June 10, 2024 — Washington, DC
After a school year marked by rising antisemitism, protests extolling Hamas and other terrorists, and shocking harassment of Jewish students on college campuses across the United States and around the world, American Jewish Committee (AJC) today honored three student leaders representing outstanding campus organizations with the Sharon Greene Award for Campus Advocacy at its annual Global Forum.
“These college students are nothing short of inspiring. They have proudly - and publicly - embraced their Jewish identities in the face of incredible harassment and antisemitism,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch.
Hanna Veiler, President of the German Union of Jewish Students and Vice President of the European Union of Jewish Students; Micah Gritz, Chief Operating Officer at Jewish on Campus and recent graduate from Tufts University; and Noa Fay, Member of Columbia/Barnard Hillel and recent Barnard College graduate, were all recognized for their unwavering commitment to fighting anti-Jewish hate and the profound impacts they have made on behalf of their peers.
Veiler and many of her peers in the German Union of Jewish Students are the children and grandchildren of Soviet refugees who left everything behind to provide them with a better future – specifically, one without religious persecution and fear. She said, “Yet here we are in a world our grandparents never could have imagined—a world where vitriol, antisemitism, and hatred are allowed to run rampant. However, the experiences of the generations before us have shaped our actions today. This is why, no matter what and no matter how dark it might seem, we will never give up fighting for a world without antisemitism.”
Speaking about his time on campus, Gritz said, “Antisemitism has stained my college experience, as it has for Jewish students around the globe. Our stories—of facing casual antisemitism in the classroom and aggressive antisemitism on the quad—certainly did not begin on October 7. But they are more common now than ever.”
Jewish on Campus was launched in July 2020 as an Instagram campaign. It has since grown into a nonprofit organization that has been entrusted to share the experiences of and give voice to more than 3,000 students nationwide.
He said, “Since October 7, our social media content has reached millions. We’ve advocated for Jewish students on all levels, from university administrations to Congress and the White House. We’ve filed Title VI complaints with the Department of Education to ensure the civil rights of Jewish students are protected. And as a nonprofit organization, we are proud to have worked closely with partners like AJC to ensure that Jewish students always have a seat at the table.”
In reflecting on her experience during her final year at Barnard College, Fay was clear, “[t]his was not a good year; there is just no way around it.”
She notes that she was “forced to sit through guest lecturers brought in by my professors who denied the rape, assault, and mutilation of Israeli women and girls during the October 7 attack, who celebrated Aaron Bushnell—who set himself on fire outside of the Israeli Embassy in D.C.—as a true ‘patriot,’ and spoke of Israel, to a group of who we now know are highly impressionable students, as an ‘imperialist,’ ‘colonial’ state that is ‘committing genocide.’” She explained that her experiences on campus “forced me to face the reality that the student community I had come to cherish so dearly, my Barnard community, was a figment of my imagination. This was clarified for me with each call to ‘Globalize the Intifada‘, to burn Tel Aviv to the ground, and to bring death to the Jewish state—all calls that I heard on my campus, Columbia University, this year.”
But, even with these challenges, Fay said, “As is core to the Jewish spirit, I am also filled with strength, determination, and hope. For each friend I lost to antisemitism this year, I gained at least twice as many in Zionists. While I have had to work this year to make sure the world hears and listens to our cries—the cries of Jewish students in agony—I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge and celebrate the way in which Jewish students, especially at Columbia, united to support each other and to support the State of Israel.”
AJC is honored to partner with the family of the late Sharon Greene, who held a deep love of Israel and Judaism, to present this award and pay tribute to her tremendous contributions to her community in her professional and volunteer capacities. The Sharon Greene Award for Campus Advocacy is presented annually to student activists and campus organizations that work to reduce antisemitism, fight the BDS movement, and other organized efforts to delegitimize Israel and promote a positive image of Israel and Jewish life on campus.
“Sharon dedicated her life to causes that benefited the Jewish community and supported AJC's mission. Her volunteer work and commitment to social justice reflected her unwavering faith in the next generation and her desire to shape the future of the Jewish community. This award is a tribute to her enduring legacy of service and her belief in the power of young people to affect positive change,” said the Greene family. “This past school year has been particularly challenging for Jewish students as they faced harassment, discrimination, and even violence. We are honored to recognize some of the incredible students who have shown strength, compassion, and dedication to their peers, their campuses, and their communities as they worked to create safe, thriving, and supportive communities for all Jewish students.”
AJC is the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people. With headquarters in New York, 25 regional offices across the United States, 15 overseas posts, as well as partnerships with 38 Jewish community organizations worldwide, AJC’s mission is to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world. For more, please visit www.ajc.org
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