GAZA WARAnti-Semitism on U.S. College Campuses
A new survey asked students whether they have experienced any adverse academic, social, or other consequences as a direct result of 10/7 and its aftermath, as well as their opinions about their university’s response to the Hamas attacks on Israel and the resulting conflict. The results were sobering.
The ADL has cnducted a survey tracking the alarming increase of antiSemitic incidents on college camouses in the wake of Hamas’s 10/7 attack on Israel. Here are excerpts from the survey’s Introduction, Executive Summary, and Conclusions:
Introduction
In response to the alarming increase in antisemitism on college campuses in the aftermath of the 10/7 terror attacks, researchers paused data collection and re-fielded an additional survey with the same respondents in November 2023 to determine whether and how campus climate has changed since students were first surveyed at the start of the academic year. The post-10/7 survey asked many of the same questions to track change over time, with a particular focus on identifying whether there have been increases in antisemitic incidents based on real or perceived Jewishness or support for Israel and if students feel less safe on campus and less comfortable with others knowing about their Jewish identity or views of Israel. The survey also asked students whether they have experienced any adverse academic, social, or other consequences as a direct result of 10/7 and its aftermath, as well as their opinions about their university’s response to the Hamas attacks on Israel and the resulting conflict.
The results were sobering. Even prior to Hamas’s horrific terror attacks on Israel on 10/7 and the subsequent escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, a substantial number of students—both Jewish and non-Jewish—were ambivalent about whether their campus is welcoming and supportive of Jewish students. At the same time, Jewish and non-Jewish students differed in their perception of whether campus antisemitism is a serious problem: while more than two in five Jewish students prior to 10/7 said that it was at least “somewhat” of a problem, only one in four non-Jewish students indicated the same.
Though college campuses have long been considered bastions of free expression, students consistently expressed discomfort with both speaking out about campus antisemitism and with expressing their views of Israel. This discomfort is especially high among Jewish students, and there has been a sharp increase in the number of Jewish students saying they feel the need to hide their Jewish identity from others on campus.
