After a year of disruptive protests at Bay Area college campuses during the 2023-2024 school year, including tent encampments, building takeovers and a hostile environment for some Jewish students, things looked to be calming down starting last fall. “It’s been a really quiet year in a lot of ways,” Rabbi Jessica Kirschner, executive director of Hillel at Stanford, told J. recently. “​​Really wonderful Jewish life is still happening and has been happening all through this.” But the Trump administration’s intense focus on universities, with its stated purpose to root out antisemitism, continues to ramp up, bringing new challenges for Jewish campus leaders throughout the Bay Area — and the country. In the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the resulting war in Gaza, Kirschner, like other local Hillel directors, worked with the university administration to improve the atmosphere for Jewish and Israeli students. Now, facing scrutiny from the federal government with its “broad brush” approach to fighting antisemitism, which includes detainment of pro-Palestinian activists, she worries whether the crackdown will help or hurt Jewish students. Read the full story by staff writer Emma Goss: (fb)

Lexi Leban, executive director of the Jewish Film Institute, told us yesterday that the National Endowment for the Arts had rescinded both of the organization’s grants, totaling $55,000. The notification to the JFI, which runs the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, arrived in a May 2 email. While the news wasn’t entirely unexpected, Leban said, it was upsetting. “It’s quite a shock,” she said. The arts organization was one of many that have been informed they will lose grants as the Trump administration shifts its funding priorities. The decision is effective May 31. It’s an abrupt volte face for the NEA, which supports arts organizations around the country through grants. Just last year, the NEA profiled JFI in its “Grant Spotlight” series in July, calling it a “vital platform for filmmakers at all stages of their careers.” Read the full story by culture editor Maya Mirsky: (fb)