Much has been made of Jewish students’ claims not to feel safe on Canadian campuses. Professors and press alike have regarded these concerns as a ‘feeling’, not reality, or even as an expression of deserved discomfort. Others believe these worries have been weaponized against pro-Palestinian voices. In a talk at the Vanier College Social Sciences Festival in October 2024, Professor Anna Zalik, steering group member of the Jewish Faculty Network group supporting Palestine, referred to the use of “language of safety to prevent open discussion.” Similarly, in response to a government investigation into the tense climate at two Montreal-area Cegeps, reported on in The CJN, my local union took the position that discussion of Jewish safety is often conflated with the comfort of Jewish students. It stated that discomfort from political discourse is not the same as a threat to safety. In other words, Jewish college and university students need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

There is an interesting argument to be considered in this viewpoint. Higher education is, after all, supposed to be a place for examining one’s beliefs and prior knowledge. It would make sense, then, that Jewish students who haven’t been exposed to much critique of Israel might be shifting in their seats a little during the discussion of current events. Professors who believe Jewish students are just uncomfortable, like the mysterious composers of my union’s position document, might be surprised to discover that almost everyone does not disagree that Jewish students having to confront different views on Israel. That,........

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