Bigotry in LIS Education
I am a Jewish faculty member teaching in a School of Library and Information Studies in the American South. Early in my career, over the course of two academic years, I received anonymous anti-Semitic threats in my work mailbox. All were reported to my immediate supervisors; all were covered up by administrators. The perpetrators were protected, and I was threatened with physical violence if I attempted to go to HR [I was threatened while walking home from work by an administrative staff member and a knife was left in my mailbox]. My institution is very public in its commitments to social justice. While the intentions of many individuals in my School are genuine, I have trouble reconciling the institutional posturing with the actual institutional conduct. My goal is to remain at the institution for the duration of my career [I have decades left to work]. I enjoy working with my students, and though I miss my Northern home state, think I am doing a lot of good here. However, I do not forget that I am dedicated to an institution that tolerated the viewpoint that people like me [Jewish people] should be exterminated. My heart breaks, and I feel guilty for my cowardice. Other Jewish students, staff, and faculty might have been harmed because I was afraid.
