The non-news is that Michael S. Roth, Class of 1978, has been named the 16th president of Wesleyan University.
Halfway through the biography I received from the college was the information that Roth is, " A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and in the first generation of his family to attend college."
When I was admitted as a member of the class of 1960, information like that would have coded an applicant as one of the Jews who might be allowed into the 10 percent quota.
When I made the rounds of the fraternities in 1956, three of the organizations indicated that they could not accept non-Christians as full fledged members, but would be pleased if I joined their eating club.
The Jewish quota was a topic of occasional discussion and some embarrassment. I recall one teacher who asked if I had knew why Jewish students had higher academic averages than others. He said it came from having to pass through a finer screen in order to gain admission.
A decade or so after I graduated, Wesleyan abandoned the quota, and Jewish enrollment surged to over 30 percent of the total. The university recruited other minorities, and ended its exclusion of women. The current catalog lists Jewish and Israeli Studies along with African American Studies, East Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. It remains possible to study Economics, English, Mathematics, History, Philosophy, and Government.
All this is non-news because it looks very much like the rest of American higher education. The Jews have arrived, along with African-Americans, East Asians, Latinos, women, homosexuals and lesbians. A week ago I received a survey from the American Political Science Association's Committee on the Status of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and the Transgendered (LGBT) in the Profession. It asked if I included issues of sexuality in my teaching and research agendas, and if I felt that Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and the Transgendered faced any problems in the selection of candidates for admission as students, as recipients of financial grants, or as candidates for faculty positions.
Alas, not all is unremarkably open. One of today's e-mails described "the flames of anti-Semitism in France." It described several of the more prominent recent events, and concluded with a call to "boycott France and French products. . . . Boycott their wines and their perfumes. Boycott their clothes and their foodstuffs. Boycott their movies. Definitely boycott their shores."
Some may be concerned enough about the French to join a boycott, but there is more to that country than rampaging Arabs and remnants of Vichy. El Al has more than 3 flights a day (excluding Shabbat) from Tel Aviv to Paris or Marseille.
Neither Michael Roth nor I boycotted Wesleyan as students, despite what we may have perceived as less than completely welcoming to Jews.
There remain problems, and we must be vigilant. Israel is a focus of animosity, but not all is bleak even here. Just yesterday, while changing clothes in the nearby gym, I chatted in Hebrew with two Arab businessmen who I see there frequently. They wished me a pleasant holiday, and indicated that they, too, would not be working as usual during this week. They are part of the Israeli economy, and were beginning a Passover vacation. On the same occasion, I met Uri's father. The little boy who I first encountered when he was a new immigrant in first grade at our children's elementary school would not be home for the holiday. He is serving in one of the army's elite units, making it possible for the rest of us to enjoy ourselves.
In the evening we ate and drank to excess while reading and singing about our freedom.