About Us

Our History

Rutgers JFAS (Jewish Faculty and Staff) was founded in 2016 by Rebecca Cypess (Department of Music) and Jenny Mandelbaum (Department of Communication). From the outset, the goal of creating JFAS was to establish a network of Jewish members of the faculty and staff, expanding collegiality and friendship and providing mutual support and assistance if needed. Since 2016, we have:

• Engaged the university administration in a sustained and extended manner to address problems of antisemitism as they have come up
• Hosted research talks by JFAS members
• Brought speakers to campus—most notably, Deborah Lipstadt in 2019—to promote a positive, supportive environment for the Rutgers Jewish community.

In 2022, David Greenberg (Departments of History and of Journalism and Media Studies) joined as a third co-chair.

Rutgers JFAS is an informal group that welcomes Jews and non-Jewish allies who are interested in improving and sustaining a positive, welcoming campus climate for Jewish faculty, administrators, and staff, and, working in partnership with partner organizations, for students.

 

Mission

Rutgers JFAS exists to forge connections among Jewish faculty, administrators, and staff at Rutgers University, to address and mitigate the effects of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on our campuses, and to help create a positive, supportive campus climate characterized by reasonableness, collegiality, and intellectual diversity.

Vision

A positive, supportive climate at Rutgers University that is welcoming and supportive of Jews and their allies along with all other groups, that is free of antisemitism, anti-Israel bias, and other forms of bigotry, and that encourages reasonableness, collegiality, and intellectual diversity.