Potential Closure of the Judaic Studies Program at the University of Cincinnati (A Letter to UC’s President and Provost)

Dear President Pinto and Provost Weidner,

It has come to our attention that as a result of Senate Bill 1, the Judaic Studies program at the University of Cincinnati faces elimination. The Greater Cincinnati Board of Rabbis wants to go on record that we unequivocally consider the Department of Judaic Studies a crucial program in our community, and we oppose the elimination of the Judaic Studies program.

As leaders of the Jewish community, we have long been backers of the Department of Judaic Studies because we rely on its faculty and students to support the activities of our organizations. Our constituencies do not simply benefit from the public programming sponsored by the Department. We are especially committed to Jewish learning at the highest possible level, and we regularly utilize the faculty as scholars-in-residence and hire the students as teachers and youth workers.

We are also passionately committed to creating a flourishing Jewish community in Cincinnati. This has become more challenging with the recent closures at Hebrew Union College. The Department of Judaic Studies is the only local program in higher education in Jewish Studies remaining in our community and is key to the resilience of Jewish life in Cincinnati. Many of our members are contacted by potential faculty and students interested in coming to the University of Cincinnati and we want to be able to honestly say that the University and State of Ohio fully supports Jewish life in our city.

Respectfully,

The Greater Cincinnati Board of Rabbis