Christians United for Israel (CUFI) hosted its second annual Student Leadership Summit earlier this month. One hundred and nine student leaders from 74 colleges and universities around the country participated in the intensive three-day training and planning conference.
In addition to hearing from leaders like CUFI board member and president of American Values Gary Bauer, and Steven Kuperberg, executive director of the Israel on Campus Coalition, the students worked with CUFI’s campus and national leadership staff to develop comprehensive campus specific action plans for the coming semester.
CUFI On Campus coordinator Jeremiah Nasiatka noted the importance of CUFI’s efforts to develop and grow the Christian Zionist movement at American universities. “America’s campuses are on the front lines of the effort to delegitimize the State of Israel; too often, Jewish students have been alone and outnumbered as waves of negative rhetoric and anti-Israel speakers shape the conversation on the campus,” he says. “With the growth of CUFI on Campus, thousands of Christian pro-Israel advocates are getting involved and standing with their Jewish brothers and sisters in defense of Israel.”
CUFI On Campus was established just three years ago, but has grown dramatically since its inception. At present the program maintains relationships with 80 recognized chapters and more than 300 additional campus liaisons at colleges and universities across the United States, including at such hotbeds of anti-Israel activity as the University of California (UC) Berkeley, UC San Diego, and Columbia University. In 2011, CUFI student leaders hosted more than 100 events on American campuses, and in the past CUFI has led student leadership trips to Europe, Israel and Washington D.C.
“CUFI has made our campus program a top priority. Those who assume that Americans will always be pro-Israel do so at their peril. There is an ideological war being fought on our campuses and in our communities for the hearts and minds of the next generation,” says CUFI executive director David Brog. “We are determined that Christian students will stand arm-in-arm with Jewish students to boldly make the case for Israel where it is too seldom heard.”
