By ALEX SILVERMAN
KIRO Radio

For decades, The Evergreen State College has enjoyed a reputation as one of the region's most open-minded campuses.

But in the past few years, we've learned of torment and harassment some students have had to face simply for expressing their opinions about a controversial issue. Some of them have even left the college as a result.

"There are days I feel uncomfortable walking across campus alone because I wear a yarmulke on my head," said student Josh Levine.

At a public college in Olympia, Washington in 2010?

"I think the situation there is terrible," said Akiva Tor, Israeli Consul-General to the Pacific Northwest region, speaking on KIRO's Northwest Nights with Frank Shiers. "The majority of them do not feel they can express a positive opinion about Israel, or a different opinion than the orthodoxy on campus without being harassed."

According to Levine, prior to the 2008-2009 school year, there was no organized pro-Israel presence at Evergreen State. "A group was started that year called SIIA Shalom; I believe that stood for Students Interested in Israel Advocacy and Peace," he said.

That's when the trouble started, said Wendy Rosen, regional president of the American Jewish Committee. The rhetoric ramped up in the school newspaper. "They would put up posters about their events, the posters would always be ripped down," she said.

"Checkpoints were erected outside the bus stop," Levine recalled. "People claiming to be IDF veterans shoving toy assault rifles in people's faces, demanding to see their student ID before they could go onto campus."

The students appealed to the administration, to no avail. At the end of the school year, the members of the organization who did not graduate transferred out of Evergreen State. Sources close to the situation confirm 5 students left the college as a result of the harassment.

"They just eventually gave up and felt that Evergreen State College wasn't a place for them," Rosen said.

Rosen said she has met with college president Les Purce several times. "The president pays lip service to the fact that there should be a free exchange of ideas and all ideas should be heard," she said. "He really doesn't walk the walk."

Our calls to the president's office were returned by spokesman Jason Wettstein. "That there are students that are troubled, that think that one or two ideas are not allowed on campus, that's a troubling issue," he said. "But the college prides itself, and has a tradition of engaging across significant differences."

Levine said that's true, and that's why this is so disturbing. "They're turning my campus, which three years ago was all about trees, what the US military was doing, so many different issues, into a 1-issue campus," he said. "It's a really frightening thought."

Tor said it's time for state government to step in. "It's an outrageous situation and it should be addressed," he said.

This summer, the student body at Evergreen State voted overwhelmingly to divest from companies with economic interests in Israel, further fueling the anti-Israel fervor on campus. But according to Levine, 70 percent of the student body did not cast a vote.

"There is a wide variety of opinion at the college, as there is at every college in America," Wettstein said.

"When my Jewish friend goes into a rest room and is confronted by SS logos and swastikas," Rosen said, "there's something wrong there."

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