“A big weapon they’re depending upon is shame. They want to make dissidents feel ashamed. At universities around the country, administrators want us to feel guilt for having a conscience when they have none.” – Steven Thrasher, a tenure-track professor at Northwestern University currently suspended from teaching for supporting the Gaza solidarity encampment on his campus (False Profits: Why I Am Not Teaching in the Classroom This Fall).
On Aug. 13, I was informed by our vice president of Human Resources via a Zoom call that due to a dip in enrollment, Emerson College was canceling the Bright Lights Cinema Series after over 12 successful years and terminating my position after over 17. I want to make something clear to those who don’t already know: I’ve anticipated this termination since I went ahead with the screening of “Israelism” last semester. I had been discouraged from hosting the film as part of my series last fall both when it was originally planned and again around the rescheduled screening in February. My union, SEIU Local 888, filed a grievance against the decision to terminate me. We believe the administration circumvented the process of progressive discipline and fired me without just cause.
I do not believe economics was the determining factor in canceling my program. For a school like Emerson, the Bright Lights Cinema Series is fairly low cost to run—around $20k—and I had a plan in place to make the series revenue-neutral within the next year. There had been indications from upper administration that screening “Israelism” was putting my job at risk. I also suspect that my support for the Emerson student encampment and open criticism of Emerson’s new president were factors. I have absolutely no regrets about joining my colleagues and our fiercely principled students in speaking about the genocide unfolding in occupied Palestine. It is the highest expression of my values as a Jew and as a human.
I also want to be clear that none of the policies being implemented at Emerson in collaboration with Zionist organizations like Hillel, the Anti-Defamation League, the Academic Engagement Network, and the American Jewish Committee are protecting Jews on our campus. I was fired along with another anti-Zionist Jewish colleague, and Jewish students, faculty, and staff are all experiencing unprecedented levels of harassment and repression. We complicate the narrative that to be Jewish is to unconditionally support the state of Israel both in the wider world and here on our campus.
Even before the events of the last academic year, many colleagues knew that to those running the institution, the commitment to equity and justice was convenient marketing. “Expression necessary to evolution” is a slogan that looks good on logos and on enrollment materials. Those of us who were drawn to Emerson as a place to work and study make good on that promise—from the cultural workers who grew in numbers during my time there and made Emerson a welcoming space for a more diverse student body, to the faculty and staff who have shared the tools to expand thought in ways that are now being diminished and the students who are showing us all the power of solidarity on our campus and beyond.
In the 60 days of “work” that my union contract afforded me after my termination, I heard time and again how heartbroken our community is over the loss of the Bright Lights series and my dismissal. And each time, I let students, faculty, staff, and alumni know that my call to democratize the campus is more imperative than ever. I know that many of the folks who have made Emerson a place that I had been proud to work for almost two decades are currently looking for an exit. I hope that we can stand up to the authoritarian takeover of our campus before the promise of the Emerson that drew us all here suffers the same fate as many small liberal arts colleges—forced to close or be swallowed by a larger institution.
Regardless of the outcome of the grievance filed on my behalf, I will always be an educator, community builder, and activist. I believe that the most revolutionary thing we can do is to share knowledge, speak truth to power, create spaces for dialogue, and build solidarity. I am not done fighting for the Emerson that I love. I hope some of you will join me, whether an Emersonian or not.
Join your peers and colleagues who are standing up for the expression at Emerson that the motto claims to champion. This is our school and we can—and should—fight for it. A core tenet of Judaism is the pursuit of justice, from Deuteronomy 16:20: “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” which translates in English to “justice, justice thou shalt pursue.” Or as the old labor saying goes, “When we fight, we win.”
As an Israeli student, I transferred to Emerson partially to escape the antisemitism at my old school (but mainly to study at a school with a better film program). One of the main points they teach us in the world of documentary-making and journalism is to NOT let bias get in the way of your documentary-making journey. You would assume that that’s common sense in the film world, yet Israelism throws that point away and endangers much of the American Israeli/Jewish community.
It makes sense why a renowned film school would not want Israelism to be screened. When people in power, like Anna Feder, push to have certain narratives — like the one in Israelism — allowed but fight others, it endangers students like me!
It is the role of institutions to both protect all of its students, AND foster an environment for dialogue to take place. I truly do not mind different dialogues around the conflict in the Middle-East as long as they come from a place of curiosity and open-mindedness. When someone like Anna Feder is not only pushing for Israelism to be screened, but also pushing for places like Hillel (which has been one of the only places in college that I have felt 100% safe as an Israeli) to be eliminated, I have a hard time trusting that me and my fellow Jewish students are protected.
I will not address Ms. Feder. (the narcissism of the agitator-in-chief accusing the college of not protecting Jewish students, faculty and staff!). My comment is directed at the Beacon. Why the endless letters and opinion pieces dedicated to one side of this issue? Why the Beacon’s obsession with this issue in the first place (be it the Israel-Hamas war, the resulting college protests over the war, or the new policies in response to the protests over the war)? Where is the “uplift[ing of] diverse voices in the Emerson community” that the Beacon claims is its mission but has failed so miserably at implementing? The Beacon closed comments to a recent letter, It’s Time For Jay To Go, due to a flood of comments that were overwhelmingly opposed to the content of the letter, one commenter poignantly pleading: “I am begging the Beacon to move on from these op-eds that keep dragging the conversation back to a time 99% of the community does not feel like constantly rehashing.” I share this commenter’s exasperation. It’s time to move on! (Part of this comment has been removed for violating The Berkeley Beacon comment section policies.)
Anna, calling yourself Jewish but not upholding the values of Judaism is pretty insane. Being in the 3% of Jews world wide who call for the erasure of Israel does not make you a spokesmen of the Jews. It puts you on the same level as internalized homophobia. To stay in your liberal crew you abandon Jewish values, or you simply grew up with a void of Jewish values but an ancestry test that came up 40% ashkenazi. Also you were incredibly biased and you deserved to be fired I am glad to see you gone and my tuition staying away from your pocketbook.
In your letter, you write that “none of the policies being implemented at Emerson in collaboration with Zionist organizations… are protecting Jews on our campus”. This is just false and dangerous. This kind of language is endangering Jews at Emerson who do in fact support Israel or are Israeli themselves. Your support of and leadership on the smear campaign to remove Hillel, a major support system for many Jewish students is further proof that you do not care about all Jews just anti-zionist ones. Anna, I will not and will never discredit your Judaism because you do not support Israel but why do you discredit mine because I do? I encourage you to start actually having conversations about the Israel-Hamas war with both perspectives instead of trying to take down the institutions, people, and organizations helping to moderate those discussions. All the best in your future endeavors.
You seem to assume because you are Jewish that you represent all Jews. I believe many of “your followers” validate their Jew/Zionist hatred because you made that acceptable. You do not represent the majority of Jewish people and you definitely do not represent Jewish students at Emerson. Your actions and propaganda have made Jewish students scared and uncomfortable at a school that is their home. You do not speak for Jews. You do not represent Jews. Do not pretend you do.
As a Jewish Emerson student, Anna Feder does not speak for me. It is because of groups like SJP and FSJP that antisemitism is rising on college campuses, not because of Hillel or the ADL. Like one of my fellow students stated, Hillel is one of the only spaces I feel safe on campus. And so-called “Zionist organizations” like the ADL are the only ones actually doing anything significant to combat antisemitism right now.
Anna’s quote about pursuing justice is from the Torah. The Torah is the foundation of Judaism, by which we live our lives day-to-day, moment-to-moment. It isn’t a story book, but rather a strict and binding guide to the laws of Judaism, the contract between the Jewish people and God, and commandments for the way of life that binds Jewish people to Hashem (God). In some books and chapters the laws are directly prescribed, in others they are imparted through narratives and the lives of our ancestors and prophets. The words of the Torah were written over 4,000 years ago, but the narrative began over 7,000 years ago with Abraham. If you have read this far, you may be wondering what this has to do with Anna’s article, besides the quote. Here it is: The overarching narrative of the Torah is the love story between God, the Jewish people, and the land of Israel. Every law prescribed or imparted in the Torah is detailed to be performed in the land of Israel, the tiny spit of land designated for the Jewish nation, whilst the rest of the world was given to all other nations (this too, is in the Torah). After the final diaspora – dispersion- of the Jews from Israel in 70AD, the Jews began following an amended version of these laws in order to keep the Torah and the nation alive in exile. But for these past two thousand years, not a day has gone by when Jews have not expressed longing for their homeland in their daily prayers and practices. So now I must ask Anna: You quote the Torah, which is written for the nation of Israel residing in, or longing for, their homeland. Yet you are ANTI Zionist. Either you, Anna, simply pull the Torah card when you want us to think of you as a Jew OR you are, somewhere, hidden really, really, deep in your soul, an actual Jew, which, according to our Torah, means YOU are a Zionist.
The hypocrisy is pretending that you are open minded. When my son started at Emerson, I thought it was a wonderful place, but I left there with a very bad taste in my mouth and very uncomfortable at his graduation as a Jewish person. I felt the hatred coming from the students who seem to be indoctrinated, just as many of the children of Hamas leaders have been indoctrinated, if you really wanted to do good, you would fight for peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. These protest were about supporting terrorist. And for all these liberal thinkers at Emerson, try going to Gaza to see if your ideas and values will be accepted.
we love and miss you anna!! shame on emerson!
This is an interesting take because from my understanding Anna fought the administration to limit the bright light series from 2 times a week to once a week. It was important to her but she cut her workload in half focusing on traveling around the country on the college’s dime.
Therefore, given the college’s downward enrollment, it is not surprising to me that this role would be let go, as she herself was trying to lessen the load.
Grievances against former employers are in your right to have. However, writing articles like this is certainly not going to help you get either your job back or hired anywhere else for that matter.
I am sure you were not surprised to be let go quite honestly.
As Mitch stated in a previous comment…these articles that are using The Israel/Hamas conflict are quite frankly getting old. They are not factual. Everyone knows this except those who are living in a cult like mentality.
Let’s move on.
Israelism is a documentary about how American Jews feel about the topic of Israel/Palestine. One of the main takeaways that you’re supposed to learn is that we’re supposed to thrive for collective liberation – until all of us are free, none of us are free.
However, the originator of this quote is Jewish poet Emma Lazarus, most famous for creating the message at the base of the Statue of Liberty. In 1883, Lazarus lambasted the American Jews community for ignoring the pogroms within the Russian Empire, declaring that just because American Jews were safe in the Land of the Free, doesn’t mean that they could turn their backs to their brethren who were fighting for their lives against people that wanted to kill every Jew they could see. “Until we are all free, we are none of us free” is saying that until all Jews around the world had reached a state of self-determination, the children of Israel will still suffer at the hands of antisemites who want us all dead.
Within not just this opinion piece, but within all three of the pieces written by Anna Feder, she turns her back onto the Jewish community of Emerson that has been lambasted by antisemitic rhetoric that has been festering within Emerson College, mainly the encampments of the previous semester that Feder admitted to being involved with in an earlier Beacon article. Feder, just like those involved with Israelism, ignore the antisemitism in these spaces in order to focus on their own struggles of how to make the war in the SWANA region about themselves. As Lazarus brilliantly puts it, “we ignore and repudiate our unhappy brethren as having no part or share in their misfortunes- until the cup of anguish is held also to our own lips”
Thank you, Berkeley Beacon, for having the guts to publish this important letter by Anna. Anna, we will not stop fighting for you. The pro-Israel commenters are sure to hit this post, and some of these comments may get traction, but no matter how popular these pro-military, pro-genocide, pro-status quo sentiments may be, history will show that Feder was on the right side of the issue.
Your letter uses “I” 22 times. There are no “I’s” in Emerson. Anymore.
During my time at Emerson, Bright Lights succeeded as both a critical service for students (free screenings with the opportunity to meet filmmakers), and a huge value of goodwill to the people of Boston. I’m not surprised, but still disappointed in the administration for cancelling this program and firing Anna.