By Rachel Henderson, ICB Reporter 
More than 100 students from 74 campuses across 35 states gathered in San Antonio, Texas, in the first week of January to learn how to become better advocates for Israel. They came for a conference sponsored by Christians United for Israel, but they represented College Republicans, College Democrats and other groups in addition to their local CUFI on Campus chapters.
CUFI’s Second Annual
Student Advocacy Leadership Training (S.A.L.T.) was a three-day cram session packed with tips to help campus leaders advocate for Israel. CUFI's national campus director, Jeremiah Nasiatka, set the tone when he greeted the attendees by saying, “We want to impact the world.”
The participants came expecting to learn how to impact their campuses, but the organizers had even higher hopes: They wanted these 100 student activists to send a message to the globe: Anti-Israel sentiment is no longer just a Jewish problem, and Jews and non-Jews alike will work together to change the campus environment.
Tyler Howell, a first-year master's student at Trinity International University, described the S.A.L.T. Conference as, “strategic on how you reach out to leaders, especially to the opinion leaders on your campus in fostering good solid relationships.” Howell found the session entitled "Small Groups," led by CUFI's East Coast campus field organizer, David Walker, to be particularly helpful as it addressed ways to engage student government leaders, College Republicans and Democrats as well as other campus leaders.
Sam Bain, who co-chairs the Ohio College Republican Federation and is a senior at Saint Clair University, said he attended the conference in order to learn. “The best way to stand up for something is to know everything you can about it because when you go on campus you’re going to be faced with opposition [and] questions,” he said.
Conference sessions provided tips on debunking myths regarding Israel, and also helped participants learn how to answer questions regarding terms like “occupation” and “settlements” that many students encounter on campus.
In one popular session, a panel comprised of Jewish and Christian student activists fielded questions from the audience on a wide range of topics. Another session addressed the many ways to use social media to advance Israel's cause on campus. CUFI's associate director, Shari Dollinger, termed it “the new front in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” explaining that Facebook use has skyrocketed in year-to-year comparisons. She noted that the Israeli government understands the power of social media, as evidenced by the fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintains an active Facebook presence, and also has nearly 40,000 Twitter followers. As events unfolded late last year regarding the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, she said, the Israeli government made effective use of social media to keep supporters informed at every moment.
Throughout the conference, attendees were encouraged to increase their efforts on behalf of Israel during the new term. CUFI on Campus leaders Josh Ahrens and Ana Angel, from the University of Portland and Florida International University, respectively, addressed their peers during the closing dinner with encouraging and motivating words to send them back to school.
Angel said that she hoped to encourage students with a simple message: “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” She shared her struggles as a student leader and described how she overcame them. One key factor was her determination to achieve her goals.
The message at the closing dinner was simple and straightforward: Student supporters of Israel -- whether Jewish or Christian -- must develop strategic plans to tackle hatred of Israel. They must be educated in order to successfully counter myths and half-truths, and they must make their case in innovative, targeted ways that reach diverse communities on and off campus.
Derrick Lea, a CUFI leader at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Jacob Harmon, a CUFI leader at the University of California, San Diego, both agreed that the conference helped sharpen their advocacy skills and define their goals for the spring semester.
“At S.A.L.T. you really learn how to [address] the issues on campus,” Harmon said.
Lea added that learning about important policy issues helped him understand how to implement his plans on campus in ways that will achieve his goals.
CUFI on Campus activists appreciate the importance of working with Jewish pro-Israel students as well as with CUFI members. When asked how he plans to reach out to Jewish students and groups on campus, Harmon reflected on his experiences at UCSD and at UNLV, where he studied before transferring to his current school.
“[We] maintain a constant focus on what the Jewish community is watching and what’s important to them.” Harmon said. While at UNLV, he helped the CUFI chapter build strong ties with the local Jewish Federation and the campus Hillel. He noted that each group supported the other’s events through sponsorship and active participation.
Lea added that when he and his CUFI colleagues at UNLV learned that the campus Hillel chapter felt as if it stood alone in supporting Israel on the Nevada campus, they reached out to collaborate on shared goals. “Like any relationship, you have to meet that person and pour your life into them,” Lea said.
Lea and Harmon were hardly the only people at S.A.L.T. to stress the importance of building strong personal relationships with Jewish students. Walker, the CUFI field coordinator, echoed this message when he told the group, “What you truly believe is demonstrated in your actions.”
S.A.L.T. participants returned to their campuses convinced that they must take the lead in creating opportunities to build support for Israel among their peers. Work already is underway on a host of events and programs including nights to honor Israel, dinner events for campus leaders, student government resolutions expressing support for Israel, and more.
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