Creation of the Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Jewish and Campus Life
March 12, 2021 1:18 PM

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff,

This fall our university released a Joint Statement on Anti-Semitism, in which we acknowledged and affirmed our belief in the rights of all members of the university community to express their viewpoints, identity and lived experiences, and committing to actions that make that possible. Part of our commitment includes the creation of a group of undergraduate and graduate students, staff, faculty and alumni, as well as representatives from the Jewish community, to help us advance our commitment to an inclusive community where anti-Semitism and all other forms of hate will not be tolerated and each one of us can live and thrive in our full humanity.

Today, I would like to share that I have charged the Chancellor’s Advisory Council on Jewish and Campus Life to assist my office in identifying opportunities to improve and sustain this commitment. The charge of this advisory council includes the following primary responsibilities:

• To provide guidance on maintaining an inclusive and welcoming environment for all Jewish students, staff and faculty, and provide concrete recommendations for campus improvements to increase inclusion of all Jewish voices
• To assess institutional resources and campus climate for Jewish students, staff and faculty to better understand the current state of individual experiences and institutional support
• To support the relationships between the university and the Champaign-Urbana Jewish community, including but not limited to Illini Hillel, Illini Chabad and Sinai Temple
• To provide direction on the development of focused and regularly recurring educational and co‑curricular programming, regarding Jewish student inclusion and anti-Semitism

This Advisory Council will be co-chaired by Erez Cohen, Executive Director of Hillel at the University of Illinois, and Richard Herman, former Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The inaugural members of the Council include:

• Steven Miller, Alumnus, Gies College of Business, 1987                                                            
• Lorelei Rosenthal, Community Member, Rosenthal Manufacturing
• Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel, Director, Chabad Center for Jewish Life
• Lizy Mostowski, PhD Student, Liberal Arts & Sciences, 2023                                    
• Tyeese Braslavsky, Student, Liberal Arts & Sciences, 2021                                       
• Jared M. London, Student, Grainger College of Engineering, 2023                                      
• Dana Rabin, Professor, Interim Chair of Department of History
• Eugene Avrutin, Professor, Department of History
• Michael Parrish, Assistant Director, Academic and Student Services, Gies College of Business

The full charge letter is available on the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion website.

Acts and expressions of anti-Semitism—in any form—actively undermine the educational process and are in direct opposition to our core values. It is our responsibility to create a university that not only addresses these acts when they occur but also actively supports and celebrates the ability of each student, faculty and staff member to bring their whole selves to the university community.

I’ve asked the Advisory Council to begin work immediately and to provide me with an update by May 31, 2021.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor