By Deb Silverthorn

The DFW Mothers Against College Antisemitism are on a mission to support their students, the faculty and communities of Dallas-area college campuses. The organization held its inaugural event, “Apathy to Advocacy,” on Sunday, March 9, in West Village.

The organization’s co-founders, Geri Cohen, Andrea Fasken and Miriam Zivin, along with University of North Texas-Dallas Professor Dr. Timothy Jackson, spoke to a gathering of more than 60 attendees. The event helped raise $17,500 and a silent donor matched the amount to total $35,000.

“Pledges will be used to launch a mobile education tour of educators, advocates and influencers to infuse, empower and educate in order that our students feel proud to be Jewish and unafraid to share that pride,” said Zivin.

More events are on the calendar. A session with Jonathan Elkhoury took place Tuesday, March 18. Elkhoury is an Israeli-Lebanese Christian, LGBTQ+ activist, public diplomacy adviser, commentator and advocate for Israel. Rudy Rochman, to be featured in an upcoming presentation (see sidebar), is a former Israel Defense Forces soldier and founder of Students Supporting Israel at Columbia University. Tal Oran, who will speak at still another event, is an Iraqi-Jewish descendant who has been documenting his world travels on social media (@thetravelingclatt) over the last decade. He has, since Oct. 7, 2023, focused his efforts on defending Israel.

“This hatred and heartache is happening in my backyard. It’s unacceptable,” said Zivin, who is also a co-captain of the MACA chapter at the University of Oklahoma, where her children are students. “Hundreds of students at UNT are suffering and afraid and it’s not okay.”

Cohen and Fasken have children who are students at UNT and who have experienced issues of antisemitism. For them, DFW MACA is a direct connection.

“The universal theme on Oct. 8, 2023, was a massive siren blaring for Jewish mothers to organize and help protect our children. With many instances of antisemitism experienced by my children on UNT’s campus, I have worked around the clock helping however I can. MACA has become a vital network of Jews and allies,” said Cohen.

In the fall of 2023, Cohen’s children, high school students Lillian, 16, and Jacob, 17, were enrolled in UNT’s Texas Academy of Math and Science program, placing them on campus. Their campus experience prompted Cohen to join MACA.

“Many are aware of Columbia and Harvard issues but unaware of anything happening here at home,” said Cohen. “Maybe they don’t have students on campuses or children in schools, but the experiences of antisemitism are happening everywhere. We hope we can transition these campuses of hate, hostility and propaganda platforms into ones of true higher learning, where Jewish students don’t have to think twice about proudly expressing themselves and existing.”

Fasken’s daughter Kayla is a freshman at UNT. She was on committees to present memorials last fall on the first anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023, and also when the bodies of hostages Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Eden Yerushalmi were returned. The pleas of UNT’s Students Supporting Israel to host the events were denied by UNT officials.

“The kids tried on their own and as a parent I couldn’t just stand back. I wrote to UNT officials, to the president and others, asking that the students be able to host a prideful experience on the campus, one without retaliation,” Fasken said. “We heard nothing back, but rather another group hosted a ‘Week of Rage’ with signs and screams of ‘Death to Jews.’ How can that be?”

Kayla and another student showed up by themselves with posters honoring the hostages.

“As a community, I hope we can come together for the good of the students, to bring all Jewish groups on campus to band together and to support them in whatever they need to feel proud,” said Fasken.

Jackson was the only one of 30 campus faculty members who agreed to sponsor UNT’s Students Supporting Israel chapter. He is a professor of music history, theory and ethnomusicology as well as a distinguished research professor of music theory and co-director of the Center for Schenkerian Studies at UNT.

“The ladies of DFW MACA can and should be a voice. I hope that voice will effect some change at UNT,” said Jackson. At UNT since 1998, he has watched the devolution of UNT’s Jewish Studies Program, formerly the Jewish and Israel Studies Program, for which he taught two courses. The JSP’s curriculum has been curbed, its library dispersed across campus and its esteem lowered.

“Ours was a campus of Jewish pride — academically and in the spirit of the students,” said Jackson. “We must raise awareness in and out of the Jewish community as to what’s happening at our public institutions, about the propaganda that is being disseminated. There’s got to be an end now to what is happening.”

For more information about DFW MACA, or to make a donation to support its programs, email miriamzivin@dfwmaca.com.