Koach college student survey
by Dan Ab - Sunday, August 26th, 2012
Koach is the Conservative movement's organization for the benefit of college students. Since I was critical of some of their recent challenges I wanted to also note something positive. In advance of their next planning meeting (in about 1.5 weeks), they are doing a survey of college students and recent (in the last year) graduates. If you fit this description and have opinions about how a national organization can contribute to egalitarian Jewish observance on college campuses, please take their survey as soon as possible: savekoach.org/survey
If you're not part of the target population for the survey, but you've got opinions, why not share them in the comments below? Some of their leaders read comments posted here.
Here are my opinions:
The survey includes a draft vision/mission. Both are focused on "supporting educational & experimental programmings on campuses." This treats Jewish practice like another course, as though college students are all still learning what it means to be Jewish. At the core, this ignores college students as practicing adult Jews. The Conservative movement has opinions on what it means to be an observant Jew, so I'd expect a college organization to support that goal.
Given Koach's limited resources, what would this mean? It means connecting students to resources for observance on or near their campuses. Keep track of where students who are Ramah/USY alums or whose family went to a Conservative synagogue go to college. Make sure these students know what resources exist in their college communities, whether these are Hillels, local synagogues, and local independent minyanim. Even in small towns, you don't need a Chabad house or even locally paid staff to have local families host students for Shabbat dinners. If Koach can identify campuses with small Jewish populations, but students who might still want a Jewish community, those are targets for more active engagement, whether directly from Koach or by bringing them to the attention of other organizations. Particularly for campuses with few Jewish students, the Koach conventions and Koach-led networking between campuses can be good resources for observant students.
I also think a web presence focused on news and opinion is not the best use of resources. Anyone can post an opinion, but it takes resources to make a site have high enough quality to regularly attract college students. The website could be a place that contains resources on Conservative Jewish practice (perhaps in collaboration with the Rabbinical Assembly to make a resource that benefits more than just college students). The resources currently there seem to be only slightly beyond an introduction to Judaism class. If there's student-generated content on a website, it needs to live in this decade and let students regularly contribute. I'm not sure what this would look like, but forum that allow pseudonymity or anonymity where students can ask questions and get feedback regarding Jewish life on campuses or ask opinions from Conservative rabbis might be a good start. Simply including a way for a student enter their name so that someone can help connect them to families in the local Jewish community would be beneficial.
Overall, I'm glad to see someone in Koach is trying to get feedback from current students about the organization's purpose. Even if you don't have any positive connections to the Conservative movement, how could a hypothetical national organization with a $1 million dollar budget and a goal of supporting egalitarian and observant Jewish life on campus have benefited you?
On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 4:04 AM, <shefa@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> Please forward to college students!
> Posted by: "Nina S. Kretzmer" ksnygirl@yahoo.com ksnygirl
> Date: Wed Aug 22, 2012 2:08 pm ((PDT))
>
> Dear hevreh,
>
> In two weeks, United Synagogue will be hosting a KOACH Summit to discuss what KOACH is and what it should be. I am involved in a group called Save KOACH which has been working around the clock to raise money and gather student input about a new foundation for Conservative college outreach. We need students to take the following survey as soon as possible: http://savekoach.org/survey
>
> Without their input, we cannot fully represent them. Please send this to the Jewish college students you know, even those from Class of 2012.
>
> Kol tuv,
> Nina S. Kretzmer
*****************************************
"Shefa: The Conservative Movement Dreaming from Within" is a forum for
passionate Conservative Jews to reflect together as they increase creative
energy within within the culture and environment of the Conservative
Movement in an effort to bring a renewed and revitalized perspective to
Conservative Jews.
We belong to the Conservative Movement and commit ourselves to working
towards its revitalization. Be a part of this community of visionary
thinkers and builders. To join the conversation, email
shefa-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
Visit our home page at http://shefanetwork.blogspot.com/
*****************************************
