The annual migration of North American Jews to college

When they are underway, the annual migrations of various animal species are truly magnificent to behold. By sea, land and sky, they move: the sea turtles and the baleen whales, the caribou and the wildebeests, the green darner dragonflies and the arctic terns and the free-tailed bats, among others. (See http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/11/great-migrations/; http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photo/.)

These migrations, which can transpire over thousands of miles, exhibit common characteristics. They suggest preparation and persistence, attentiveness, intentionality and unique allocations of energy. The participants will face distractions and temptations, but they will meet these challenges and more with what seems to be a shared sense of purpose. They are marvelous and inspiring adventures.

Perhaps these animals move because of some encoded instinct or perhaps from some form of communication we do not yet understand. Whatever the cause, they are not on an orderly and docile walk, two by two, as in the Noah fable. They are engaged in an existential activity, where travel is grueling and life and death are at issue for each animal individually and for the group as a collective, whether bale or pod or herd or team or swarm, flutter or flock.

Humans participate in seasonal movements, too. They are not as literally colorful or as dramatic in quantity or distance as the storied travels of the red crabs or the monarch butterflies.  No, these migrations are different, seasonal to be sure, but more dispersed and more conscious than those of other species.

Right now, the first of two annual migrations of North American Jews is underway. This first migration occurs over a period of several weeks. The migrating population is young, generally 18 through 21 years of age, though some are a bit younger and certainly some are older. Male and female they go, not to any one locale, but still to special places, where they will, like caterpillars, change and grow. Some will travel long distances and some will commute. Some will go to metropolitan areas and some to more rural settings. Some will go join large populations and some will go to be with small groups.

Not all in this age range will participate, but most will. They will go in droves, if not packs and prides. More than attending High Holy Day services, more than participating in a Passover seder, more than lighting Shabbat candles, young adult Jews go to college. Estimates vary, but perhaps 85-90% or more of young adult Jews go to college. (See, e.g., “Why More Colleges Want Jewish Students,” at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/10/29/jewish; “American Jews,” at http://jbuff.com/c052302.htm.)

Some will go to elite private schools like the University of Chicago and Harvard University. Some will go to elite public schools, such as the University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley. They will go to college towns like Boulder and Tempe and Lawrence and Raleigh. And they will go to Miami, the one in Florida and the one in Ohio. They will go to major metropolitan areas, Los Angeles and New York, for instance. They will go to many and diverse places, but the key fact is that they will go, tens of thousands of them in any year.

The percentage of students who are Jewish at many schools is astonishing. Consider these figures for some private schools:

·         32% at Tulane University in New Orleans

·         30% at Emory University in Atlanta

·         29% at George Washington University in Washington D.C. and at Oberlin College in Ohio

·         27% at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut

·         25% at Washington University in St. Louis

Even at public schools, the percentages can be high:

·         22% at the University of Maryland in College Park

·         18% at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor

·         17% at the University of Florida in Gainesville

·         16% at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey and at U. of California, Santa Cruz. 

Percentages can be deceiving, of course. Only 8% of the undergraduate population at the University of Texas is Jewish, but that 8% totals 4,000 students, more than twice as many as attend Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts which is 50% Jewish. Five thousand (5,000) will go to Penn State, 4,000 more to Wisconsin, 3,000 to Cornell. (For a fuller list of schools and Jewish populations at them, see “Admissions 101 & 102” in What will they see and what will they hear? For most, the experience will be mind-expanding, as it should be. They may encounter new subjects, from archeology to zoology. They may drill deeper into formerly familiar concepts. No doubt old ideas will be challenged, old assumptions questioned. Their heads will be stuffed with dates and facts. Their brains will be asked to engage in critical thinking.