By Hadar Katsman, Staff Writer
On March 19, just days after Purim, the holiday when we retell the story of a failed genocide against the Jewish people, Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women (SCW) and Katz School of Science and Health co-hosted a gathering in Koch Auditorium, titled “Voices of Connection,” to spread awareness about antisemitism in the speech pathology and audiology fields and beyond.
The event, attended by both speech pathology and audiology majors at Stern as well as those considering pursuing these fields, consisted of both networking as well as a panel highlighting the resilience Jews have shown since October 7.
“All of us, faculty and students alike, recognize the importance in the work that we do of giving people a voice,” Elyse R. Granik, Chair of the Speech Pathology and Audiology Department at Stern, said in her introduction to the panel. “But in today’s climate, we need to find our own Jewish voices.”
Jewish students, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists (AUDs) can not just be allowed to exist, she said, adding that they need to be allowed to thrive.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is the national credentialing and scientific body for SLPs, AUDs and students. Granik has worked tirelessly to expose ASHA’s failure to condemn horrific antisemitic acts post-October 7. At the event, Granik told students about The Jewish Caucus, a constituency group that was created post-October 7 to represent and support Jewish SPLs and AUDs within ASHA.
Heidi Fuld, a professor in Stern’s speech pathology and audiology department who spoke on the panel, told the YU Observer that Jews “need to be recognized like many other minority groups.” She added that the time has come for associations like ASHA to acknowledge and assist its Jewish members in their careers.
The panel was co-moderated by Granik and Uri Schneider, Co-Founder of Schneider Speech, a private speech pathology practice. The panel also included Dr. Amiya Waldman-Levi, a licensed speech pathologist, Stern student Marlee Fried (SCW ‘26) and Katz student Ashley Byck. Each panelist offered insight into their academic, professional and personal lives post-October 7 for the attendees to consider as they pursue a career in speech pathology or audiology as Jews.
As someone who owns a private speech-language pathology practice, Professor Fuld interacts with many clients, some of whom are not Jewish. “I think it is important for me somehow, whether it’s wearing a star or wearing a pin, to let people know I won’t hide,” Fuld said.
However, aside from making it clear to her non-Jewish clients that she is Jewish and takes off work for Jewish holidays, Fuld said she doesn’t engage in further conversation about her Jewish identity and stance on Israel.
Fuld recalled a client of hers with a book called Palestine on her bookshelf. In this instance, Fuld did not actively seek out a conversation about her stance on Israel with her client, but did say that it is important for her to be proud and show her Jewish identity.
“This is who I am,” she said, “If you can’t accept me for who I am, I’m not the right clinician for you.”
Beyond the workplace, antisemitism is also present in academic settings. Ashley Byck, a Vanderbilt University graduate and first-year student in the Katz Speech-Language Pathology graduate program, was originally committed to enroll in Columbia University in January 2023, which she then deferred for a year. During her deferral year, Columbia, as is well-known, failed to make its Jewish community feel safe on campus.
“That to me was unacceptable,” she said. For Byck, being at YU is “so significant in that I don’t have to think twice about coming onto this campus in terms of my safety and my comfortability.” Academics, rather than looking over her shoulder, can be her priority, she added.
Like Byck, Marlee Fried, a junior at Stern majoring in speech pathology and audiology, also completed her first year of undergraduate studies outside of YU, at McGill University. “October 7 and seeing how the faculty and my fellow student body was responding was definitely something that made me realize that this is just not the environment that I wanted to be a part of,” she said.
Byck and Fried talked about how to take proactive steps to make positive change when an environment is having a detrimental effect on one’s university experience and overall life. “I think it’s important to remember what you can do for yourself, in terms of putting yourself in environments and surrounding yourself with people that make you feel most comfortable,” Byck said. “While antisemitism is here and here to stay for a while, you don’t have to subject yourself to being in those situations. You have control over that.”
One student attendee, Michal Streltsov (SCW ‘27), told the YU Observer there is much value to unity among Jews. “Our most powerful trait as Jews is our ability to stand with each other,” she said. “We should be proud of our identity, and we shouldn’t step down just because people are hating us.”
Dr. Waldan-Levi, the Katz school’s scholarship and research director, similarly emphasized the importance of unity. “When you unite and you are with other like-minded people, in different circles of spaces, professional or personal, then you have power and then you can act,” she said.
In Fried’s final words on the panel, she emphasized that there is a misconception about what advocacy looks like. For a person to be considered a “warrior,” they do not have to be very outward and approach protestors. “Just by being supportive people, meeting each other, being at and creating events like this is how we fight back,” she said. “This is another way to show resilience and strength.”