“Being able to do as much as I could, to do all these types of activities – is an achievement in itself,” graduating University senior Jonah Fruchter said of his four-year run at the University. “I like to get my fingers in everything.”
Since freshman year, Fruchter has started two clubs and a business, in addition to being an EMU Board member and a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.
“He’s one of the most well-rounded people I know; he has a very eclectic mind,” said graduating senior Jered Parkin, a friend of Fruchter’s.
In his junior year, Fruchter, a political science major with a focus on the Middle East and philosophy minor, was the first student from the University to study abroad in Israel since 2001. Just getting to Israel was a “big accomplishment,” Fruchter said. “I had to sign a slip of paper saying that if I died, I wouldn’t sue them,” Fruchter said, describing his struggle to convince the University to let him study abroad in Israel as “one of most difficult bureaucratic things I’ve had to do.” As a result of his efforts, Fruchter helped break down study abroad barriers for University students wanting to study in Israel this year and in future years.
“I love having an idea that could help people and being able to follow through and actualize it,” Fruchter said of his motivation to pursue an idea.
In his freshman year, Fruchter met Daniel Rosove, then a freshman as well, through Oregon Hillel, a foundation for Jewish campus life. “We both wanted to get involved in political activism,” said Rosove, now a political science major who will graduate this spring. Through their experiences in Hillel, Rosove said he realized that “students can be empowered to do advocacy as well.” Together, Fruchter and Rosove started the Oregon Israel Alliance, the only advocacy group for Israel in Oregon. Still active, the organization aims to help students better understand Israel and the conflict in the area and tries to keep the views balanced, Fruchter said. As friends and members of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi, Rosove said Fruchter has an “extreme strength of character and knows himself well.”
Fascinated by Middle East foreign policy since high school, Fruchter found studying abroad in Israel a great experience, despite the resistance from the University administration and the perceived danger of living in Israel. During his year abroad, Fruchter stayed in the dorms at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and studied Hebrew and political science. In addition, he worked as a research assistant for author Michael Oren on his book “Power, Faith, and Fantasy” on the history of the U.S. in the Middle East from 1776 to present. While living in Jerusalem, Fruchter found people were “very nice” and welcoming of him because they receive few visitors. One day, Fruchter witnessed a riot following the killing of a Palestinian, in which Palestinian rioters beat up guards, smashed cars and destroyed property. “That was an intense day,” Fruchter said of the experience. Even though he saw “armed men wearing ski masks with machine guns” and even knew of a fellow classmate who was kidnapped for a day, Fruchter said he never felt his life was “in danger” while in Jerusalem.
Outside of school, Fruchter also had the opportunity to travel to other countries, including Morocco and Egypt. In Morocco, Fruchter went with friends to an abandoned sultan’s castle. “It was completely open and free; you didn’t buy a ticket, you just walked right in,” Fruchter said of the trip. “It’s great for tourists – nothing holding you back.” While in Egypt, Fruchter was surprised with how “people would actively stare at me.” Though they looked at him as if he were an “alien” with his “big hair” and the beard he had at the time, Fruchter said that people were “pretty welcoming and open.”
After returning from Israel this school year, Fruchter founded the Interfaith Dialogue Group for Abrahamic Faiths, in which members of Judaic, Islamic and Christian faiths discuss issues such as martyrdom.
“I think it’s really important and needed at the University because we don’t have a lot of (ethnic) diversity,” Fruchter said of the group. “It’s very easy to stay within your own box, your own culture; it’s been a really positive experience.”
Fruchter also learned how to start a business this year Parkin, a graduating senior majoring in accounting and psychology. They independently jump-started their own bus company, Better Bus (www.uobetterbus.com), to transport University students from Portland to Eugene and back during vacation periods, in which they provide an alternative to Greyhound and give passengers milk and cookies and a movie to watch. “We thought about (Better Bus) at a bar – it’s where all great ideas come from,” Fruchter said of the project.
Parkin said if it wasn’t for Fruchter’s “ambition” and willingness to “go out on a limb,” he wouldn’t have started Better Bus alone. “He’s willing to approach people, and he’s not afraid to put up a fight,” Parkin said. “He was charismatic enough to convince students to put the (Better Bus) flyer on their doors.”
After going home to Seattle for a few months and studying for the Law School Admission Test, Fruchter plans to move to Washington D.C. to find a year-long job in Middle East policy. Afterwards, Fruchter hopes to go to law school in the D.C. area. Interested in Middle East policy, Rosove said he also plans to move to Washington, D.C., after graduating and expects his and Fruchter’s “professional lives will intertwine” in the future.
On the Washington, D. C., political scene, Fruchter said he plans to bring “a little sensitivity” to American foreign policy in the Middle East. “I think (U.S. policy makers) act without a sense of history, without a sense of repercussions; that’s something that motivated me to become a political science major,” Fruchter explained. “I would bring a message of peace, first of all. I would like to change America from a threatening power of occupation to one that supports local efforts. I would like the U.S. to be a country that supports other countries and understands that, in the end, supporting other countries’ interests will support our interests and make allies, instead of enemies.”
Fruchter urges other students to take advantage of all the opportunities that the University has to offer and encourages them to step outside their comfort zones. “Expand your horizons, get out there and understand that no belief is beyond criticism; nothing that you think is absolute,” Fruchter said. “People need to understand that they can’t stay inside their shell; college isn’t just about school, but about amazing experiences.”
Eclectically Involved
Daily Emerald
June 10, 2007
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