Save Conservative Jewish Life on College Campuses

PETITION

We, the undersigned, members of the Mahar Coalition, college students and Conservative Jews of all ages, insist that the changes planned for Conservative life on campus in the United Synagogue draft strategic plan be revised and implemented only in consultation with those whose lives are most affected by them. We ask for an immediate meeting with the United Synagogue Planning Commission, and long-term inclusion in the process of change, transformation, and renewal. We call for a movement-wide solution for strengthening Conservative life on college campuses, and express our hope that we will be able to help on the path to a stronger, more meaningful Conservative Judaism.

EXPLANATION

We, the members of the Mahar Coalition, wish to express our disappointment and displeasure with the changes planned for the KOACH program in the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's draft strategic plan of February, 2011. We believe that the drastic cuts to the KOACH program, which amount to its elimination and replacement with a formless, visionless grant program, lack nuance and are blunt, ineffective and counterproductive. To our knowledge, no college-aged people were consulted in the initial strategic plan draft, so we would like to take this opportunity to share our thoughts.

While we are disappointed both with the content and the method of implementation of the planned changes, we want both to contribute to and benefit from the new United Synagogue in cost-effective ways that are based on the particularities of the college experience. To that end, we look forward to both having our voice heard in establishing the new Conservative college outreach program and establishing fruitful partnerships with local synagogues and other movement institutions.

The world of the college campus is crucial to the future of Conservative Judaism. Though the USCJ draft plan identifies the campus as a place where Conservative Movement presence is less important because other groups provide support and programming there, it is evident to us who live on campus that the college Judaism space is crowded precisely because it is so important. More than any other unifying activity, young Jews today go to college--almost 90% of them. Any Jewish community that wants a future must have a presence on college campuses. Students supported today will yield leadership and participants for USCJ institutions, both on college campuses and in other communities, in the future.

Some students attend college, whether of their own free will or out of financial or logistical necessity, on campuses with extremely limited Jewish services, and in particular with virtually no Conservative presence. For these students, the only viable solution is a national, short-term convention program to inspire and minister to these students and equip them with leadership and religious skills to cultivate Conservative Jewish life on their campuses, such as the existent KOACH Kallah, which would be a victim of the proposed cuts.

The draft plan speaks of focusing less on synagogues and more on kehillot, sacred communities. Groups of college students are no less a kehilla than an established synagogue, and deserve the full support of USCJ to ensure a vigorous and vibrant future.  If United Synagogue is serious about reaching out to, and building more, new kehillot, it can look to college campuses, which are places of constant turnover and renewal, and thus building and rebuilding of the kehilla, as a model.

Nor should concern for the future of Conservative Judaism on college campuses be limited to those currently studying as college students, their parents, or those managing the United Synagogue transformation process. We seek and ask support in securing that future from all corners of the movement, and indeed from the entire spectrum of the Jewish world, which we believe benefits from having a secure, strong center.

Finally, we hope that our thoughts, ideas, and hopes reach not only those involved in the strategic planning process, and not only USCJ, but to all corners of the movement and beyond. Maintenance and growth of the Conservative presence on campus is a movement-wide concern, and we hope to come up with a movement-wide solution. In the meantime, however, we insist that any cuts to KOACH must be made with the utmost care, and only with the consultation of those who are most affected by them.