Jews are so hot right now.

According to the article “Why More Colleges Want Jewish Students” by Elizabeth Redden on insidehighered.com, colleges throughout the United States are subscribing to the Field of Dreams ideology, hoping that constructing Hillel houses and organizing kosher meal plans will attract Jews to their campuses like moths to a flame and thus increase their campus’ diversity.

And some, like Virginia’s Washington and Lee University, have been successful.

But the key question is why “actively recruit” Jews? Why not Mormons or Muslims or Hindus?

Yes, we are decidedly awesome and clearly outrank Scientology in terms of number of celebrity believers (even if you count Kirstie Alley twice). But apparently Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson are not reason enough for people to seek out our presence.

Instead, Jewish American students are seen as potential “customers” having deep pockets, competitive dispositions and a propensity to learn.

As far as stereotypes go, I’ve heard worse. But in this case, colleges are sacrificing actual diversity for diversity catered to a period in which economic downturn and demographic change make the need for a reliable and wealthy student body ever-more pressing.

And although I applaud diversity and Jewish campus life as much as the next girl, “active recruitment” of any ethnicity sounds a little too close to “quota” for comfort. Because colleges only have a limited number of seats to offer students, “active recruitment” of any demographic (Native Hawaiian, Alaska Native or Other to name a few from the Common Application) will occur at the expense of equally qualified students of every other ethnicity.

As I see it, one potential option is to physically build ethnically diverse campuses, complete with mosques, synagogues, churches and temples to cater to a variety of students. Instead of alluring applicants by offering them preferential treatment during the admissions process on the basis of their heredity, these students will be drawn to the opportunity to experience their culture at reputable institutions that match the applicants’ academic interests.

Alternatively, colleges can strive to enroll Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson — a foolproof method for attracting students of every variety.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 11:31 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.