Last Friday, Editor of the Jewish Daily Forward Jane Eisner ’77 delivered this year’s Friends of the Library Constitution Day Lecture, “Spirited Debate: God Talk on the Campaign Trail – and Beyond.” Eisner discussed the role religious pluralism played in America’s foundation and the current level of religious discourse in political campaigns.
“A word that you won’t find in the Constitution [is] ‘God,’” Eisner said.
Citing Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Eisner urged the audience to learn the Constitution and the rights it guarantees to citizens. She expressed concern that Americans, and young Americans especially, do not take their rights seriously enough.
“You see many, many people putting their lives in danger just to have the kind of freedom that you and I have right now,” she said. “So I think a little perspective is in order.”
Eisner also discussed the prominent role that religion has taken in current political campaigns. Referencing Texas Governor Rick Perry’s recent prayer rally, she deemed it inappropriate for officeholders to use their political influence to organize religious efforts.
“It’s uncomfortable to hear politicians talk about their faith so openly,” Eisner said.
Isabel Rouse ’14, who attended the lecture, said that she enjoyed Eisner’s speech overall but that it lacked depth.
“I thought it was interesting when she spoke of how the founding fathers were very smart about protecting but not granting privileges to religion,” she said. “Still, she could have talked more about why religion is still protected and what place it has in today’s society, or if it even should be to the extent that it is in contemporary United States; it was a little fragmented.”
Eisner sat down with The Argus to discuss her experiences at Wesleyan, her career in journalism and her general political philosophy. She joined the Argus staff in 1973, only a few years after the University admitted the first female freshmen since the 1800s. She later became the first female editor of the paper.
“Oddly, it didn’t really occur to me that I was the only woman around,” Eisner said. “I just expected it was going to change.”
After majoring in English and earning her M.A. from the Columbia University School of Journalism, she worked in editorial and news positions at the Philadelphia Inquirer and at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, among other positions.
Eisner returned to Wesleyan to teach a class on “The Journalist as Citizen” in the spring semesters of 2010 and 2011. The goal of the class was not only to teach techniques of journalism but also to raise appreciation for the field and the right to practice free speech.
“The only way to get better at writing is to write,” Eisner said.
Three years ago she became the editor of the Jewish Daily Forward, which has won multiple regional and national awards since her commission. Eisner stressed the importance of maintaining a consistent and active presence to being successful in news media.
“[As a newspaper], you can’t just be there a little bit, you’ve got to really be there,” she said.
In her 2004 book, “Taking Back the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in Our Democracy,” Eisner places a similar emphasis on active participation in politics. She writes that Americans need to educate themselves, and to engage in the politics of their world.
“I’m not sure that it’s the government’s fault that people aren’t more involved,” Eisner explained. “A democracy, even a representative democracy, depends on ordinary citizens empowering themselves, and too many people don’t. No one’s to blame and everyone’s to blame.”
To conclude her lecture, Eisner encouraged the audience to engage with politics and take responsibility for the preservation of the rights offered to them by the Founding Fathers.
“[The Constitution is something] to be proud of, and also to own,” she said.