February 9, 2010
With the ICC’s new and existing task forces solidified at the fall Consultation, ICC member organizations are working together to further common goals and focus on the areas most relevant to them. The spirit of cooperation and collaboration is alive and well – and here is some of the latest news on what each task force has been up to.
The Greek Outreach Task Force has been regrouping and working on dividing four identified action areas among the distinct members of the task force:
1. Israel Amplified 2010 planning
2. Israel travel recruitment
3. Coordinating ICC speakers with Greek venues on campus
4. Pairing each of the historically Jewish Greek organizations with an Israeli philanthropy
Since winter break, the task force has scouted several locations and tentatively decided to host Israel Amplified 2010 from August 15-18 in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area. Stay tuned for updates and more details coming soon!
As recruitment draws to a close for Greeks Build Israel, the ICC’s alternative spring break partnership with Jewish National Fund, planning will soon begin for the summer round of Greek Birthright offerings. In addition to partnering with Israel Experts for the fourth round of the Greeks Rush Israel Birthright trip, the ICC and Hillel will be running a specialty bus for elected officers of fraternity and sorority organizations. This trip was selected by Taglit-Birthright Israel to focus on developing Greek leadership and connecting them with young Israeli leaders in the military and non-profit sectors. The Greek Outreach Task Force will specifically focus on choosing leaders from the ranks of the Jewish fraternity and sorority world, ensuring that this summer’s participants are a particularly high-caliber group. Alex Shapero can be contacted at ashapero@israelcc.org or 202-449-6508 for further information about the Greek Outreach Task Force.
The Study Abroad in Israel Task Force, chaired by the Israel University Consortium, has been hard at work the past month focusing their efforts on selecting 25 campuses which they will “spotlight” in their work to further promote study abroad in Israel. Each campus was selected due to its student population, study abroad environment, and overall status as an accredited public or private university or college in the United States. Selected campuses include American University, Columbia University, Emory University, Tulane University, Washington University – St. Louis, Arizona State University, Penn State University, University of Maryland, University of Wisconsin – Madison, and the University of California System. In the coming weeks the Study Abroad in Israel Task Force will conduct focus groups with students at these selected universities in order to gain further insight on the study abroad atmosphere on their campuses. Many of these campuses host MASA Interns and other students who seek to increase demand for study abroad in Israel.
Additionally, the task force will be updating the ICC’s “100 Schools List,” a comprehensive list of university policies as they relate to study abroad in Israel. Finally, in their efforts to reduce barriers to study abroad in Israel on campuses where they still exist, the task force will serve as a resource to Californian students, professionals and faculty eagerly working towards reinstatement of all study abroad in Israel programs within the California State University System. For further information regarding the Study Abroad in Israel Task Force and for the full list of “spotlight” campuses please contact Andrea Sorin at asorin@israelcc.org or 202-449-6583.
Continuing discussions about the myriad options for campus action have taken place among members of the Promoting Israel Task Force – and one of the agreed-upon areas of focus is providing resources to campuses to help counter the growing “BDS” movement. All ICC member organizations are asked to submit resources and information pertaining to divestment in particular so that the ICC’s divestment resource guide can be updated and distributed to students around the country.
Last but certainly not least, the Iran Task Force’s focus of late has been SCANI, the Student Coalition Against a Nuclear Iran, which hosted its inaugural web conference in late January, described in detail in a separate article in this newsletter. For more information about the Iran Task Force, please contact Steve Kuperberg at skuperberg@israelcc.org or 202-449-6536.