November 10, 2008
Grinspoon Israel Advocacy Interns from campuses big and small engaged hundreds and hundreds of students through various programs relating to the 2008 presidential election. Students held “lunch and learn” programs with professors and students on campus, handed out information about the candidates’ views on Israel and hosted mock debates with students from the College Democrats and College Republicans. The majority of these programs reached out beyond the pro-Israel community, while ensuring that the audience was educated about the candidates’ views on Israel and their plans for helping work on peace in the Middle East.
At the University of Michigan, Grinspoon Intern Daniel Neumann took two different approaches to reach out to students on campus to discuss the election. First, he co-wrote an article for the Michigan Daily about the threat Iran poses to Israel and the two presidential candidates’ platforms with regard to Iran. The article touched on the advantages and disadvantages of each candidate’s plan for how to deal with Iran and advertised a speaker that was coming to campus to speak about Iran. Daniel also held an election event with a political science professor from Michigan who discussed the historical significance of the 2008 election and the Jewish vote. Following his lecture, there was a moderated debate between representatives from the College Democrats and the College Republicans.
Juliana Ross, the Grinspoon Intern at Simmons College in Boston, spent time learning about the presidential candidates’ viewpoints with a representative from Hasbara Fellowships so she could speak intelligently about the candidates on campus. To raise awareness about the importance of the election to the US-Israel relationship, Juliana utilized Hasbara Fellowships’ Election 2008 postcards, which featured pictures of each candidate and a quote from each about Israel. She handed out the cards to students, hung them on bulletin boards around campus and placed them on Hillel publicity tables.
Eve Samborn, the Grinspoon Intern at Washington University in St. Louis, utilized every opportunity and medium possible to advertise about the election, as well as the vice-presidential debate held on her campus. She worked with students from the Jewish Student Union to create a pro-Israel shirt campaign and handed out these shirts throughout the days leading up to the debate. “I engaged many new students through the t-shirts, both by talking to students about the shirts’ significance during distribution and on the day of the debate,” said Eve. She also put together a Candidates’ Forum, which featured student representatives from the Obama and McCain campaigns speaking about their candidates’ views on Israel. There was a large turnout for this event, and there were a number of new students in attendance who had not participated in previous Israel programs on campus.
These are just a few examples of the many powerful ways the Grinspoon Interns were able to harness the tremendous interest in this historic election, through the generous support of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation. Now they are working hard to create other programs and outlets for involvement for politically-oriented, pro-Israel activists so that they remain engaged in Israel advocacy and education on campus.
For more information about the Grinspoon Israel Advocacy Internship, please contact the ICC’s Senior Associate for Student Leadership Development Tracy Altman at 202-449-6518.