The New York Jewish Week's Campus Confidential wants to make college students stars this summer! Campus Confidential will focus on how Jewish college students are spending their vacation.

Standing for human rights in Iran.

Confronting Iran in Rio

In response to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s recent meeting in Tehran with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hillel organized a protest on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro this month calling attention to human rights violations in Iran. Read more at JTA.

Study Shows Hillel Strategy Works

A study by the Jim Joseph Foundation of Hillel’s Campus Entrepreneurs and Senior Jewish Educator initiatives finds that Hillel’s innovative approach to engaging emerging adults is “effective in reaching large numbers of previously less-connected Jewish students and facilitating their personal Jewish growth.” Read more.

Getting in Engaged with (and in) Israel

Taglit-Birthright Israel is all about connecting: with Israel, with the Jewish community, with fellow Jewish students. On their recent Taglit-Birthright Israel trip with the University of Florida Hillel, students Jeremy Dictor and Andrea James made a profound connection while at Masada: They became engaged. Watch the moment unfold on videotape.

Beach Party Rally

In response to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s recent meeting in Tehran with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hillel organized a protest on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro this month calling attention to human rights in Iran. Read more at JTA.

The Foundation’s Winning Foundations

Two Hillel buildings in Wisconsin have been recognized for their outstanding architecture. The Hillel building at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee was honored by the city’s mayor for “architectural excellence” and the University of Wisconsin, Madison’s Barbara Hochberg Center was named in “Project of the Year” by a local business publication.

Farm School: Students Learn Sustainable Agriculture

Spaces are still available for the June 15-22 Organic Farm Alternative Break with The Jewish Farm School. Participants learn a wide range of skills in sustainable and organic agriculture such as planting, harvesting, natural building and composting as they gain exposure to the growing food justice movement within the Jewish and secular worlds. Click here for additional information and how to register.

In the News:

• Every year on May 4 students at Kent State University in Ohio come together to commemorate the anniversary of the day in 1971 when the Ohio National Guard shot and killed four students — three of whom were Jewish — during an anti-war protest. Since the early 1980s, this memorial has also featured the recital of the Kaddish. Read more in the Forward.
• On the brighter side, Hillel at the University of Maryland got two ethical kosher seals of approval.
• Dr. Ruth Westheimer inspired a Princeton University student to do something for the first time.
• With the help of The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, students at DePaul Hillel raised money and awareness about malaria in Africa. Read more here.
• Muhlenberg College may have been founded by German Lutherans but the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent reports that it’s become a magnet for Jewish students. But if Mulie isn’t your taste, try Alleghany College where a mom cooked up a traditional Jewish dinner for her son’s fraternity.

Around the Hillel World:

Jeremy Brochin Retires from Penn Hillel

Russian Group Honors Sandy Cahn

Remembering Saerree K. Fiedler