(Courtesy of StopAntisemitism) Watchdog group StopAntisemitism released its annual “Antisemitism on U.S. College & University Campuses” report on December 6, which uses a report card-style grading system to assess 25 different colleges across the United States on their previous and current efforts to address campus antisemitism and protect their Jewish students.
Following the savage and barbaric Hamas attacks of October 7, StopAntisemitism updated this report to address schools’ responses to antisemitic incidents after the massacre, highlighting specific incidents and re-grading some schools. The report was originally slated to be released on October 9, but due to the horrific violence in Israel, the organization had to wait.
StopAntisemitism initially created this report in response to Jewish parents and their children inquiring where it’s safe for students to attend school. Since October 7 there has been an influx of such requests from concerned Jewish parents who feel anxious sending their children away during an especially vulnerable time.
This year’s report classifies 25 schools into five categories: Ivy League (and adjacent), Liberal Arts, Private Universities, Public Universities-East, and Public Universities-West. Five schools received an “F,” while seven schools received an “A.”
“Rising campus antisemitism has been supercharged by the recent Israel-Hamas conflict,” said StopAntisemitism Executive Director Liora Rez. “This Report Card will help guide Jewish parents in assessing where it’s safe to send their children—a new and frightening consideration that would’ve been unthinkable just a few years ago. Armed with this information, it’s on all of us to hold colleges accountable for recognizing, calling out, and protecting their students from antisemitism.”
StopAntisemitism takes four major categories into account when formulating grades:
Protection: How does the school report antisemitic incidents? Is there a willingness to work with Jewish advocacy groups? What are the reactions from college administrators after an incident occurs?
Allyship: Does the college speak out against antisemitism? Are Jews included in the school’s DEI policies?
Identity: Do Jewish students feel safe at their school? Do Jewish students feel the need to hide their identity on campus? Do Jewish students feel like they are being held responsible for Israel’s actions?
Policy: Has the school adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism? Is there a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organization on campus? Have BDS resolutions been adopted?
StopAntisemitism assesses how each school has responded to antisemitic incidents by conducting two different surveys—one to each university’s administration, of which seven completed this year, and one to their Jewish students, which was completed by more than 1,400 respondents. 79% of students responded “yes” when asked if they had experienced antisemitism on campus, and 72% said they feel unwelcome as a Jewish person in all spaces on campus. The survey was sent out before October 7, but the organization strongly feels that these percentages would increase dramatically had it sent out the survey following the attacks.
You can view the full report here: https://bit.ly/3GXeMCN.
Report Card Grades for 25 US Colleges at a Glance:
Ivy League
Dartmouth University—A
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—C
Stanford University—C
Brown University—F
Cornell University—F
Liberal Arts
Muhlenberg College—A
Bard College—C
Wellesley College—D
Pomona College—F
University of Vermont—F
Private Universities
Rice University—C
Duke University—D
Georgetown University—D
Vanderbilt University—D
University of Chicago—F
Public Universities-East
University of Alabama—A
University of Connecticut—A
Florida Atlantic University—B
University of Illinois Urbana Champaign—D
SUNY New Paltz—D
Public Universities-West
University of Colorado, Boulder—A
University of Texas, Austin—A
Arizona State University—A
University of California, San Diego—C
San Francisco State University—D
Visit https://www.stopantisemitism.org to learn more about the organization and its work.
