Letter: Not a Good Place for a Jewish Student

Dr James Ryan
President
University of Virginia

Dr Ryan,

My three sons, Cary, Brian and David, attended UVA in the 1980’s. Those years were wonderful for our family. We attended UVA sports events, made frequent visits to Charlottesville, and became active in different facets of the University such as the Virginia Athletics Foundation and the Center for Politics.

My wife and I have remained avid UVA supporters for close to 40 years, but, regrettably, we now feel uncomfortable continuing to be involved with the University because we are Jewish. It has deeply saddened us to read about UVA students being harassed and threatened because they are Jewish and do not feel safe at UVA.

The UVA administration should have never allowed the BDS Referendum to proceed because it has further alienated and ostracized Jewish students. Now, the UVA Administration has been quiet when it should swiftly and publicly reject the referendum and stand in support of Jewish students.

Regrettably, I think that UVA is not a good place for a Jewish student at this time.

Barry Greene
Martinsville, VA

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Eugene Bogen
Eugene Bogen
1 month ago

When Prez Ryan didn’t have the guts to remove the F UVA sign from a Lawn door, we knew he was too weak to deal with the likes of antisemite students and faculty. There’s free speech at UVA for the left wing, but God help any student who says there are two and only two genders.

Lorna Gladstone
Lorna Gladstone
1 month ago
Reply to  Eugene Bogen

Agreed

John Buckley
John Buckley
1 month ago

President Ryan – and the BOV – should be embarrassed that any parents would feel this way.

Wahoo 76
Wahoo 76
1 month ago

Gov. Youngkin should remove the Rector.

Walter smith
Walter smith
1 month ago
Reply to  Wahoo 76

The Governor cannot remove the President. The Rector essentially controls the agenda for all meetings in conjunction with the President. The Governor can remove the Rector, and any BOV member of all public colleges in Virginia, merely with a letter explaining why, which letter is presumptively conclusive and not challengeable. The Rector violated all rules of decorum and squelched what should have been a public forum at the University founded by Jefferson and supposedly unequivocally committed to free speech. There was no need to force closed session to shut off discussion of public issues.

Kim Smith
Kim Smith
1 month ago

If a young person is presumably admitted to UVA because of intelligence, what relevance does their faith have? Apparently, no child should feel safe on that campus.

Jack Cann
Jack Cann
1 month ago

If UVA is not a good place for a Jewish student, then it is not a good place for any student.

Thomas Gorman
Thomas Gorman
1 month ago
Reply to  Jack Cann

Exactly! It needs an overhaul.

Walter smith
Walter smith
1 month ago
Reply to  Thomas Gorman

But but but….it’s Great AND GOOD since Messiah Jim and his G&G plan was approved by the Feckless BOV ™

The Bootstrap Kid
The Bootstrap Kid
1 month ago

It sounds as if Ryan and the BOV are turning UVA into a Hitler Youth Camp.

Clarity77
Clarity77
1 month ago

In the aftermath of the recent renaming of Alderman Library to that of another past UVA president when it comes to the subject of UVA presidential legacies, I wonder how that of Ryan would currently be viewed now that we can add to his legacy a campus rife with antisemitism under his watch. His silence speaks volumes. Does he even care?

Add that to F-UVA lawn door signs, student polls reflecting a loss of a sense of community, heightened student levels of anxiety, the imposition DEI and all its ill effects on both students and faculty, students groomed and subjected to experimental transgendering surgeries, involving mutilation, sterilization and disfigurement, concomitant with the use of powerful drugs for the rest of their lives all facilitated by UVA Health Sciences. COVID vaccine mandates requiring the use of ill conceived, untested mRNA vaccines which each day new studies reveal as to their harmful present and lifelong effects. Not to mention the leftist Marxist dystopian indoctrination, denigration of the Founding Fathers, especially Jefferson, the mocking and derision of the American dream as a future outlook for these impressionable and innocent sons and daughters of parents who fork over hard earned tuition money. I am sure there are many more items I have left out.

And we are told that this is all to be viewed as Great and Good?!!! WT heck is going on here?!!!

Governor Youngkin, the BOV, is it not time for a reassessment and a change of course so as to a return to looking out for the actual best interests of students as to their education, health and well being all serving to launch them into meaningful careers and a happy future rather than the current Ryan administered priority of indoctrinating and turning them into angry social activists? Don’t they, their parents, and the citizens of Virginia and our nation deserve better?!!!

Wahoo74
Wahoo74
1 month ago

Barry, know that Christian alumni are 100% behind you and our UVA Jewish parents and friends. Consider signing this petition and share it with your network: https://www.change.org/p/support-uva-jewish-students-who-are-being-harassed-and-israel-d56f5032-37ef-49e5-bd54-fb92f7f6ea9f

Lorna Gladstone
Lorna Gladstone
1 month ago

It is so sad what has become of UVa. It was an extraordinary school but now just another boring and predictable woke institution. Been there done that sort of thing. Someone has to emphasize to these pro Hamas idiots that the Jews did not start this war and cannot be sitting ducks. They have the right to defend themselves. If someone attacks the USA do we say it is OK. Hit us again. Ridiculous. I suppose I would not feel safe either. Because of my name many people assume I am Jewish and therefore. I too would be vulnerable.

Clarity77
Clarity77
1 month ago

Thank you Lorna for reminding me as I in fact have a very Jewish name but in fact I am 100% Scotch-Irish. From the time I graduated I have continued to receive over the decades mail from UVA Jewish organizations, and I can only conclude they went through a list picking out likely Jews by name. So all this is to alert me as to potential anti-semitic crap from these Jew hating groups now present at UVA that Ryan and the current BOV condone with their cowardly silence.

Clarity77
Clarity77
1 month ago
Reply to  Clarity77

I should probably qualify more specifically as to the cowards being Ryan and those Northam appointed BOV members. Thank God for Bert Ellis and the new Youngkin BOV appointees who are not cowards and are wiling to fight against the actual cowards. Whether it be Jewish students or even other students or alumni who happen to have Jewish sounding names, we should not feel at risk in any way when being on Grounds.