by George Elbaum
This was my 6th time speaking at the University of San Francisco (USF), a Jesuit Catholic university. Founded in 1855, USF was the city’s first university, and it is the third oldest institution for higher learning in California. Its student body numbers approximately 10,600, with 62% undergraduates and 38% postgraduates, and its faculty numbers approximately 1,200, of which 41% are full-time and 59% are part-time, or adjunct. Religious and spiritual organizations on campus include the Muslim Student Union, the USF chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the USF Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.
My talk at USF this time was for 40 students in a 15 week course Introduction to Judaism (Jews, Judaism, Jewish Identities), with one week spent on the Holocaust and genocide. The course is one of the elective subjects in USF’s Department of Theology and Religious Studies. My talk was organized by its teacher Oren Kroll-Zeldin, Assistant Director, Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice Assistant Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, and arranged by Sadie Simon, Education Program Manager of the JFCS Holocaust Center.
