BEHIND THE HEADLINES New Jewish center at Dartmouth imbues community with new spirit

HANOVER, N.H., Nov. 30 (JTA) — Members of Dartmouth college’s Jewish community are excited about the recent dedication of a new center for Jewish life. At the same time, some are questioning college President James Freedman’s use of the dedication ceremony to detail some of the history of anti-Semitism at the school. The completion of the $4 million Roth Center for Jewish Life marked the end of a decade-long search for a permanent facility to be used for a wide range of activities — from religious services to social and cultural events. And weeks after the dedication, there is a strong belief that the center has renewed the spirit of Judaism within the Dartmouth community. “It’s incredible to be in a place dedicated to Jewish life on this campus,” said Valerie Hartman-Levy, a Dartmouth graduate and one of seven female alumnae who spoke at the Roth Center as part of a panel discussion on “Jewish Women in the Era of Coeducation at Dartmouth.” In addition to the evening lectures and artistic productions that have been scheduled at the Roth Center, Jewish students at Dartmouth no longer have to hold Shabbat services in the old Hillel house, which could barely accommodate 50 people. But Freedman’s use of the ceremony to explore anti-Semitism at Dartmouth drew a mixed response. At the Nov. 7 ceremony, Freedman told a standing-room-only crowd of over 400 alumni, students and faculty that the center was an important step in “the legitimization of the authentication of Judaism” at the college. At a dinner following the dedication, Freedman detailed the anti- Semitic history of the school. He read excerpts from several sets of correspondence, including a 1934 letter written to an alumnus by a former director of admissions in which the school official stated, “I am glad to have your comments on the Jewish problem. “If we go beyond the 5 percent or 6 percent in the Class of 1938, I shall be grieved beyond words.” Many of the students who were invited to sit with alumni and discuss the Dartmouth of the 1990s believed that the dedication should have been a time to celebrate the future of Jewish life on campus rather than dwell on anti-Semitic practices that occurred decades ago. Aaron Grotas, a senior and active member of Hillel who attended the dinner, said that while he admired President Freedman’s candidness about Dartmouth’s past, “this was a celebration to thank donors for their generosity; instead, Freedman chose to qualify the new successes of Jewish life with historical perspective.” At the dedication ceremony, senior Shirley Sperling, a former Dartmouth Hillel president, said Jewish students “are no longer stuck far away from the center of campus. “We are here at Dartmouth, where we can be seen and heard, and where we will be so much better at sharing ourselves, our heritage and our culture.” As Daniel Siegel, the rabbi at the college, said, “It is people which sanctify a place, not the building itself.” While the dedication of the Roth Center came as a huge milestone in the college’s history, Dartmouth is also celebrating 25 years of coeducation. That, too, has been marked at the new center. Although there may be fewer Jewish students at Dartmouth than at other prestigious colleges and universities — some 10 percent of students are Jewish — many students say the intimacy of the Dartmouth Jewish community increases their desire to express their Judaism. David Levi, president of Dartmouth Hillel and a member of the class of 2000, echoed that sentiment in a speech following Shabbat services, saying had he gone elsewhere, “I know I would not have been as involved with Hillel as I am here. “Jewish life and culture cannot be taken for granted in a place like Hanover.”