A whopping 44% of college students and recent graduates said they “rarely” or “never” feel safe identifying as Jewish on campus as antisemitism soars, according to an eye-opening new survey.
Some 81% of college students and 69% of alums surveyed by the advocacy group Alums for Campus Fairness said they avoid certain places, events and stituations — and 60% even claimed to have witnessed faculty members making an offensive antisemitic remark to them or someone they know.
A vast majority of the 1,171 students participating in the survey — 76% — believe antisemitism has gotten worse while 83% of students and alums called rampant antisemitism a “very serious problem,” up from 74% who said it was a problem in a 2021 survey.
An anti-Israel protester outside of the entrance to Columbia University on Aug. 25, 2024. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
“The results, compared with our 2021 survey, expose dangerous trend lines for Jewish and pro-Israel students on college campuses,” Avid Gordon, executive director of the group said.
“Antisemitism is getting worse. Students are hiding their Jewish identity,” Gordon said. “We are increasingly seeing a lack of safety in both digital and physical spaces.”
The group, which fights Jewish hatred and anti-Israel fervor on campuses, used an online survey to get the pulse of Jewish students and recent graduates from May 17-28 as anti-Israel protests shook universities and colleges as war raged in Gaza.
Anonymous survey participants shared horror stories, including a UCLA student who said Jewish students on campus were assaulted and harassed for weeks.
“I’ve heard of people running around with knives for Jewish students or posting pig related artwork to represent Jews. It is insane and rampant,” the student said.
An anti-Israel protest outside on the campus of George Washington on Aug. 22, 2024. Diane Krauthamer/ZUMA Press Wire / SplashNews.com
Even more startling were Jewish studentswho said their own professors made antisemitic statements.
“My professor went on a rant about how there’s too many Jews in medicine,” one student from a state university in the southwest said. “He also said that terrorism is just what the big army calls the little army, and said Hamas is a group of ‘freedom fighters.’”
A former student at a public university claimed a professor called an Israeli student a “terrorist” after Hamas’ attacks on Israel on Oct 7 sparked Israel’s ongoing military offensive.
The encampment set up by anti-Israel protesters at Columbia on April 26, 2024. Getty Images
The survey also showed:
81% of respondents said they or their friends received threatening or antisemitic messages — up 10 percentage points from a 2021 survey by the group.
More than 50% of respondents said they or someone they knew were physically threatened for being Jewish — up from 44% in 2021.
A pro-Israel demonstrator facing off with an anti-Israel rally near Baruch College on June 5, 2024. Jimin Kim/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
One student at a state university in the west said social media trolls tried to get the student bumped from an LGBT Pride committee as it planned an event because they were also a member of a Jewish student organization, saying “Zionists shouldn’t be allowed” and I should be removed from the committee and that ” and threatening to boycott the event because “it was supporting genocide.”
One silver lining in the survey: students who were members of Jewish organizations said they felt safer on campus.
“Students and recent graduates who attended organized Jewish community events were significantly less likely to report feeling unsafe on campus,” Gordon said. “This reaffirms that there is safety in community. It should inspire us to redouble our efforts to support Jewish life on campus.”
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