LOS ANGELES — While the headlines speak of confrontations between pro-Palestinian and Jewish students at California’s public universities, the number and variety of Jewish studies programs on these campuses have never been more bountiful.
Students can earn a Ph.D. in Jewish studies at the prestigious University of California campuses in Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara, and master’s degrees at Irvine, Santa Cruz and Davis. Stanford, a private university, also offers a Ph.D. in the field.
Within the last few weeks, a number of developments have added strength and further scope to these programs.
A $5 million donation by the Helen Diller family to the Jewish studies program at U.C. Berkeley will enable the university to annually invite an Israeli professor to the campus for a full year’s stay.
The state is establishing a teacher-training program at the newly created Center for Excellence in the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights and Tolerance. Holocaust education has been mandatory at California public schools for some time, but the quality of instruction in these courses has fluctuated widely.
In the latest development, the California State University system (CSU), whose nearly 400,000 students on 23 campuses makes it one of the largest public university systems in the world, has announced the creation of an undergraduate major in modern Jewish studies through a consortium of three of its campuses at Chico, San Diego and San Francisco. A fourth campus, at Long Beach, is slated to join this group next year, and the campuses at Sacramento, San Jose and Sonoma are expected to participate sometime in the future.
Overall director of the three-campus program is Professor Sam Edelman, who, teamed with his wife, Associate Dean Carol Edelman, has made the rural Chico campus, some 170 miles northeast of San Francisco, a vital outpost of Jewish studies over the past two decades.
“We believe students should have the option of learning about one of the oldest religions and cultures in the world,” said Edelman in introducing the new degree program. “The history, culture, literature and politics of Judaism have had, and continue to have, significant impact on the world.”
The new program is aimed as much at non-Jewish students as Jewish ones, particularly at Chico, where only about 4 percent of the 16,000 students are Jewish. Currently, enrollment in some 14 Jewish studies courses on campus — ranging from Jewish philosophy and literature, Bible, Holocaust and Israeli politics — shows a 60-40 percent ratio between non-Jewish and Jewish students, respectively.
Although the new Jewish studies major, which was seven years in the making, will start officially with the 2003 fall semester, a handful of students on each of the three campuses have jumped the gun by enrolling in the program during the current semester.
At San Francisco State, the site of some of the most intense clashes between Jewish and anti-Israel students, the new major consists of 42 to 43 required units through courses in modern Hebrew, Jewish culture and society, history and religion. The current Jewish studies program, headed by Professor Laurie Zoloth, offers 11 courses with an enrollment of about 175 students each semester.
John Gemello, San Francisco State’s interim vice president for academic affairs, welcomed the new major for giving “students from all backgrounds more opportunities to learn about the rich culture, literature, history and politics of the Jewish people. In addition, the bachelor’s degree program will better prepare students for a wide range of careers in social service, government, education and clergy.”
At San Diego State, Professor Lawrence Baron, director of the Lipinsky Institute for Jewish Studies, said currently some 560 students are enrolled in courses including Women in the Bible, Kabbalah and Modern History of the Middle East.
On all three campuses, the bachelor’s degree program will consist of three basic areas: the Holocaust, Israel and Jewish Studies.
In the planning stage is a master’s of education degree program, focusing on Jewish education or Holocaust/Genocide education, through a partnership among Cal State Northridge, Chico, Long Beach, San Diego and San Francisco.
After receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona, Edelman arrived at Chico 23 years ago, hoping to introduce some Jewish studies but planning to leave after two years.
However, he soon felt at home in “this natural place, distant from the tumult of the outside world,” and was also impressed by the support of the non-Jewish faculty for his Jewish studies efforts.
Chico’s reputation as a Jewish studies center has drawn such speakers as Elie Wiesel and Shimon Peres.
As a further recognition, the new statewide center for training public school teachers in Holocaust and genocide studies will be based on the Chico campus.