Catholic University Becomes Safe Haven for Jewish Students Escaping Antisemitism

A recent Harvard CAPS/Harris poll found that 48 percent of voters between 18 and 24 support Hamas in the current conflict. According to Steven Davidoff Solomon, a corporate law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, “Universities have been engaging for far too long in moral equivocation, and terrorist attacks against innocents should be condemned and not justified.”

Amidst escalating tensions on college campuses, 20-year-old Melanie Schwartz, a junior at Cornell, told American media, “Jewish students are fearful and isolated.” To help students facing hostility on college campuses, the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a private Catholic university in Ohio, has created an expedited transfer process.

“[W]ith too many universities preaching tolerance but practicing prejudice, we feel compelled to do more. We are witnessing a very troubling spike in antisemitism and serious threats against Jewish students. We want to offer them the chance to transfer immediately to Franciscan,” Father Dave Pivonka, president of Franciscan University, said.

“Our community will welcome them with generosity and respect,” Father Pivonka said. “Our religious differences will not cause any conflict. On the contrary, at Franciscan, our radical fidelity to Christ and the Catholic faith demands of us fraternal charity toward our Jewish brothers and sisters, as it does toward all people.”

Although Franciscan achieved record-high enrollment this academic year, university administrators are committed to accommodating and creating a haven for Jewish transfer students. (FN / VFI News)

“If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.” - 1 Corinthians 13:2