AU holds a Holocaust Remembrance Day service

ASHLAND, Ohio – Ashland University students, faculty and staff gathered for a prayer service and candle lighting on Monday to mark Yam HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day. It took place in Redwood Hall at noon.

For AU, this was part of a larger effort to take a stand against the rising cases of antisemitism on college campuses across the United States. The university has been proactively combatting this rise in a number of ways, including current work to secure a Holocaust scholar for next spring who will teach an intensive four-week course, give a public lecture and collaborate with the Ashland Center for Nonviolence on a conference. The scholar will be named at a later date.

“Eighteen months ago, Governor Mike DeWine wrote to all college presidents in Ohio and said ‘we cannot stand by and accept these alarming trends of antisemitism.’ The governor went on to ask that we be committed to this issue,” said AU President Carlos Campo. “In addition to today’s Day of Remembrance and the work being done to bring in a Holocaust scholar next year, the university held a formal Hanukkah celebration. AU will continue to work diligently everyday to ensure a safe and secure environment for Jewish students, faculty and staff.”

Yam HaShoah is Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Day, a national holiday and day of remembrance. It commemorates the approximately 6,000,000 Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust by the Nazis and for the Jewish resistance in that period.

Ashland University is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University (www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational experience that combines the challenge of strong applied academic programs with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.