To the Editor:
The most recent incident of incivility, bias and bigotry on campus, this time in the form of anti-Semitism, should remind us all that insensitive souls lie within every community. Although the drawing and words of anti-semitic hate found last Tuesday in a dormitory were most probably the result of a single individual, we all have a role to play in our community. As Abraham Heschel wrote many years ago, "only some are guilty, but we are all responsible."
When we hear racial comments and pass in silence, we are responsible. When we see acts of prejudice and fail to respond, we are responsible. When we participate in groups that exclude or demean others, we are responsible. When we observe others behaving and speaking in ways that offend the personal identity of others and fail to speak up, we are responsible.
What would you do if you found a person defiling your neighbor's door? Would you walk away? Would you wait until that person left and erase the mark? Or would you stop that person and say, "No, this is not the way we live here. When you defile my neighbor, you defile me. You defile our community."
I am proud of the students from Hillel who wrote to the editor on Thursday. They demonstrated a profound respect for others in the community and a confidence in our support for them. I hope that we all will live up to that confidence.
