An Open Letter to Henry Swieca

Who is Henry Swieca? He’s an American-born Jew who made a lot of money in the stock market who graduated from the Business School at Columbia University and until two weeks ago was a member of the school’s Board. He resigned because of what he claims is the school’s unwillingness to take a string stand against several anti-Semitic incidents on campus which have made Jewish students feel unwelcome and afraid.

Here is part of Swieca’s letter: “To my deep regret, the reputation and integrity of Columbia University, and by extension Columbia Business School, have been significantly compromised by a moral cowardice that appears beyond repair… My resignation is an expression of my deep concern for the direction in which the university is heading.”

Before I explain why I think Swieca has made a serious mistake, I just want to spend several paragraphs listing my own creds. My mother and her parents came here in 1923, arriving just before the law took effect that would have kept them from legally entering the United States. They came from a village — Boyarka — located 10 miles outside of Kyiv, where my grandfather’s father owned a mill.

My grandparents left the village in 1921 after two pogroms basically burned the village to the ground. My grandmother saw her father, my great grandfather, shot dead in the street. The survivors of those assaults…