Revamping Hillels The Jewish Terp Guide: A Recommendation Report with Deliverables

Submitted to: Rabbi Ari Israel Executive Director University of Maryland Hillel December 6, 2007

4230 Knox Road, #1419D College Park, MD 20740 December 11, 2007 Rabbi Ari Israel Executive Director The Ben & Esther Rosenbloom Center for Jewish Life Maryland Hillel 7612 Mowatt Lane. College Park. Maryland. 20740 Dear Rabbi Israel: As active members of the Jewish community on campus, one of us being a Hillel staff member, we are aware of the inadequacy of the existing Hillel publication, The Jewish Terp Guide. In response to this problem, we have written a proposal with recommendations for a new guide and better distribution. In addition, we have produced two deliverables: an improved Your Guide to Jewish Life on Campus and a brochure to attract potential donors. Maryland Hillels current Guide suffers from insufficient content, lackluster design, and a poor method of distribution. The inadequacies affect the students and parents who have many unanswered questions about Jewish life on campus, your staff members, who must answer countless inquiries, and the reputation of your Hillel. In this proposal, we recommend what Hillel should include in all future guides, how Hillel can improve its distribution methods, and how Hillel can implement a lively and readable document design. With the revamped Guide, prospective and new students will be aware of the options available to them in the Jewish community on campus. Your staff will have a resource to which to refer all those interested in our growing community, its activities, and special events. Thank you for taking the time to read this proposal and the enclosed deliverables. We look forward to hearing your response. We can be reached by email at XXXXXX@gmail.com, or by phone at 703.XXX.XXXX. Sincerely,

Revamping Maryland Hillels The Jewish Terp Guide Executive Summary

Maryland Hillel has the second largest Jewish population of any public university in the country, but a handbook, The Jewish Terp Guide, that doesnt make the grade. The current guide is inadequate due to lack of content, outdated pictures, insufficient distribution and a general lack of visual appeal.

After reviewing Maryland Hillels Guide, we noted the following shortcomings: Lack of updated information on all the Jewish student groups Lack of information on being both an observant Jew and social on campus Small, hard-to-read font size Lack of color and visual appeal

These are the key consequences of the inadequate Guide: Students and parents are unable to fully understand what Hillel and the surrounding Jewish communities offer the Jewish community on campus; Hillel staff members spend time answering questions that could be answered by referring people to the Guide Maryland Hillels reputation is compromised.

In our improved Your Guide to Jewish Life on Campus, we have updated all the information and separated it into the following categories: FAQs, Kosher Around

Town, Israel Travel, Alternative Spring Break, Jewish Holidays, and Meet the Staff. The guide we have created is Colorful Easy to read In PDF format, which makes it easy to add to the organizations webpage Contains space for advertisements to cover the cost of printing.

If Maryland Hillel wants to keep up with its growing Jewish community, the organization must provide outstanding resources to its members and their families. Using our updated Guide will not only be beneficial to the students, but will, undoubtedly, attract and inform potential donors.

INTRODUCTION As you know, the University of Maryland has one of the most active Hillels in the country. Throughout the year, many families of prospective students enter the Hillel house to gain information about Jewish life on campus. Since 2003, Maryland Hillel has not been able to provide these prospective students with suitable resources that exemplify the vast opportunities available for Jewish students on and around campus. The University of Maryland Hillels current guide to Jewish student life, The Jewish Terp Guide, is inadequate.

DEFINING THE PROBLEM The inadequacy of the guide is manifested in three ways: Insufficient content The inadequacy of the current guide to Jewish life is evident in the insufficiency of its content. The 2007-2008 edition of The Jewish Terp Guide (See Figure 1) does not contain the following: 1. Updated information on all the student groups that affiliate themselves with Maryland Hillel. For example, the Jewish womans book club, Lilith, is not mentioned anywhere in the Guide.

2. Opportunities for observant Jewish students to be involved with campus events during the Sabbath such as Wristbands to attend sporting events The availability of keys to enter their dorms as a replacement of an electronic swipe Information.

Instructions on receiving a letter of excuse for class on Jewish holidays. This has not been included in a Guide since the 2003 Jewish Student Handbook (See Figure 2).

UC Berkleys Guide to Jewish Life successfully includes many facets of the community both on and off campus that are relevant and helpful to their Jewish student body (See Figure 3). 1. Their information is available electronically. 2. They include descriptions of different social organizations arranged by categories. 3. They include a description of the Jewish holidays and the dates of these holidays on both the Jewish and secular calendars.

Distribution The Jewish Terp Guide is not distributed to any location on campus nor is it available in electronic form; the Guide is available only at the Hillel House. Prospective families visiting the University of Maryland are not given a Guide unless they specifically request it from Hillel (Weiss, 2007). Moreover, Hillel does not send the handbook to new incoming Jewish students as part of their orientation materials.

Document Design The document design of the current Guide is visually unappealing and taxing to the reader. Both the 2003-2004 and the 2007 editions of the Guide are lackluster and difficult to read because they are printed solely in black and white; the covers are unattractive and unprofessional-looking; the font size is very small; and the data are organized into large paragraphs which makes finding information often difficult. Finally, there are very few pictures in either of the guides, and the pictures that they contain are not current, clear or vibrant (See Figures 1 and 2).

SITUATION ASSESSMENT -- THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES The inadequacies of The Jewish Terp Guide negatively affect all parties directly and indirectly associated with Hillel: The students and parents who have questions about Jewish life on campus; The Hillel staff members who spend time answering these student questions; The University of Maryland Hillel whose reputation is compromised.

Negative Consequences Students As a result of the inadequate Guide, prospective, incoming and current students are unaware of the options available to them on campus. In separate interviews, UMCP juniors and Hillel members, Deb Kadish and Dani Lager, both indicated that they had not found The Jewish Terp Guide to be useful. While discussing many different Jewish groups on campus, they both said that they had never heard of the club, Lilith, previously mentioned, and had only heard of the allmale a cappella group, Kol Ish, through word-of-mouth. Additionally, both Deb and Dani mentioned that they had not received the book as

prospective students, and, as incoming freshman, they had to seek out the information they needed by coming to Hillel and talking to the staff directly (2007).

Negative Consequences Hillel Staff The poor content and design of the existing Guide and the lack of distribution also affect the Hillel staff who must answer countless phone calls and e-mails from parents and students inquiring about different aspects of Jewish life at Maryland. This situation results in the staffs time being misspent: employees and administrators alike are less productive and often stressed. This problem is especially intense during the summer when there are many incoming freshman who are curious about the programming available to them. While the summer is an excellent time to prepare for the upcoming year and to ensure that students have a great Hillel experience, many of the Hillel staff spend more than half their day during these months answering questions from students and parents (Weiss, 2007). Interestingly, one of your employees, Jonathan Wood, was unfamiliar with the The Jewish Terp Guide. In fact, he had never seen the Guide before. If Hillel staff were to be educated and familiar with

the Guide and how to obtain it, then they would spent less time speaking to parents and students and more time further enhancing programs at Hillel (2007).

Negative Consequences Hillels Reputation While Marylands Hillel is definitely something to brag about, the current Guide and the lack of distribution are not a strong complement to the positive image of your organization. Sophomore Stuart Davidovich, an active member of Hillel and server in the Hillel Dining Hall, acknowledged that he had never seen the Guide before and was unaware of its existence. He openly voiced his irritation with Hillel that he had never been provided with a guide irrespective of its quality, If I had known about this Guide before, there would have been many more opportunities I could have partaken in at the University. How could a Hillel of this size not fully understand the needs of their students? This makes me truly reevaluate [the University of Marylands] Hillel and question the leaders of this organization (2007).

WHAT CAUSED THE PROBLEM? The insufficiency of the Maryland Hillel's guide to Jewish life can be attributed to three factors:

Student groups in the past have fallen through with their proposals to create a new guide.

There is a lack of funding for this project. There is a shortage of Hillel staff able to commit to this project.

Student Groups Disappoint Over the past two years, the Jewish Student Union has attempted to take on the creation of a new Guide, and, as you know, has fallen short of its promise. "Since 2003, the Jewish Student Union has created their version of the handbook, but it has never met the expectations of the Hillel staff," acknowledged Jessica Katz, Communication Vice President and board member of the Jewish Student Union, in an October 2007 interview. Katz admits that compiling the handbook has never been a top priority and tends to be done as a "rush job" during the week before classes begin.

Funding Disappoints To create a visually appealing and content-filled handbook would cost Hillel more than its budget allots for printing, copying, and advertising expenditures (Programming Budget line item, 2006-07). According to Assistant Hillel Director, Danny Weiss, the current budget allows $800 for the entire year for costs falling under the category of copying at Kinkos/Banners/Advertisements (2007).

Staff Constraints In the past five years, the Hillel staff has never committed to this project since the Jewish Student Union had undertaken the task. Moreover, the creation, upkeep, and distribution of the Guide are not included in the job description of any of the Hillel staff (Weiss, 2007). Understandably, then, these hard-working employees cannot commit to such a large undertaking.

RECOMMENDATIONS HOW CAN HILLEL IMPROVE ITS GUIDE? Better Content Hillel can improve its existing Guide by including the following information: 1. Concerning Campus Life A list and description of all Jewish Student Groups on Campus Jewish Greek Life Opportunities available to observant students: Wrist bands for sporting events that fall on the Sabbath Keys that can be used on the Sabbath to enter dorms

Letters of excuse for class on Jewish holidays

2. Concerning Religious Life An updated and detailed description of the Kosher Meal Plan

 An updated list of Jewish holiday dates and information on how to obtain notes of excuse from class for observance

Information for students about lighting Shabbat candles at Hillel every week and lighting the Menorah during Chanukah as it is prohibited in the dorms

Kosher Meal options close to campus

A Map of the eruv surrounding College Park

Descriptions of the different service options 3. Concerning Travel Alternative Spring Break trips Birthright Israel trip information

Opportunities for studying abroad in Israel

4. Concerning Jewish communities near the University of Maryland and their religious and cultural activities

Silver Spring

Pikesville

Rockville/Potomac

5. Advertisements from Jewish organizations and businesses on and off campus. This strategy will provide information and help defray costs.

Better Distribution Hillel can reach more prospective students by implementing the following distribution practices:

Distribute Guide to prospective students and families who visit the University of Maryland Hillel;

Distribute Guide at all of UMCPs Academic First Look Fairs; Distribute Guide at the annual Hillel Barbeque at the beginning of the year;

Make Guide available electronically from a link on the Hillel website.

Better Document Design Hillel can improve the design by implementing a few simple strategies:

Use color in the font, photographs, illustrations, accents, and cover;

Update the photographs each year to reflect new officers and members;

Put the Guide in PDF format to facilitate distribution through email or inclusion onto a webpage.

DELIVERABLES A NEW GUIDE AND BROCHURE We have taken the initiative to create two new guides to facilitate the University of Maryland Hillel in its important work: the first, a guide called Your Guide to Jewish Life on Campus, serves prospective and current students and their families; the second, a brochure, called Maryland Hillel, is designed with potential donors in mind. Both the guide and the brochure are in a PDF format so that they can be easily updated each year by one of the interns that work for Hillel. We trust that Your Guide to Jewish Life on Campus and Maryland Hillel meet all the necessary content and design criteria, serve to inform the entire University of Maryland community, and support Hillel in meeting its mission. Below we outline the contents in brief, present several flexible cost proposals, and discuss the benefits.

Contents Your Guide to Jewish Life on Campus

Meet the Staff section with photographs FAQs About Maryland Hillel: The Most Commonly Asked Questions

Jewish Student Groups by category: Arts and Culture, Israel Advocacy, Religious, Social, Social Action, Jewish Learning

Kosher Around Town: Bakeries, Butchers, Markets, Kosher Restaurants, Kosher Dining at Maryland

Jewish Holidays and Dates

Eruv Map that surrounds College Park

Israel Travel Opportunities Alternative Spring Break Maryland Hillel Quick Facts

Contents Maryland Hillel This brochure, intended for distribution to potential donors, alumni, parents of students, and community members, contains the following features: A brief description of the University of Maryland Hillel

A brief description of the current budget A section called Why Give to Hillel at UMD?

Quick Facts about Jewish life on campus A picture heavy format which includes the familiar faces of Hillel.

Cost Proposals The estimated cost from Kinkos to create Your Guide to Jewish Life in color is $1,050 per hundred copies. The Copy Center in the Stamp Student Union provides the following estimate: [ ]

These proposals give Hillel a wide array of options for printing the Guide from year to year, depending on the budget. In order to help you visualize some of the Copy Center prices, we have attached, in figure 4, a Copy Services Price List from their website (Department of Business Services, 2007).

Benefits Your Guide to Jewish Life on Campus helps Hillel achieve its mission: First, prospective students and incoming students will be informed about all of the options available to them as Jewish students at the University of Maryland. This understanding may well lead to a larger number of active students in Hillel with a current and future potential for donations. Second, Hillel staff and administrators will work more effectively by spending less time answering the same questions and spending more time serving the students and community through programming, fundraising, and the like. Third, students will be able to see tangible evidence of the wonderful resources that University of Maryland Hillel has for them and will be more inclined not only to come to University of Maryland for their education but also to talk to their friends about the amazing and active Jewish life on campus.

References Beasley, Angela. College Park, Maryland. Manager at Copy Center, Department of Business Services. On-phone interview. (2007, November 5). Copy Services. Department of Business Services. Retrieved November 5, 2007, from the Copy Center Web Site at: http://www.dbs.umd.edu/copy/copyplist.php Davidovich, Stuart. College Park, Maryland. Server, Hillel Dining Services. In-person Interview. (2007, October 30). Greene, Yvonne. Tuscan, Arizona. Receptionist, University of Arizona, Hillel. On-phone Interview. (2007, October 16). Grossberg, Alexandra. (2007). The Jewish Terp Guide. Jewish Student Union. Hillel Staff. (2007). Programming Budget. Hillel Budget. Retrieved November 1, 2007 from Assistant Hillel Director: Danny Weiss Jewish Student Union. (2003-2004). Jewish Student Handbook. Hillel Center for Jewish Life. Kadish, Deborah. College Park, Maryland. Student, University of Maryland. In-person Interview. (2007, November 1).

Katz, Jessica. College Park, Maryland. Communication Vice President, Jewish Student Union. In-person Interview. (2007, October 25). Lager, Daniela. College Park, Maryland. Cashier, Hillel Dining Services. In-person Interview. (2007, November 1). Mayer, Avi. Washington, D.C. Bronfman Fellow, Hillel The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life. On-phone Interview. (2007, October 15). Northern California Jewish Bulletin. (2006). Resource: guide to jewish life in the bay area. Retrieved October 17, 2007, from Jewish Community Federation Web site: http://www.sfjcf.org/resources/guide/ Sagan, Kara. Columbus, Ohio. Assistant Director, Ohio State University Hillel. On-Phone Interview. (2007, October 16). Student Life. (2005). Maryland Hillel. Retrieved October 8, 2007 from http://www.marylandhillel.org Weiss, Danny. College Park, Maryland. Assistant Executive Director, University of Maryland Hillel. In-person Interview. (2007, October 8).

Wilson, Terrae. College Park, Maryland. Receptionist, FedEx Kinkos Office and Print Center. On-phone Interview (2007, November 4).