Chabad at Vanderbilt and Chabad on Campus International presented Chancellor Daniel Diermeier with the Lamplighter Award last month. The award recognized Diermeier’s role in creating a safe living and learning environment for Jewish students at Vanderbilt and serving as an example for other higher education institutions.
In Chabad tradition, a lamplighter is someone who represents true leadership by seeing the good in others and kindling light for all. Vanderbilt Chabad has not presented the Lamplighter Award before. Rabbi Shlomo Rothstein of Chabad at Vanderbilt shared that they chose the chancellor for this award because he helped make Jewish students feel safe on campus.
“The chancellor created a sense of calm and peace for the Jewish community [last year] where students could go to class, socialize and celebrate their identity in public without fear of harassment or attack,” Rothstein said. “And [he] stood up so strongly against the encampments and did not let Vanderbilt be taken for a ride, which was very commendable.”
Junior Ryan Novick, one of the Chabad student co-presidents, shared how much the lamplighter award means to him.
“The chancellor receiving an award from Chabad shows both how far the university has come and the development that is to come on campus for the Jewish community,” Novick said.
There was a reception and Shabbat dinner after the award ceremony. The event had a large turnout with approximately 800 people attending, and about 250 people went to the dinner.
The event featured numerous speakers including Rothstein; Rabbi Yitzchak Tiechtel of Chabad of Nashville; the co-presidents of Chabad Novick and Lexi Schachter; Joseph Lubeck, the lead donor of the new Chabad house Lubeck center; Ari Dubin, the executive director of Vanderbilt Hillel; and Dan Senor, a public figure, author and podcast host. The ceremony concluded with a brief speech from the chancellor, in which he accepted the award.
Rothstein said that Senor, who previously spoke on campus after the Oct. 7 attack, was selected as a speaker because of his popularity online and outspoken, clear perspective on antisemitism on college campuses across the country.
Senior Sarah Goldstein, director of outreach on Chabad’s executive board, shared how important it was for her to hear such a prominent supporter speak at the ceremony.
“Hearing Dan Senor at the event, a columnist, political adviser and someone I’ve admired for years, speak so highly of Chancellor Diermeier made the moment even more meaningful,” Goldstein said.
Sophomore Olivia Gordon expressed how she felt Senor’s presence last year on campus was a step in fostering a safe community for Jewish students on campus.
“What really stuck with me was how Chancellor Diermeier and the university’s leadership prioritize free expression. This was shown by their welcoming of Dan Senor to speak after Oct. 7, at a time when many other campuses chose not to,” Gordon said. “As a Jewish student at Vanderbilt, Chancellor Diermeier made it clear that I am safe, valued and free to learn and grow.”
Following the event, students reflected on the speakers and on the Jewish experience at Vanderbilt as a whole. Jewish students said they continue to find comfort on campus and expressed their appreciation for the uniquely active and close-knit Jewish community at Vanderbilt.
Lexi Schachter, Chabad co-president, shared her gratitude for being a Jewish student at Vanderbilt.
“I truly am thankful that I chose Vanderbilt for my college education because I can freely express who I am during a time when that’s not the case for everyone,” Schachter said.
Novick shared how invaluable the connections he made through the Jewish community have been.
“I think the sense of community among Jewish students on Vanderbilt’s campus has to be one of the deepest and most connected in the nation, from our largest events like Rosh on the Lawn to the smallest classes with just a few students,” Novick said.
Goldstein shared a similar sentiment to Novick, expressing how the various Chabad events have helped her grow her faith and make her feel comfortable at Vanderbilt.
“Arriving at Vanderbilt from a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, I didn’t expect to feel such a powerful connection to my faith in a new environment,” Goldstein said. There’s so much comfort in the feeling of safety that comes from being surrounded by people who’ve grown up with the same rituals as me.”
Novick expressed his optimism for the future of Chabad and the leaders who will succeed him.
“I am most proud to look at the underclassmen who have come in and taken up active roles and leadership positions almost as soon as they stepped foot on campus, and I can’t wait to come back in a few years and see all that they have achieved,” Novick shared.
Goldstein expressed her hope that the future will hold more opportunities for discourse across religions and suggested ways to fulfill this goal.
“I hope for a stronger sense of interfaith dialogue and collaboration, where different religious and cultural groups can learn from and support each other,” Goldstein said, “I imagine joint events, shared meals and small group discussions that celebrate our differences and uncover shared values.”
