They don't even get people talking about conflict. And to me, that's antithetical to the purpose of the American University.  One of the incidents that has most disturbed me over the last few months, other than obviously, the physical violence, but what's disturbed me is a group of mass protesters went to a lecture by a professor named Marc Dollinger, a guest professor on campus, and Marc Dollinger was teaching, as he does, about the relationship between the black community and the Jewish community during the Civil Rights Movement. And a group of mass protesters came in and said, We don't engage with Zionists here. And what I've told people is actually the second part of that phrase is deeply offensive, but the first part of that phrase, “we don't engage with” is actually antithetical to the existence of the University of Michigan, and should be tossed aside.  We do engage. We engage with everyone, and we especially engage with the people that we disagree with. And so, that kind of speech and behavior is, to me, the most problematic. Because, again, American universities are places where deeply unpopular ideas should be thrown around. That doesn't give it as an excuse for violence, but it certainly is a place for deeply unpopular ideas, or for popular ideas, or for anyone who's different than you. That's the purpose of this.  And yet, this movement has again decided that Jews, or people who are affiliated with Israel are uniquely deserving of being tossed out. And it's unacceptable and it's un-American. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Is it just this movement, or has the campus climate been changing more and more in recent years, when it comes to a refusal to engage or the treatment of Jews on campus? Jordan Acker:   I think that. It's a great question. So what I think is that what has changed actually is not the values of the students. Because, look, college students protest lots of things. When I was a student, BDS was an issue 20 years ago. What's actually changed is the faculty. And that's actually what's most concerning to me, is the way that our faculty has behaved, not all of them, and certainly not even a majority or a minority, but a small group, has behaved since this happened. Throughout this process, throughout these protests, any criticism of the methods has been responded to by the faculty as criticizing everything about the movement. And so I think the faculty has actually, frankly, made the situation a lot worse.  You know, one of the things that I that I learn in conversations with other regents and other trustees across the country, and I'll never forget the story, because it's so telling about where we are here, a person was who's a professor at Columbia now, was telling a story about how he protested the Vietnam War. His mentor at Columbia, who was also opposed to the war, after they invaded Hamilton Hall, came up to him and said, I agree with you on what you're thinking. I don't agree with what you're doing.  And we've gotten to this place now for some reason that we can't do that anymore, that our faculty can't say this is bad behavior, period and deserves punishment, while we also may agree with the underlying politics. What has been most disturbing is, is that, for example, our faculty senate still hasn't condemned the attack on the academic freedom of Professor Dollinger, and only condemned the attack on what happened to my family after I called out the Faculty Senate Chair publicly because she feels the need to publicly defend open antisemitism. And yet, when it comes to the safety of Jews, she's too busy. And it's really disturbing, quite frankly, and it's a disturbing reflection on our faculty. But I will say that since I pointed this out, I've had dozens of faculty members reach out to me and say, Thank you, thank you for speaking out about this. I don't feel comfortable either, but I can be fired. You know, these promotion decisions come from this group of faculty.  So what I would say is, that there's real problems with the way faculty have been responding, and unlike students, they're grown ups, they're adults. And certainly, I don't want to infringe on academic freedom, but academic freedom does not include the freedom from criticism, and they deserve a lot of how we've gotten here. Manya Brachear Pashman:   That's interesting that you heard from faculty who were grateful that you spoke up. And I'm curious, you said in an interview last year that since the October 7 attacks in 2023 many of us have been asked to distance ourselves from our Jewish identity. And I'm curious if you are hearing that from some faculty, if you're hearing that from students, can you explain what you meant by that? Jordan Acker:   I will admit that I stole this phrase from Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, is ‘protest koshering,' right? And that's a really interesting way, I think, of what has been asked of a lot of Jews, that Jews have to apologize for their heritage or for their love of the people of Israel, even if, like me, they don't like the government of the people of Israel, right? And that's, I think, been a big challenge.  But what I've seen mostly is, on our campuses, it's not so overt. It shows up in students avoiding certain classes, students avoiding certain professors, or students simply not speaking up at all. And again, those are really disturbing breaches of student academic freedom to have to choose. Oh, well, I can't take this class or that professor, even if that professor might be good, because I might be judged differently, or I might have to listen to a completely unrelated lecture about the Middle East.  Or even worse, we've had professors, and frankly, they're mostly graduate student instructors, canceling class and encouraging people to go to protests. It's an unacceptable place to be. And again, part of the issue here with the faculty is, knowing where the border of your own political activism is and your taxpayer funded job is, right? They're different, and we have to get back to a place where we respect both of those. We can't stop someone from going out, engaging politically, nor should we. But the person also has a responsibility to not bring that into the classroom, especially when it's not directly related to their class. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And so, what specific examples have you heard from students and faculty in terms of wanting to hide their Jewish identity? Are you hearing any examples of people who perhaps aren't wearing a Star of David necklace or aren't participating in Jewish events because they don't want to be identified as such? Jordan Acker:   I'm not seeing much of that, to be honest with you, and I think that's a great thing. You know, I was really worried about this myself. I attended the last Shabbat dinner at Hillel prior to the end of the previous school year, and there were hundreds of students there, and it felt like any other Friday night. What I've gotten most from students is that they've been annoyed by it, but they haven't necessarily been, they haven't been overwhelmed. It hasn't been like UCLA or Columbia. It's like I said, it's been less overt.  But I do think that there's been some level of, people keep their heads down right. And that's, I think, a big challenge and a big problem here. But I think, again, I think it's worse among the faculty, far worse among the faculty than it is among our students.  I mean, imagine being a Jewish or Israeli professor on campus right now and thinking that someone like this is going to be responsible for your promotion, for your tenure decisions. Those things are highly disturbing, and we see this all the time. Just last night, you know, we see an epidemiologist who people want to protest because he's Israeli.  Well, at some point it says, Well, how is this person able to get a fair shake on their own academic research at our university, if this is what happens every time you know, they're singled out in a way that, frankly, no Chinese student, or Chinese professor would ever be singled out. Because you would know that that would be clearly anti-Chinese racism. Somehow, this seems to be acceptable when it comes to Israelis and to Jews generally. And it's not. And you know, it's a big problem in the academy, quite frankly. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You had also said in a previous interview that there has been an intense policing of Jews' ability to determine for themselves what is antisemitic and what is not. Is that one example, are people actually willing to say, Oh, that's not antisemitic, that just because we protest him, because he's Israeli or Jewish, I would do people, is that what people argue or are there other examples that you can share? Jordan Acker:   Well, you know, I had professors come to me and say, How could you say what happened to your office is antisemitic? How could you say what happened to your house is antisemitic? And I think that, honestly, in a lot of places, it doesn't come from a bad place. I think it comes from a place of not knowing, right? And I think it comes from a blind spot.  And I think that's really the big issue here, is that there's a real lack of education and interest on the far left with, engaging with us. And I think it's frankly, you know, to say, Oh, it's a failure, the far left is not actually doing the Jewish community generally, a service. I think the Jewish community has also, quite frankly, failed when it comes to helping people on the left who are not antisemitic, but have very real, legitimate criticisms of Israel, helping them do so and engage in a way so the conversations are productive, while pushing out actual antisemitism. And that's, I think, a big difference.  I think that we know, and we're very clear, and I know this, having just come back from from Israel about a month ago, that the criticisms of the Israeli government are quite harsh among other Israelis. And I don't think that stopping the Israeli government from being criticized in America is helpful at all either. I think it, frankly, deserves a lot of criticism, just like any other democratically elected government does. But it's the how, it's the what, who's the messenger? How does the message come across, that I think things are really lacking, and people are are really not understanding why it veers so frequently into antisemitism and how to tell people, you know, that language is not acceptable. The person who was the head of the coalition that did our encampment put out a bunch of posts on Instagram saying that anyone who believes in the Zionist entity should die and worse. The problem, obviously, is her own personal antisemitism, which is obvious. But more importantly, the problem here is that nobody says: that's not acceptable, you're gone.  That, to me, is the biggest failure. Because it says we are not policing ourselves in our own behavior, and it discredits movements. But more importantly, it shows what a utter failure this movement has been in order to get anything for Palestinians without hurting American Jews, which has ultimately been the target of so much of this.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   I want to share more findings from the antisemitism report. The survey found that 81% of American Jews are able to divorce their displeasure with the government from their spiritual connection to Israel. In other words, they say caring about Israel is important to what being Jewish means to them. I think this is perhaps, is what you mean, or maybe it isn't, by a blind spot. I mean, is part of the problem on college campuses, that lack of understanding about the American Jewish spiritual connection to Israel? Jordan Acker:   I think that's a big part of it. And I think that's I think that's a big thing that we're lacking when it comes to understanding the story of the Jewish people, but frankly, it's a story that could be told on the other side as well, about Palestinian connection to the land and to the region as well. You know when we talk about where Jews pray, what direction we pray, the importance of Jerusalem, the importance of so many places in Israel, and of that spiritual connection. I think that there is a lack of understanding of that.  You know, one of the things that I got out of my own trip to Israel and meeting with Jewish and Palestinian students, was, they understand, and they believe, correctly, in my view, that the protest movement America has simply Americanized a non-American conflict. This is not settler colonialism or, or some, you know, academic theory. These are two peoples with very deep connections to this land who have a very, very difficult challenge in front of them, and it's different.  And I think that, yeah, I think we have failed at that. I think the whole concept, you know, and I've had this conversation with my friends in the Arab American community, the whole concept of not knowing that, you know, they talk about the Nakba and this, you know, ejection of Palestinians in 1948 and, there is some truth to it, but what they don't know or speak about at all is the ejection of the Jewish communities that were also thousands of years old from the Arab world – at that exact same time. And so I bring this up not to say that one group has more of a claim than the other, or one group has more of a claim for having suffered than the other, but to say that we need to talk about both sides of this narrative, and we're not.  And you know, too much of this movement has brought forward Jews who say things like, you know, as a Jew, I blah, blah, blah, and I have no connection to the Jewish community, or in Israel. But it misses out what the vast majority of American Jews say, and the vast majority of world Jewry says, which is, they do have a spiritual connection to Israel. And it's fine not to, by the way, that's your personal belief, but there's been this mistaken belief that that viewpoint is representative of all of the Jewish community, and while it's a small group certainly, it is not the majority at all. Most American Jews do have an understandable connection to the land of Israel. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Has the conversation on campus been a debate or discussion about the two people who have a connection to the land, or has it focused more on whether Jews have a right to self determination? Jordan Acker:   So I met with students at Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University, and Hebrew University, all three of which have very large Palestinian and Arab and Muslim populations. And they recognize the complexity of the conflict. And when I left there, my first, my big feeling about this was deep embarrassment for the way that our students had or so it's not all of our students, but a group of students had acted, you know, this whole concept of genocide and settler colonialism and and it is completely removed from the everyday experiences and understandings of both peoples.  I think the conversation on campus has been wildly counterproductive. I think it has done no good for anyone over there and has only served to hurt people here. You know, I think there's a lot of folks on the other side who genuinely believe that protesting is helpful for the Palestinian people, and do not understand why these specific attacks are so harmful to American Jews. And I don't think, you know, again, I don't think the American Jewish community has done a great job in helping to educate and to push people into places that are not anti semitic, but I think generally, the conversations have been particularly unproductive that they just put people into camps, and people are not able to listen and talk to each other because they use extremely loaded language, and have are looking for social media points. They're not looking for discussions and understanding. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Well, I will say that the State of Antisemitism in America report found that a majority of Americans, 85% the same number of American Jews, agree that the statement Israel has no right to exist, that foundational core of anti Zionism, that that statement is antisemitic. So I'm curious, does that give you hope that meaningful dialog is still possible? It still could be on the horizon, or has that ship sailed?  Jordan Acker:   No. I think that. I think no ship has ever sailed permanently. I think we're in a far worse place off than we were before October 7. I think everyone is actually in a far worse place off. It gives me hope and understanding that Jews are an accepted mainstream part of American life, and I think that's for a lot of Jews myself included. There was a feeling that we were being intentionally isolated, that our allies weren't standing up and talking for us at the times when we needed them the most. But I think that it's pretty clear at this point that positions like that are a minority that harassing my family. And engaging in violent behavior. Those are a minority.  You know, the group that has been most that called me first, the leadership of the community called me first when this happened to me, was the Arab American community in Metro Detroit, community that I have long relationships with, good relationships with.  You know, I've had the mayor of Dearborn over for Shabbat dinner, and I appreciate and love those and cherish those relationships, but I think that it is totally separate from the question of Israel in whether Jews have a right to exist in America as full citizens, right that we don't have to take we're only citizens if we take certain positions, right? I think that's what, to me, that is most hopeful about, is it shows that that particular position is rejected by the vast majority of Americans. And I think that's a really good thing for American Jews at a time when world Jewry is in a pretty precarious state. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You mentioned that you have three young daughters who awoke to that vandalism in your home that morning. How are they processing all of this? Jordan Acker:   It's been really hard. You know, I think trying to explain to a nine and a seven year old why someone would do this to your family is really difficult. My seven year old said to one of her friends that there are people who are trying to bully daddy. And I guess that's true, and in the technical sense of the word, I think that that's right, but I think that it's really a challenging thing.  You know, my girls are fortunate to go to great public schools with Jews and non-Jews. They're fortunate they do gymnastics in a very diverse community on the east side, which we love. So they get to see and know people of all races, colors, religions, you name it. I mean, Detroit is a remarkable and diverse place, and to think that they were being singled out, I think, is something that they can't quite put their heads around, because it doesn't exist to them. You know, for them, you know, the black girls that they do gymnastics with are the same as the Lebanese girls who they do gymnastics with, same as the Jewish girls they do gymnastics with. It's just, can you complete your round off, right? And that's where I'd like them back to being again. But it's really, really challenging when you've had something like this happen to you. So because the sound is so visceral and it's just so violative of your family, and frankly, of the way America should work, it's, it's, that's why I said at the beginning of this pod, it's un-American to engage in this kind of violence. It's the kind of violence that the Klan would engage in. And you know, that's why we have laws like here we do in Michigan to prevent people from masking in public like this. It's for this exact reason, because that's what the Klan did. And we have to toss it out because it has no place in our society, period. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Jordan, thank you so much for joining us and for kind of explaining the situation on University of Michigan's campus, but also your own family's encounter. Jordan Acker:   Thank you so much for having me, and for your wonderful CEO, I have to end this with a Go Blue, and thanks again.

When your child needs special education support, the system can feel overwhelming, confusing, and isolating.

Arlouine Gay Kingman and Jim Entenman are new inductees in the SD Hall of Fame. They share their stories and their philosophies for doing good in South Dakota.

Partners in PROMISE is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect the rights of military children in special education and disability communities to ensure they receive equal access to education.  Listen as Dr. Jenna Kremkow and Carla Wyrsch discuss how the PROMISE advocates for military children with special and exceptional needs.   This podcast is made possible by generous funding from the Tinker Spouses Club. To learn more, visit https://www.tinkerspouses.org/.   Audio mixing by Concentus Media, Inc., Temple, Texas.   Show Notes:     Resources:   Partners in PROMISE https://thepromiseact.org/   Partners in PROMISE Special Education & EFMP Binder  https://thepromiseact.org/binder/   Educator Report https://thepromiseact.org/educators-report-partners-in-promise-2022-research-findings/   Bio: Jenna Kremkow is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Elmhurst University. She completed her MS and PhD at The Pennsylvania State University with an emphasis in autism, augmentative and alternative communication, child language disorders, and stakeholder training and perspectives. Clinically, Jenna has worked as a speech-language pathologist in elementary schools, outpatient clinics, and early intervention settings. Jenna teaches courses in augmentative and alternative communication, autism, language disorders in children, and research methods. One of her research areas focuses on the experiences of military families with children with autism and the use of technology to improve communication outcomes and quality of life for children with autism and their families. Her goal is to use research to support data-driven recommendations and policy changes to improve special education services for military families.     Carla Wyrsch is the spouse of a retired United States Marine and mother of two. She has devoted her career to educating and advocating for children with disABILITIES. Her experience spans a variety of settings, including residential treatment facilities, military bases, public schools, and the Lerner School for Autism at the Cleveland Clinic. Currently, she is a School Operations Director with MIYO Health. In addition to her work with MIYO Health, Carla enjoys volunteering with Best Buddies of Greater Memphis, the Organization for Autism Research, and Partners in PROMISE as a content creator and advisory board member.    

Students with disabilities. Adam Blosser talks about understanding and navigating school.   What to know about an IEP and getting ready for a new school year.   blosseradvocacy@gmail.com

In this episode, we're joined by Ratna Viswanathan, CEO of Reach to Teach. Ratna left a distinguished career in Civil Services to pursue her passion for education. With leadership experience at Oxfam India, VSO, MFIN, UNEP, and UNDP, she's dedicated to strengthening education. Join us as we explore her journey, Reach to Teach's work, and the future of education in India. Discussion Highlights - Ratna's journey from Civil Services to education - Reach to Teach's mission and collaboration with State Governments - Shift from on-field work to government collaboration - Future changes in the education sector - Supporting children beyond education - Expansion plans for Reach to Teach - Ratna's vision for the organization Tune in to this inspiring conversation with Ratna Viswanathan on The Good Sight Podcast! If you or your organisation are dedicated to driving positive social change, we want to hear from you. Reach out to us at The Good Sight by emailing us at contact@thegoodsight.org with a brief description of your work and achievements, or give us a call at 9696399931.

In Episode 67, Ana Maria Soto teaches us about advocacy in education and the challenges with access to higher education for immigrant parents and their children. We discuss some of the tools for navigating the education system as well as tools for parenting in the United States, including tools for assisting with the generational and cultural divide. The conversation then transitions to entrepreneurship and how she tailored her passion for advocacy in education into a business that can help families beyond her community. Ana Maria Soto is deeply committed to empowering parents and children to pursue their aspirations, particularly in higher education. Renowned for her dynamic presentations, Ana Maria delivers bilingual training sessions in Spanish and English, focusing on social-emotional learning and the path to college success. Currently serving as a director at Miami Dade College, Ana Maria has cultivated an extensive career dedicated to educational advancement. At New Futuro, she pioneered a comprehensive workshop series, equipping participants with detailed guidance on college preparation, application processes, and financial strategies. Ana Maria's impact extends beyond workshops; she has fostered multicultural programming, provided mentorship, and facilitated opportunities for Latino students at National Louis University and Columbia College Chicago. You can learn more about New Futuro at https://www.facebook.com/EducateLatina/. Beyond academia, Ana Maria holds executive leadership positions on the boards of Erie Family Health Clinics and Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy in Chicago. Her academic journey includes a Bachelor's degree from the University of the South, a Master's from Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain, and an MBA from National-Louis University. Recognized for her leadership, Ana Maria was honored as a National Hispana Leadership Institute Fellow in 2004. In her leisure time, Ana Maria indulges in her passions for photography, cooking, technology, and social media, reflecting her multifaceted interests and vibrant spirit.

Ron Burke, president and CEO of the Alliance for Water Efficiency, explains the organization's mission and presents their priorities around education, advocacy, research, and training. Ron also takes us on a deep dive into the approach to water efficiency in regions throughout the U.S. He tells us about the organization's strategic plans, their vision for the future of water in the U.S., and what needs to be accomplished to fix top issues facing the industry. Podcast Recorded on June 13, 2024

Dr. Riley Kirk is a cannabis research scientist and a cannabis educator. She obtained her Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences, specializing in natural product chemistry where she studied the traditional and contemporary uses of hundreds of medicinal plants. She has worked as an immunology scientist in the biotech industry, currently is an assistant associate professor at the University of Rhode Island and works in the cannabis industry on the medicinal value of the chemical synergies within the plant. Riley is the co-founder of the cannabis research and education non-profit called the Network of Applied Pharmacognosy (NAP). NAP is using science as advocacy to research and communicate findings that highlight the unique power of natural products. The goal of Riley's work is to unite people in the Cannabis industry, academia, and consumers to further the reach of Cannabis education and reduce harm.

In this episode, we talk with Rachael Sommer, a dedicated mother and caregiver from Cleveland, Ohio. Rachael shares the journey of her daughter Maddie, who was diagnosed with Hepatosplenic T-cell Lymphoma in October 2023, after several months of mysterious symptoms. Treated at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Maddie's condition has profoundly impacted their lives.Rachael recounts their initial stay at the Ronald McDonald House post-diagnosis, highlighting the physical and emotional changes Maddie experienced. Maddie's extreme fatigue and breathlessness were particularly challenging, and Rachael emphasizes the importance of adjusting to a "new normal" while staying in constant communication with doctors. Rachael found solace in the Ronald McDonald House's facilities, specifically the fitness room, which helped her manage her own stress.The conversation shifts to the emotional toll on Maddie, who struggled with isolation from friends and the mental burden of not being able to participate in normal activities. Despite the support of friends and thoughtful gestures like sending cards, nothing could replace the physical presence of her peers. Rachael's creativity shone through when she set up a Google camera to allow Maddie to see her cats, Binks and Leon, while they were away.Rachael discusses the importance of recognizing and respecting individual emotional needs. Maddie's withdrawal from activities she once enjoyed, like listening to music, was particularly hard for Rachael, who feared losing her daughter's spirited personality. Eventually, Maddie slowly began to regain her sarcasm and interactions with her younger brother, Ezekiel, signaling a return to her usual self.The financial strain of Maddie's illness is another significant aspect of their journey. Rachael praises the support from various organizations, including Carrie's Cause, Fight Like A Dozer, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which provided crucial financial aid. This support allowed Rachael to focus on Maddie's care without the added burden of financial stress.Rachael also shares her career transition to consulting, driven by the need for greater flexibility to support her family. Her faith in God has been a cornerstone throughout this journey, providing spiritual strength and community support.Finally, Rachael reflects on the importance of savoring small moments of joy amidst the challenges. She encourages other caregivers to focus on what truly matters, finding moments of normalcy and joy, and maintaining hope and strength for their loved ones.Resources:Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio: https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/Fight Like a Dozer: https://www.fightlikeadozer.org/Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS): https://lls.org/NMDP (formerly Be The Match): https://bethematch.org/The Bible Recap: https://www.thebiblerecap.com/National Bone Marrow Transplant Link - (800) LINK-BMT, or (800) 546-5268.nbmtLINK Website: https://www.nbmtlink.org/nbmtLINK Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/nbmtLINKnbmtLINK YouTube Page can be found by clicking here.Thank you to our sponsors. This season is supported by a healthcare contribution from Sanofi  https://www.sanofi.com/ Follow the nbmtLINK on Instagram! https://www.instagram.com/nbmtlink/

Thank you to Eaton Financial Group for supporting our mission and podcast! Eaton Financial Group's motto is to live well, work hard and give generously. The firm specializes in helping women who handle household financial planning by acting in a fiduciary capacity – meaning your best interests are their first priority. For a relaxed and no-obligation cup of coffee and transparent information about creating a financial portfolio – live or virtually – visit eatonfinancialgroup.com to set an appointment. Tell them The Motherhood Village sent you.  Learn more about joining The Motherhood Village community as an official member Brief summary of show: In this episode of the Motherhood Village podcast, we are joined by special guest Ivy Price-Ware, a seasoned educator dedicated to transforming lives through education, empowerment, and inspiration.  Ivy shares her remarkable journey from being a former foster child and teenage mother to becoming an influential figure in education. She discusses how her personal experiences shaped her approach to education and empowerment, particularly for families from disadvantaged backgrounds. Ivy emphasizes the importance of communication between parents and schools, advocating for children, and the crucial role of supportive communities and organizations. The conversation also touches on Ivy's book, 'Only Heaven Knows My Heart,' which details her struggles and triumphs, aiming to inspire others to overcome their challenges and advocate for themselves and their children. We talk about: 0:00 Introduction and Guest Background 01:08 Book Recommendation 02:54 Addressing Trauma and Empowerment in Education 05:09 Ivy's Personal Triumphs: Overcoming Adversity 07:06 The Importance of Communication with Schools 09:33 The Role of an Advocate in Education 10:43 Misconceptions About Educational Advocacy 20:31 Ivy's Book: A Beacon of Hope 26:58 How to Reach Ivy and obtain her services 27:55 Advocacy Across States: Ivy's Nationwide Impact 28:29 Final Thoughts: The Power of Parental Advocacy Resources Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary Connect with Ivy  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamivysdream/ Connect with Nicole  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.motherhood.village1/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The.Motherhood.Village1 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolegcumberbatch/ https://www.themotherhoodvillage.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNzy4b2WHCxvP1k8lL0dvIA

In honor of our dear friend and colleague, Roger Schmitz, we wanted to publish an encore of Roger's episode of the podcast. Sadly, Roger passed away on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, leaving behind a legacy of leadership and service to the public schools of Missouri.This episode originally aired on May 20, 2022.In this episode, we continue the "Leaders and the Law" series with school leader and public education advocate, Roger Schmitz. Duane discusses with Roger his thoughts and reflections on public school challenges, leadership, and advocacy. 

Jennifer Horn and Katie Gorka interview Sonja Shaw, the president of the Chino Valley Unified School District. Sonja shares her journey of getting politically engaged and fighting for parents' rights in education. She discusses the challenges she faced, including threats to her family, and the importance of grassroots organizing and community involvement. The conversation also touches on the influence of money in politics and the need for parents to stay informed and engaged in their children's education.Support the show: https://www.sebgorka.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jennifer Horn and Katie Gorka interview Sonja Shaw, the president of the Chino Valley Unified School District. Sonja shares her journey of getting politically engaged and fighting for parents' rights in education. She discusses the challenges she faced, including threats to her family, and the importance of grassroots organizing and community involvement. The conversation also touches on the influence of money in politics and the need for parents to stay informed and engaged in their children's education.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The largest school district in Texas lost its elected leaders in the summer of 2023. In their place – a state-appointed board along with a leader unafraid of creating upheaval and massive changes.It's unusual for school districts to lose local control, especially on a scale this large. Suddenly, the Houston Independent School District with its nearly 200,000 students and 11,000 teachers didn't know what would happen next. But the reforms came quickly.What led to the takeover and what's the impact of this whole-scale, test-based reform? We go back decades to understand how a history of high-stakes testing got us here. That pressure to perform trickles down to campus leaders and teachers, to students and their parents. The stakes mount as the takeover plays out and no school is left untouched.The Takeover is a seasonal podcast about power and public education. The first season captures 18 months of on-the-ground, neighborhood-level reporting, enterprising investigative work, and deep context about education policy and history from a range of expert researchers.

Rhythm & News Podcast interview with Nate Miles discussing his Inaugural Public Education Advocacy Award honored by the Alliance for Education and his commitment to education. Interview by Chris B. Bennett. 

Dyslexia is often misunderstood, missed altogether, and surrounded by myths. In this episode of Literacy Talks, our literacy experts revisit the state of dyslexia. From gaps in professionals' knowledge to challenges in early identification and intervention, we need more and better conversations, bolder advocacy, and strong systemic support. In short, there's work to do, and this episode will enrich and deepen the path forward. Subscribe to our Literacy Talks podcast digest and never miss an episode! We'll send you summaries of every session, links to the resources discussed on each show, and some extra goodies so that your learning never stops.Subscribe to our podcast digest.Download the new Reading Horizons Discovery Product Guide.Access the show notes.Read the transcripts.

Navigating Sibling Dynamics, Managing conflict and De-escalation the play-fuelled way.   In this enlightening episode of the Play Healing Podcast, host Debi John is joined by Dr. Amanda Gummer, an esteemed child development expert and the brain behind the Good Play Guide. This discussion delves into the transformative power of play, exploring the profound impact toys and play have on child development and how they can contribute to making the world a better place. Key Topics Discussed: Childhood Memories and Play: Dr. Gummer shares cherished playtime memories, setting the stage for a deep dive into how these early experiences sparked her career path and passion for play. The Balanced Play Diet: Introduction to the Balanced Play Pyramid model – a comprehensive framework that emphasizes the what, where, and who of play. Dr. Gummer explains how a balanced play diet is crucial for healthy development, akin to a balanced nutritional diet for physical health. Addressing Modern Challenges: Examination of contemporary obstacles to play, including over-scheduling and the rise of digital play, offering insights into achieving a healthier balance of activities for children. Parent-Led Play and Learning: Strategies for parents to facilitate enriching play experiences without succumbing to the pressure of constant entertainment. The conversation highlights the importance of letting children lead play and discover their interests. Play-Based Learning in Education: Advocacy for extending play-based learning beyond early years into key educational stages. Dr. Gummer discusses research on play in education and its dwindling presence, proposing methods to integrate play throughout the educational journey. The Role of Adults in Play: Exploration of how adults can model playfulness and create an environment conducive to play. This segment provides practical tips for parents to engage with their children in play, enhancing family connections and fostering a playful household. Empowering Children Through Play: Encouragement for parents to allow children the freedom to lead their play experiences, fostering independence, creativity, and problem-solving skills. The Universal Importance of Play: A call to recognize play as a fundamental component of child development and well-being, transcending cultural and societal boundaries. About Dr. Amanda Gummer: With a career dedicated to understanding and promoting the role of play in child development, Dr. Gummer is a leading figure in the field. Her work with the Good Play Guide aims to support parents and educators in selecting toys and activities that offer meaningful play experiences, contributing to the holistic development of children. www.thegoodplayguide.com About Debi John: As the host of the Play Healing Podcast, Debi John champions the integration of play into every aspect of life. Through her discussions with experts and advocates, she illuminates the critical role of play in health, education, and personal development. www.playhealing.com Join us as Dr. Gummer and Debi John unfold the layers of play, offering valuable insights and practical advice to nurture the next generation through the timeless and essential act of play.  

Welcome to Talking to Grandma, a weekly podcast that elevates stories, science, and strategies to help you raise and teach multilingual and bilingual children. Hosted by Dr. Veronica Benavides, founder and CEO of Bilingual Generation, an organization that helps children with bilingualism in their bones stay connected to their heritage languages and cultures. Today, you'll hear from the passionate duo Carolyne Crolotte and Gina Rodriguez as they explore the impact of Proposition 227 on bilingual education in California and their work to shift the narrative through the Two Languages, Twice the Opportunities campaign.  Listen as we dispel common myths and share tools and strategies to communicate the many benefits of bilingual education. Two Languages, Twice The Opportunities Materials English / Spanish Brochure English / Chinese Brochure English Social Media Toolkit Spanish Social Media Toolkit Chinese Social Media Toolkit Learn more:  First5la.org EarlyEdge California CAMPAIGN LAUNCH ENCOURAGES DUAL LANGUAGE LEARNING ACROSS L.A. COUNTY Reading by 9: 3 reasons why language is your child's secret superpower

Ever wanna hear two people that are so passionate about special education that they sometimes lost sleep over it geek out over it?! Taylor Day's energy for supporting students with autism is contagious – so contagious, in fact, that she is one of our very few repeat guests on the podcast, AND I've invited her to present at our Special Education & Advocacy Conference. In today's episode Dr. Tay and I talk about behavior supports, Pathological Demand avoidance, the concierge model of medical and therapeutic intervention, special education advocacy, and SO much more. This is the kind of conversation I have on the phone with friends while I drive my kids to swimming, take walks, and put away laundry. This is about as behind-the-scenes as it gets, and you're going to love it! Transcript: https://share.descript.com/view/5aT6eFG2qSJMeet My Guest: Dr. Taylor Day is a licensed psychologist specializing in neurodivergent affirming care for autistic children and their families, including very early diagnosis and early intervention. She has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is the CEO and founder of Dr. Tay Concierge Clinical Care. Her practice integrates The Whole Family Approach, a process she created utilizing evidence-informed principles after seeing a gap in autism care. Her passion for child psychology and her focus on autism is in many ways tied to her own personal experience growing up with a brother who was diagnosed at 23 months of age.Website: http://drtaylorday.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.dr.tay/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the.dr.tay/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-dr-tay/

Psychedelics Today Co-Founder Joe Moore returns this week for episode 231of ABR. It's been a wild ride since we last had Joe on and he stopped by to fill us in on all the new content and programs that are available over at Psychedelics Today.Stay Connectedhttps://psychedelicstoday.comhttps://www.instagram.com/psychedelicstoday/https://www.instagram.com/jomo137/?hl=enhttps://twitter.com/jomo137?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Classnotes Podcast (November 9, 2023). At IDRA we often say “everyone is a policy advocate.” This means that everyone has ... read more The post A Bright Future in Education Advocacy – Podcast Episode 238 first appeared on IDRA. The post A Bright Future in Education Advocacy – Podcast Episode 238 appeared first on IDRA.

Stephanie Parra with ALL in Education and Gaby Cardenas with Colibri Collective ALL in Education exists to ensure that individuals from the communities most impacted by education inequities are the ones making decisions for all students. ALL in Education is building an Arizona WHERE ALL COMMUNITIES HAVE ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITY AND JUSTICE. ALL in Education’s […]

Stephanie Parra with ALL in Education and Gaby Cardenas with Colibri Collective ALL in Education exists to ensure that individuals from the communities most impacted by education inequities are the ones making decisions for all students. ALL in Education is building an Arizona WHERE ALL COMMUNITIES HAVE ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITY AND JUSTICE. ALL in Education’s […] The post Stephanie Parra with ALL in Education and Gaby Cardenas with Colibri Collective appeared first on Business RadioX ®.

In this podcast episode, we have Christian John Lillis, executive director of the Peggy Lillis Foundation for C. diff Education & Advocacy. Christian shares his experiences as a patient advocate and discusses the challenges he faces at medical conferences. He also highlights the discriminatory laws in certain states and calls for medical societies to boycott those that impede evidence-based care. Join us for this insightful conversation on patient advocacy and health care rights. Christian John Lillis is executive director, Peggy Lillis Foundation for C. diff Education & Advocacy. He discusses his KevinMD article, "Conferences' duty of care in the face of discriminatory health policy." The Podcast by KevinMD is brought to you by the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience. With a growing physician shortage, increasing burnout, and declining patient satisfaction, a dramatic change is needed to make health care more efficient and effective and bring back the joy of practicing medicine. AI-driven ambient clinical intelligence promises to help by revolutionizing patient and provider experiences with clinical documentation that writes itself. The Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience, or DAX for short, is a voice-enabled, ambient clinical intelligence solution that automatically captures patient encounters securely and accurately at the point of care. Physicians who use DAX have reported a 50 percent decrease in documentation time and a 70 percent reduction in feelings of burnout, and 83 percent of patients say their physician is more personable and conversational. Rediscover the joy of medicine with clinical documentation that writes itself, all within the EHR. VISIT SPONSOR → https://nuance.com/daxinaction SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST → https://www.kevinmd.com/podcast RECOMMENDED BY KEVINMD → https://www.kevinmd.com/recommended GET CME FOR THIS EPISODE → https://earnc.me/RgzDUn Powered by CMEfy.

Join Amanda Aragon of NMKidsCAN and Jim Cowen of the Collaborative for Student Success for a discussion on how they fought for strong student supports during the pandemic and improved instruction and academic opportunities as federal recovery dollars wind down.

Welcome to Don't Be Scared, the podcast that helps you overcome imposter syndrome in STEAM careers.  Join Dr. J as he sits down with Danielle Molden, an artist, writer, and nonprofit administrator with a passion for improving access to education and the arts. In this first part of a two-episode special, Danielle shares her journey from pursuing degrees in Creative Writing and Fine Arts to working as a Driving Logistics Specialist for BioBus and program coordinator for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. They also discuss her role as an elected Board Member for the Mobile Lab Coalition, which supports STEAM education to communities all over the world. Don't miss this inspiring conversation about the intersection of art, science, and education.https://www.mobilelabcoalition.com/BioBus, Inc is located in NYC. they have one of the largest paid internships for black/brown students, Women and members of the LGBTQ+ community. https://www.biobus.org/internship/Follow Danielle on Instagram.com/mmmdanielle5 Visit the website to learn more about Don't Be Scared the organization. www.Dontbescaredok.orgWatch the video on our YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/@dontbescaredokayDiscover your hidden imposter syndrome tendencies and gain valuable insights into your personal growth potential. Take our insightful quiz now and uncover the key to unlocking your true capabilities. Use the link below to get started!https://www.tryinteract.com/share/quiz/643db21264cc910014447b2d

Toya Fick is the Oregon executive director* of Stand for Children, a nonprofit education advocacy organization. SFC is dedicated to making quality education accessible for all children, especially those facing difficulties due to their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability or economic status. The post 1080: How to Get Into Education Advocacy With Toya Fick, Stand for Children [K-Cup TripleShot] appeared first on Time4Coffee.

Overview Gabriela de Queiroz joins us this week on the podcast. Learn what skills are needed in a technical role as an individual contributor and how these skills change as you move to a management or leadership role. Transitioning to a leadership role can be difficult but Gabriela shares how you can best prepare to move into the role and excel! Here's a hint, a community is essential! About Gabriela de Queiroz With over a decade of experience in the data space, Gabriela has worked in research and in several startups from different industries, including Software, Financial, Advertisement, and Health. Throughout her career, she has built diverse teams, created sophisticated data science solutions, engaged with customers and stakeholders to deliver business insights and drive data-centric decisions. She is passionate about building innovative solutions, understanding business gaps, and customer needs, and delivering a flawless experience. Currently, Gabriela de Queiroz is a Principal Cloud Advocate Manager at Microsoft. She leads and manages the Global AI/ML/Data team in Education Advocacy. Before that, she worked at IBM as a Program Director on Open Source, Data & AI Technologies and then as Chief Data Scientist at IBM, leading AI Strategy and Innovations. She is actively involved with several organizations to foster an inclusive community. In 2012 she founded R-Ladies, a worldwide organization for promoting diversity in the R community, present in more than 200 cities in 55+ countries. In 2019, she founded AI Inclusive, a global organization that is helping increase the representation and participation of minorities in Artificial Intelligence. Social Handles k-roz.com twitter linkedIn mastodon AI Inclusive Learn more about our mission and become a member here: https://www.womenindata.org/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/women-in-data/support

This episode is a 2022 Year in Review!!! I'll walk you through a few trends that I saw in my own office and in the larger special education advocacy community. I'll also introduce you to my 2023 Free Virtual Conference AND a new product that we're rolling out in 2023!!! Transcript: https://share.descript.com/view/EzpZ6Ia9aSY 2023 Conference: https://ashleybarlowco.com/conference-2023 ABClub Membership: https://ashleybarlowco.com/abclub-membership

Beth Liesenfeld was an OT that provided school-based supports for years. She observed families that got what they wanted and deserved and families that didn't. She made notes of her observations and started helping families advocate more effectively with her experiences and observations! Join Beth and me for a co-hosted/co-published podcast on Advocacy from the Inside Out. We'll talk about how parents can best advocate… and so much more! Transcript: https://share.descript.com/view/0rf71zb85ERMeet My Guest: Beth Liesenfeld, MOT, OTR/L is an occupational therapist and passionate about teaching parents how to advocate through the IEP process. As a new occupational therapist in the schools, she was overwhelmed by the IEP process. After participating in 80 meetings per year, she noticed how some parents learned the system just enough to get the most effective IEP for their child possible from the school (and the followthrough, too!) She started her company, The IEP Lab, to provide parent friendly workshops and online courses that can be accessed around a busy parent schedule and start working with the IEP system instead of fighting against it. She is the host of The Parent IEP Lab podcast, hosts the free Parent IEP Advocacy Summit every fall, and helps parents prep for meetings and get IEP followthrough through her signature course, The Ultimate Parent IEP Prep Course

Ashley Barlow graduated Magna Cum Laude from Miami University with a BS in German Education (K-12) and received her JD from Salmon P. Chase College of Law in 2006. In a former life, she was a German teacher in Jefferson County Public Schools and Cincinnati Public Schools, having taught nearly every grade from K to 12. She also taught Real Estate and Business Law at Miami University. Her areas of practice now include special education, family law, estate planning, and probate. Ashley practices statewide in Kentucky and Ohio and also operates a business to empower and inspire parents and advocates in special education, which can be found at www.ashleybarlowco.com. When not working, she is normally at the pool with her husband and two sons, one of whom has Down syndrome. Timeline 2:00 Who is Ashley Barlow and the origins of Ashley Barlow Company? 4:45 Parental emotion vs the I.E.P 8:07 Ashley's recommended advocacy resources including Wrights Law 10:35 Ashley's parental tips and strategies: communication and compartmentalization. 15:00 Transition planning and the continuum of care (your child's employment preferences vs profiles, 5 areas of life that parents need to consider when planning their child's future, supported decision making) 26:00 Closing remarks and contact information. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/marsh-naidoo/message

Helene Blanchette, Founder and CEO of BizAndGive, joins Deborah Corn to discuss CBD, healthcare, and print shops in the Metaverse, the inspiring mission of BizAndGive, and showing up as a powerful woman, as well as her passion for giving back. Mentioned in Today's Episode: Helene Blanchette: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heleneblanchette/ BizAndGive: https://www.bizandgive.com/ Physicians CBD Council: https://physicianscbdeducation.mykajabi.com/ Deborah Corn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahcorn/  Print Media Centr: https://printmediacentr.com Project Peacock: https://projectpeacock.printmediacentr.com/ Girls Who Print: https://girlswhoprint.net

Today on the pod, we bring you a special remixed episode from 2019, my interview with Julie Causton, founder of Inclusive Schooling. We discuss six strategies for families advocating for their children to be included in general education classrooms. To start the episode, the story of Sam, a young man with Down syndrome, who went from spending all of this time in a segregated special education classroom to being included in general education. References Washington students with disabilities are often denied the right to learn in general classes (King 5 News) Achieving Inclusion: What Every Parent Should Know when Advocating for Their Child *** Click here for a transcript of this episode. Take our podcast listener survey: bit.ly/TIPodcastSurvey. Visit Think Inclusive for more information about inclusive education. Have a question or comment? Reach us at podcast@thinkinclusive.us. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Credits This podcast is a production of MCIE. Support the podcast and become a patron!

Dayvon Love sits down with Dr. Brian Morrison for conversation about the history of Black education advocacy and practice in Baltimore and the lessons from that history that we can use for social movements today.Dr. Brian C. Morrison is the Founder and President of the William J. Watkins, Sr. Educational Institute which focuses its work on improving educational outcomes for African American students. His dissertation, “African American Educational Efforts in Baltimore Maryland during the 19th Century”, examines how African American Baltimoreans used education as a source of cultural capital and pathway to freedom. Support the show

In this episode, we continue the "Leaders and the Law" series with school leader and public education advocate, Roger Schmitz. Duane discusses with Roger his thoughts and reflections on public school challenges, leadership, and advocacy. 

Heather White is a changemaker. She's the founder and CEO of the nonprofit OneGreenThing.org, an author, environmental lawyer, consultant, motivational speaker, nonprofit executive, and a former Senate staffer.  She has more than 20 years experience in nonprofit management and environmental advocacy. She's the former President of the nonprofit partner to Yellowstone National Park, Executive Director of EWG, and Director of Education Advocacy at the National Wildlife Federation. Heather also served as Counsel on Energy and Environment to United States Senator Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) and an associate at Bass, Berry & Sims law firm. She was a recount attorney and presidential campaign staffer for Vice President Al Gore in 2000. Learn more at heatherwhite.com.   Heather has also been named "One of the Top 100 Women in Wellness" by MindBodyGreen and recipient of the Women in Sustainability Leadership Awards by Green Building & Design Magazine. She serves on the board of several national nonprofit organizations. Heather has testified before Congress, appeared on PBS, NBC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, and has been cited in national outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Guardian on a wide range of climate and environmental policy issues. Heather is optimistic about the future and determined to create intergenerational partnerships to create a healthier, greener, more equitable world. Her favorite #onegreenthing is hiking with her family and friends near her home in Bozeman, Montana. Please check out my new book, One Green Thing: Discover Your Hidden Power to Help Save the Planet!  LinkedIn      Instagram      Twitter   

Dr. Erin O'Neill is an Assistant Professor of Public Health Education in the Health Sciences Department at New Jersey City University.  Dr. O'Neill's is a 2021 Fellow with the National Leadership Academy for Public Health (CDC). As a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES), she serves as a consultant to government and community health organizations for programmatic strategies to alleviate health disparities and to promote health justice and equity. She joins the podcast to explore the social and cultural aspect of public health and access to care.  We talk about the important role the community plays in crafting healthcare policy, the systemically rooted issues that create obstacles to health equity, and how policy and education work hand in hand.

This episode Charli interviews Caeley Looney, Space Mission Analyst and Founder and CEO of Reinvented Inc.Watch on YouTube!Caeley Looney is a total space geek, avid Netflix binger, and french fry lover. After graduating from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, she started working full-time as a Space Mission Analyst at L3Harris Technologies, where she currently supports their small satellite programs. Once the work day is over, she comes home and works on Reinvented Inc. As the founder and CEO of this 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Caeley works to empower young girls to pursue STEM fields through each of Reinvented's three core programs. Outside of work and running a nonprofit, Caeley is continuing to advance her education by pursuing her M.S. in Space Systems Engineering part-time at Johns Hopkins University online.www.reinventedmagazine.comTwitter: @cae_looney @reinventedmagInstagram: @caeleylooney @reinventedmagazineResources and Links:EPIC - event informationEPIC - Charli's blogGet the digital editionSign up for the NewsletterPerson of the WeekNominate an Industry Person of the WeekEmpowering Women Meetup - Wed. April 13Empowering Pumps Meetup - Tues, April 20Empowering Women PodcastLunch & Learn with Vincehttps://empoweringpumps.comhttps://empoweringwomeninindustry.comTwitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagrampodcast@empoweringpumps.comhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

For this episode, we welcome Melissa VanPelt who leads Seismic’s Global Education and Advocacy program at Seismic. We’ve hoped to have Melissa on the show for some time, and this is an episode you’ll truly...

For this episode, we welcome Melissa VanPelt who leads Seismic’s Global Education and Advocacy program at Seismic. We’ve hoped to have Melissa on the show for some time, and this is an episode you’ll truly...