Tuesday, March 19th | 9 Adar II 5784

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The 40 Worst Colleges

for

Jewish Students, 2016

The Algemeiner’s 1st Annual List of the US and Canada’s Worst Campuses for Jewish Students

Of all the great and varied challenges we face as editors of a Jewish publication, one that stands out in particular is the troubling experience — dare we say the plight? — of Jewish students on many North American college campuses.

Two recent studies, one by researchers at Brandeis University and the other by counterparts at Trinity College, found, respectively, that an astronomical 54% and 75% of Jewish students said they had witnessed or experienced antisemitism during the time period surveyed. Campus watchdog AMCHA Initiative released a report showing that the bulk of antisemitism occurs on campuses with significant Jewish populations, and that there is a strong correlation between hostility to Israel and antisemitism.

The Algemeiner’s extensive coverage of the issue, enhanced this year with the opening of our new Campus Bureau, effectively gave us a front-row seat in this arena, enabling us to witness and report on the breadth and extent of the phenomenon.

We wrote about the admiration for Adolf Hitler voiced by students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and we covered the violent anti-Israel protest at a movie screening at UC Irvine. We interviewed Hindu student leader Milan Chatterjee, who was hounded out of UCLA because he failed to support the boycott of Israel, simply aiming to keep his student government neutral. And we were the first to report on a course offered at UC Berkeley exploring how the Jewish state might be dismantled.

Our efforts to expose and highlight this shameful state of affairs led us to compile this first annual list of the “40 Worst Campuses for Jewish Students” in the United States and Canada. Inclusion on this list by no means stands as an indictment of the Jewish resources and often fine work being done by Jewish groups on many of these campuses. It indicates rather that these are the schools where antisemitic and anti-Israel hostility and intimidation have been greatest in frequency and intensity, posing the strongest challenges for Jewish students and faculty.

It’s also important to note that antisemitic incidents are by no means limited to the schools that made our top 40. Among the many other campuses that have seen notable incidents this past year are CUNY Kingsborough, University of Missouri, Western Washington University and Toronto’s Ryerson University.

Purpose

Our goal in the publication of this list is first and foremost to draw attention to the problem of rising hostility faced by many Jewish students on campus today. Our hope is that the response to our ranking will be aspirational and prompt university administrators and other interested parties to give serious consideration to what can be done to ameliorate the condition of Jewish students, wherever they are enrolled. We do not necessarily believe that Jewish students should avoid these campuses, but do believe it imperative that prospective students and their families be fully informed about the environments they are poised to enter, and arrive prepared.

It is for this reason that we have also published a supplementary list of the “15 Best Campuses for Jewish Students,” to provide a snapshot of the desirable alternative that is within the reach of any school.

What does the ranking take into account?

While cognizant of the inherent shortcomings and imperfections of the practice of list-making in general, we have taken great care to produce a thorough and credible ranking system that is driven by a comprehensive analysis of many data points representing the full scope of campus life. We have also interviewed numerous experts, campus activists and students, to secure corroborative testimony and additional insights.

Among the many factors taken into account in the compilation of this list are: the number of antisemitic incidents on each campus; the number of anti-Israel groups, and the extent to which they are active; the Jewish student population, and number of Jewish or pro-Israel groups; the availability of Jewish resources on campus; the success or lack thereof of Israel boycott efforts; and the public positions of faculty members with respect to BDS.

This information was then condensed into a point-grading system, which produced the final hierarchy.

Please note that the descriptions accompanying the entries below are not intended to explain in full detail the placement of each college on the list, but rather to shed light on the state of affairs at different campuses through relevant anecdotes and highlights.

Definition of antisemitism

For the sake of clarity, we have characterized antisemitism as per the US State Department definition, which includes certain kinds of discriminatory attacks on Israel.

Thank you for taking the time to review this important compilation. We look forward to reading your feedback in the comments section below.

The Algemeiner editors

 

Jewish Population on Campus
1 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

+
+
+
+
+

Columbia University

New York City, New York

Dozens of antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents, including protests and walk-outs of events related to the Jewish state, have taken place at Columbia. Pro-Israel students have reported feeling “very isolated" on campus, in spite of the considerable resources the school has for its large Jewish community. There is a growing coalition of student groups and faculty members at the school voicing support for the BDS movement, and a regular Israel Apartheid Week, led by Students for Justice in Palestine, is held. This year, when Students Supporting Israel decided to respond to SJP with a demonstration of its own, the student government forced it to roll back its reaction. In April, students at the school hosted a speaker from the controversial Israeli group Breaking the Silence, which accuses the IDF of war crimes. Ultimately, it’s the extraordinarily high number of anti-Jewish incidents and the presence of a constellation of anti-Israel groups on campus that have pushed Columbia to the top of the list. (Photo credit: Columbia University.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

+
+
+
+
+

2 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

+
+
+
+
+

Vassar College

Poughkeepsie, New York

For the last few years, this top-ranking liberal arts college has seen a constant stream of antisemitic and anti-Israel activity, prompting the publication of op-eds in Jewish and national newspapers asking, in one instance, "What is going on at Vassar?" This year, the college hosted a controversial lecture by anti-Israel Rutgers professor Jasbir Puar, "How Palestine Matters," which was condemned as containing outright blood libels. Yet numerous Vassar faculty members came to Puar's defense, and some have signed their names to petitions demonizing the Jewish state. Though a student government BDS resolution was defeated in April 2016, nearly half of the votes cast were in favor of the measure, and the coalition of student groups pushing for anti-Israel action -- including chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace -- continue their efforts. Vassar is host to a high percentage of faculty members who support the boycott of Israel, contributing, among other factors, to its second place ranking. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

+
+
+
+
+

3 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1

+
+
+
+
+

University of Toronto

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Located in the city where Israel Apartheid Week first originated, the University of Toronto has hosted a considerable number of events in recent years portraying the Jewish state as barbarous and colonialist. The school also saw a recent proliferation of blatant antisemitism, when numerous swastikas popped up around the campus, all contributing to its high ranking on the list. The national director of Hasbara Fellowships Canada said that one regularly finds "orchestrated, organized anti-Israel programs and initiatives" at UT, as "part of a larger, insidious project meant to demonize Israel on one of Canada's most prestigious campuses." The graduate student union includes a BDS Ad Hoc Committee, which advances an agenda of isolating Israel, but the pro-Israel community won a crucial victory recently when a motion to make the committee a permanent fixture of student government failed.

Jewish Population on Campus

1

+
+
+
+
+

4 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

McGill University

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

McGill University has been described by students as one of the most contentious institutions in Canada for Jews and Zionists. One McGill student said she has been repeatedly targeted by members of anti-Israel groups -- who call her a “Zionist b****,” for example -- due to her advocacy on behalf of the Jewish state. Open support for Israel prompts protests on campus, such as a recent incident in which access to a pro-Israel “peace wall” was blocked. Anti-Israel activists repeatedly bring BDS motions before the student government, and finally passed one this year -- but when the student body later failed to ratify it, the activists vowed to continue their campaign. The school’s student newspaper, the McGill Daily -- against which Jewish students filed a complaint -- recently rejected charges of antisemitism, but openly admitted to censoring pro-Israel content on the grounds that Zionism is a product of “settler colonial ideology.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

5 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

UChicago was labeled the “new hub” of anti-Israel activism in a study conducted by the Israel on Campus Coalition. Jewish students at the school report witnessing a vast network mobilize against Israel-related events, either in support of programs attacking the Jewish state or in protest of those speaking favorably of the country. Palestinian activist Bassem Eid, who criticizes the Palestinian Authority for its rampant human rights violations, was not only shouted down when he gave a talk on campus, but was threatened, and required a police escort off the premises. This year, a BDS resolution was sprung without warning, and then quickly passed in a student government vote. One student said he considers the school's chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace as “primarily responsible for the growth of the anti-Israel extremism" on campus. Pro-Israel students have expressed hope that the constant demonization of the country at the school will encourage more students to recognize the need to take up advocacy work on its behalf. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

6 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

University of California, Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

UCLA made headlines this year when a student government leader announced he was leaving the school due to vicious harassment by BDS activists and scapegoating by the administration for trying to maintain student government neutrality on the the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Radical anti-Israel events are common on campus, including an annual Israel Apartheid Week filled with programming demonizing Israel and Jews, and lectures by speakers sympathetic to Gaza-based terror group Hamas. In early December, the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter screened a documentary that promoted “centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy theories” about Jews and Zionists controlling the media. It and other California colleges have been criticized for “doing nothing to curb their plague of antisemitic bigotry.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

7 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1.5

+
+
+
+
+

University of Washington

Seattle, Washington

At the University of Washington, the Student Workers Union passed a BDS resolution, and the virulently anti-Israel Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER) group continues to push for divestment from Israel on campus. In 2016, SUPER organized an Israel Apartheid Week -- dubbed as part of a "Palestine Cultural Festival." The program included rallies and panels demonizing and delegitimizing Israel, referring to Jews in the country as colonialists who stole the land. Recently, scorched pages from a book by famed German-Jewish poet Heinrich Heine -- who wrote, "Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people" -- were left scattered outside the university's Hillel building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

1.5

+
+
+
+
+

8 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1

+
+
+
+
+

Portland State University

Portland, Oregon

The Portland State University student senate passed a resolution -- by a landslide vote -- calling on the school to divest from companies that are affiliated with or do business in Israel. The motion claimed that "the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land has been entrenched since 1948," and some who spoke in favor of the resolution explicitly stated, “Israel is apartheid.” PSU's chapter of Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER) holds frequent anti-Israel events, which have included speakers such as international BDS leader Omar Barghouti and Remi Kanazi, a Palestinian poet and activist. SUPER held an "Emergency Rally for Rasmea Odeh," in support of the Palestinian terrorist currently facing naturalization fraud charges in the US for not divulging to immigration officials that she was convicted of murder in Israel. Documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz reported having disturbing success with PSU students, when he pretended to collect money on campus for the faux organization “American Friends of Hamas.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

1

+
+
+
+
+

9 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

+
+
+
+
+

New York University

New York City, New York

This downtown Manhattan school is rife with anti-Zionist activity. The school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter holds regular anti-Israel events, falsely accusing the Jewish state of practicing apartheid and calling for its destruction. University administrators are under constant pressure by BDS groups, such as SJP and the NYU Out of Occupied Palestine coalition, to divest from Israel. This prompted the school’s president to call BDS activity an “affront to academic freedom.” Though the school boasts a significant and close-knit Jewish community, NYU’s was one of the first graduate student governments to pass a BDS resolution, and Jewish students have been subject to antisemitic attacks, such as being served mock eviction notices. The head of NYU’s Hillel said students were shaken after a swastika with accompanying “white pride” messages was found in a dorm after the presidential election in November. (Photo credit: NYU Law.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

+
+
+
+
+

10 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2

+
+
+
+
+

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, California

Since 2014, SFSU has maintained a memorandum of understanding with An-Najah University, a Hebron-based institution with a history of ties to terrorism and glorifying attacks on Jews -- a relationship for which the California university president continues to voice support. SFSU was also the site of the near-violent disruption of a lecture by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. No BDS vote has taken place yet at SFSU, but the school’s General Union of Palestine Students is actively pushing such a measure as part of its anti-Israel agenda. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2

+
+
+
+
+

11 .
Jewish Population on Campus

4

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+
+

Oberlin College

Oberlin, Ohio

This year, Oberlin was home to a host of antisemitism scandals, most notably surrounding the social media posts of Professor Joy Karega’s. The Oberlin administration was slow to investigate and condemn the teacher, and when it finally did launch an inquiry into her antisemitic statements -- which ultimately resulted in her termination in November 2016 -- many faculty members passionately defended her. Some teachers and students charged that unreasonable action was taken against her, a black woman, due to racism and pressure from Jewish alumni. Days after she was fired, the home of a Jewish professor was vandalized, and a note stating “GAS JEW DIE” was found on his doorpost. In addition, a number of Jewish students received an anonymous email message blaming “evil Jews” and “Zionists” for 9/11. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

4

+
+
+
+
+

12 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2

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+
+
+
+

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

UC Berkeley -- where Dr. Hatem Bazian, co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine, is a senior lecturer -- was the site of an incident involving the suspension and subsequent reinstatement of a student-run course advocating the destruction of the state of Israel. The controversy caused an immediate and sharp increase in antisemitic expression on campus, which included the appearance of fliers warning “non-Jews” against “Jewish bullies” who try to manipulate university affairs. The school’s extensive anti-Israel activity has contributed to an overall hostile climate for Jewish and pro-Israel students. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2

+
+
+
+
+

13 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1

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+
+
+

McMaster University

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

At McMaster, there is an active chapter of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), which boasts a substantial coalition of anti-Israel supporters on campus. The group’s president reportedly posted on her Facebook page, "I follow/practice the Boycotts, [sic] Divestment and Sanctions as if it were my religion." Last year, SPHR urged students to support BDS with a video featuring young children saying, "500 kids just like me were killed in Gaza..." A second group, McMaster BDS, promotes the isolation and delegitimization of Israel on campus, repeatedly bringing divestment motions to the Student Union. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

1

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+
+
+
+

14 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3

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+
+

Brown University

Providence, Rhode Island

Brown's Jewish community has faced substantial challenges this year. A transgender activist cancelled a scheduled appearance at the school, due to pressure from anti-Israel students over Hillel’s co-sponsorship of the event. They claimed that the participation of Hillel, which defends Israeli “occupation,” would constitute “pinkwashing.” In addition, Students for Justice in Palestine launched a campaign to remove products, such as hummus -- made by the Israeli company Sabra -- from the dining hall, spurring Brown administrators to promise to offer a variety of alternatives to food from the Jewish state. In March, students on campus held an event featuring the controversial Israeli organization Breaking the Silence, made up of IDF veterans who accuse their state of war crimes. Another event was held by anti-Israel groups to commemorate the "Nakba" (the "catastrophe" of the establishment of the Jewish state), on Israeli Independence Day. In October, Jewish student Benjamin Gladstone penned a damning op-ed for the New York Times titled, "Antisemitism at My University, Hidden in Pain Sight." (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3

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+
+
+
+

15 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1.5

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+
+
+
+

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota

There are more than 20 organizations on this campus that engage in anti-Israel activity. Among these is a strong chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which holds events like the International Campus Day of Action for Palestine and erects mock “apartheid walls.” Israel-related talks are regularly disrupted, including that of Israeli philosopher Moshe Halbertal, who was shouted down when he began to speak. In March, during an aggressive campus-wide campaign to pass a BDS resolution in the student government, Jewish and pro-Israel students said they felt unsafe and marginalized. The motion was ultimately struck down, due to efforts by pro-Israel campus groups, such as UMN Hillel and the school’s Students Supporting Israel chapter. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

1.5

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+
+
+
+

16 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

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+

The campuses of the City University of New York system have been the site of frequent anti-Zionist and antisemitic incidents, the most blatant of which took place at Brooklyn College -- among the schools listed as "hotspots" of antisemitism in a report conducted by Brandeis University and released in October. The school has an active chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, and the classroom often plays host to a political battleground between the campus's many Jewish students and their anti-Israel peers and professors. Jewish teachers have also been targeted. In one instance, a student in a group that crashed a Faculty Council meeting allegedly yelled "Zionist Jew" at a professor wearing a kippah. Though the college and the general CUNY system responded to widespread criticism by engaging in investigations of campus antisemitism, Jewish groups were disappointed with the results and say no meaningful change is on the horizon.. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

+
+
+
+
+

17 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2

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+
+
+

York University

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Students at York University say the school has an "antisemitism problem," with faculty pushing anti-Israel, anti-Jewish agendas in the classroom, and administrators defending them when students and advocacy groups complain. In January, Canadian-Jewish media mogul Paul Bronfman announced he would cease donating money to York, when his attention was called to a virulently anti-Israel mural, called “Palestinian Roots” -- the winner of a 2013 student contest -- which had been hanging in the student lounge for three years. In addition, a BDS resolution was passed by the student government, with only one abstention, and five members of an advisory committee selected to advance “inclusion” on campus allegedly had a history of accusing Israel of committing genocide. But, the Jewish York community claimed a victory when one professor was fired for antisemitic social media posts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2

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+
+
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+

18 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1

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+

UC Irvine, home of the infamous Irvine 11 case (wherein 10 Muslim students found guilty of disrupting a 2010 speech at the campus by then Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren were sentenced to informal probation), was the site of a violent anti-Israel protest this year. When a mob of 50+ demonstrators stormed a screening of an Israeli film -- shouting “Long live the intifada!” and “All white people need to die,” the filmgoers were forced to barricade themselves inside. One Jewish student who arrived to see the film was chased into a nearby dorm, from where she was rescued by police after calling 911. In addition, during this year’s Anti-Zionist Week on campus, a display called for “resistance” against Israel and glorified convicted terrorist hijacker Leila Khaled. In October, some 30 anti-Israel protesters disrupted an event featuring former Israeli Chief Justice Aharon Barak, requiring police to escort him and other attendees from the room. Other Israel-related events at the school have subsequently been held in secret. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

1

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+
+
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+

19 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1.5

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+
+
+

San Diego State University

San Diego, California

This year, anti-Israel activists at SDSU ambushed the university president and imprisoned him in a police vehicle, for what they considered to be his inadequate response to a poster on campus naming specific students as supporters of terrorism. Though a student government BDS resolution last year failed to garner the necessary ⅔ majority for its passage, it received a majority of votes. The divestment-from-Israel campaign is ongoing, with a substantial coalition taking part in the effort. One of the groups involved, Students for Justice in Palestine, said that it was compelled to cancel a scheduled lecture by Miko Peled -- who has called Jews "sleazy thieves" and attacks Israel regularly on social media -- after "Jewish allies confirmed that [Peled's] tweets were offensive." (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

1.5

+
+
+
+
+

20 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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+
+
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+

Stanford University

Stanford, California

Life at Stanford is reportedly “uncomfortable” for anyone who supports Israel. The anti-Israel atmosphere at the private research university in California is spread mainly by the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. In addition, the student government, which successfully passed a BDS motion, has exhibited antisemitic behavior. One student senator was questioned about how her Jewish identity would affect her student government role where supporting divestment from Israel was concerned. Another student senator objected to a resolution opposing antisemitism, on the grounds that it was "valid" to consider whether Jews control the government and the media. Though he was not re-elected, he did garner many hundreds of votes. Some faculty members, too, are outspoken BDS promoters, including among them leading anti-Israel activist Professor David Palumbo-Liu. Nevertheless, Stanford Business School students recently returned from an extensive visit to the Jewish state, and it is reported that Jewish presence at the school is strong. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

21 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3

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+
+
+
+

Northwestern University

Evanston, Illinois

Northwestern University was named a “hotspot” of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in a recently released Brandeis study. According to one student leader, anti-Israel groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine and NU Divest, have “co-opted many social justice movements” in the effort to promote BDS activity. Though the Illinois-based school hosts a wide array of Jewish and pro-Israel organizations, it is no stranger to antisemitic expression. Earlier this month, a Jewish professor walking near the campus Hillel was given the Nazi salute accompanied by calls of “Heil Hitler” by a man in a passing vehicle. Earlier in the year, two students were charged with vandalizing a school chapel with racist graffiti, including a swastika. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3

+
+
+
+
+

22 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3

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+
+
+

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, Michigan

Jewish students at this school have reported feeling isolated on campus. Pro-Israel and Jewish groups have come up against 10 different BDS resolutions in the past few years, most recently in November 2016. Though all have failed, anti-Israel activists pledge to continue trying. One group, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), assembles annual anti-Israel displays on campus, such as mock Israeli checkpoints and an “apartheid wall.” This year, such a wall was erected on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, thereby preventing a meaningful response from the pro-Israel community, members of which were off campus celebrating the holiday. Last year SAFE members attempted to impeach a student government leader because he proposed engaging in constructive dialogue with pro-Israel students. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3

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+
+
+
+

23 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

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+
+
+
+

Tufts University

Medford, Massachusets

The Tufts chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine hosts a popular, event-packed “Israel Apartheid Week," marked by the demonization of Israel and BDS promotion -- though proposed resolutions have not been passed by the student government. A post on the group’s Facebook page called activist organization Students Supporting Israel (SSI) "literally a hate group." As part of a campaign called the Palestine Advocacy Project, large stickers were placed around campus that featured distorted quotes from past and present Israeli and Jewish leaders, portraying them as advocates of torture. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

+
+
+
+
+

24 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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+

University of California, Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, California

Jewish students and faculty at UC Santa Cruz were subject this year to several antisemitic and racist attacks. In three separate instances, the campus network was hacked, causing printers to spew out fliers adorned with swastikas; phrases such as “k*** demon” and the claim that “f***-ing Jews control the f***ing media.” In addition, activist groups hold annual Israel Apartheid Week events. Five UCSC departments co-sponsored, with the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, a lecture in which Israel was accused of ethnic cleansing. Late last year, an event held to express solidarity with Israeli victims of terrorism was interrupted by SJP students staging a "die-in" and justifying violence against Jews with signs reading, “Resistance is not terrorism.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

25 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2

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+

Hunter was the site this year of an antisemitic demonstration -- part of the countrywide Million Student March -- heavily promoted by Students for Justice in Palestine. Though the march was supposedly about lowering tuition or waiving it altogether, at the event in question, protesters waved Palestinian flags and chanted: “Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea," “There Is Only One Solution: Intifada, Revolution,” and “Zionists Out of CUNY.” There were also reportedly shouts of "Jews out of CUNY" and "Death to Jews." A CUNY inquiry into campus antisemitism included an examination of this incident, but investigators concluded they could not confirm that it was specifically CUNY students involved. (Photo credit: Hunter College.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2

+
+
+
+
+

26 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Amherst, Massachusetts

In a landslide vote, the Graduate Employee Union at this campus passed an anti-Israel divestment resolution, while rejecting measures condemning antisemitism, and both students and faculty members continue to promote BDS on campus. One professor led a campaign to have the Israeli company Sabra, which produces spreads like hummus, have a “Boycott Israeli Apartheid” sticker affixed to its foodstuffs sold at campus stores. Over the past year, numerous swastikas were found in campus bathroom stalls, and dozens of white supremacy fliers were distributed at different locations. Some UMass Jewish students have complained of the lackluster response on the part of the administration to such expressions of hatred. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

27 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1

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+
+
+
+

DePaul University

DePaul University

Though this Catholic institution has stated that it will not consider divestment from Israel, DePaul hosts an annual fall Festival of Resistance, a series of educational and cultural events highlighting the "Israeli occupation." This year, printers at the school were hacked, and faculty was warned in an email that “antisemitic and white supremacist flyers [were] appearing in output trays throughout DePaul's campus.” A BDS motion passed a few years ago was recently defeated in the Student Senate, but it was a fight that pro-Israel students said was extremely challenging -- as the DePaul Divest coalition accused the campus Hillel of bribing student senators for their votes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

1

+
+
+
+
+

28 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3

+
+
+
+
+

Rutgers University

New Brunswick, Newark and Camden, New Jersey

Several antisemitic incidents have been reported at Rutgers, with Jewish students -- who say they have a strong and tight-knit community -- claiming that the administration does not take their complaints about swastikas on campus and other issues seriously enough. The school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine regularly stages anti-Israel events -- among them the recent hosting of a lecture by radical anti-Zionist activist Miko Peled -- geared towards demonizing the Jewish state and promoting BDS. Rutgers is also home to a number of anti-Israel faculty members, most notably Professor Jasbir Puar, who accused Israel of harvesting the organs of Palestinians, among other blood libels, during a lecture at Vassar. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3

+
+
+
+
+

29 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

University of California, Davis

University of California, Davis

UC Davis, whose student body has passed a BDS resolution, has a purportedly “fragmented” Jewish community, members of which report being “fearful of retribution” for -- something that has caused the diminishing of such activity. Antisemitism and anti-Zionism are rampant on campus, and the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter regularly protests pro-Israel and Jewish events, such as an Artists4Israel exhibit and a lecture by Arab-Israeli diplomat George Deek. Earlier in 2016, swastika-adorned fliers -- asking "white men" if they were “sick and tired of the Jews destroying your country” -- appeared in printer trays across campus. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

+
+
+
+
+

30 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2

+
+
+
+
+

Ohio State University

Columbus, Ohio

Anti-Israel student groups are very active at OSU, whose chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace recently co-hosted an initiative to shut down campus programs that sponsor free trips to Israel. Members of these groups vowed to monitor and record students who did not take part; vowed to impeach student senators who opposed the initiative; and openly threatened those who took, or were considering taking, the trips. Though a BDS motion failed twice to pass a student government vote, the effort to promote divestment from Israel continues. As part of that effort, activists engaged in an eight-hour "occupation" of the space outside the university president's office -- leaving the premises only after being threatened with expulsion and arrest. OSU was also the site of the November 28 car-ramming and mass stabbing attack, committed by a radical Muslim student, who was shot and killed by police. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2

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31 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

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Wesleyan University

Middletown, Connecticut

Wesleyan's student assembly voted in favor of a BDS motion a few years ago, and the Wes Divest coalition leading the anti-Israel initiative continues its attempts to push the university to boycott the Jewish state. The school's chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace are highly active, staging events and programs throughout the year that amplify virulently anti-Israel and antisemitic voices. A main focus of SJP is support for "#FreeRasmea," the effort to get convicted Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odea absolved of charges in the US for “unlawful procurement of naturalization," after she lied about being a convicted murderer in Israel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

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32 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1.5

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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Antisemitism at the University of North Carolina does not receive a lot of national attention, but one student said she believes the UNC school system may be heading the way of the infamously anti-Israel University of California campuses. Students have reported being spat on when wearing Stars of David or IDF sweatshirts, and say the administration has done little to protect the school’s Jewish population. The UNC Hillel chapter recently hired a rabbi who has led anti-Israel tours of the Jewish state. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

1.5

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33 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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Harvard University

Cambridge, Massachusetts

During the Q&A period following a lecture delivered by a former Israeli foreign minister at the Harvard Law School in April, MK Tzipi Livni was asked by a supporter of Students for Justice in Palestine why she was "so smelly.” The administration called the incident an “embarrassment,” but officials and students worked to maintain the anonymity of the individual who had made the remark, so as not to derail his future job prospects. In other incidents at the Law School, an anti-Israel student group falsely claimed its activities were being suppressed by outside pro-Israel donors, and a visiting professor received a postcard filled with offensive messages, including the German phrase, "Juden raus” (“Jews out”). At the undergraduate school, an Iranian professor who regularly derides Israel and the Jews -- and is aligned with the Islamist regime in Tehran -- was employed as a visiting scholar. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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34 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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+

This year, Jewish and pro-Israel students at UT Austin withdrew support from a program featuring renowned American-Israeli writer Caroline Glick, out of fear that her staunch conservative message might anger anti-Zionist peers with whom they were attempting to make alliances. The anti-Israel activism network on campus makes its presence known through an annual Israeli Apartheid Week, and previously disrupted an Israel Studies lecture, engaging in a smear campaign against an Israeli faculty member. Though the Zionist and Jewish community on campus is significant, the student body’s attitude toward Israel is reported to be "generally apathetic.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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35 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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+

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Urbana and Champaign, Illinois

UIUC has seen a steady stream of attempts to demonize and delegitimize Israel. In 2014-15, the school made headlines when it first offered a teaching position to anti-Israel activist Steven Salaita and then retracted it, when the board discovered a series of antisemitic tweets he had posted following Operation Protective Edge, Israel's 2014 war against Hamas in Gaza. More recently, after participating in "A Roundtable Discussion of Racism, Antisemitism: On Campus and Beyond” -- the president of the school's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter announced: "I have no will, no desire and, quite frankly, no f***ing time to deal with Zionist bullshit." Last year, the menorah at the school's Chabad house was vandalized three times. However, there is a strong grassroots pro-Israel student movement at UIUC, with a supportive on-campus Jewish leadership. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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36 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3

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Swarthmore College

Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

At this liberal arts college, swastika graffiti popped up multiple times over a three-month period -- just prior to and following the US presidential election -- with one student calling the vandalism a "significant problem,” which has left Jews on campus feeling rattled. Nevertheless, the Jewish community at Swarthmore prides itself on its "diversity" and "resilience." (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3

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37 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2

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+

Georgetown University

Washington, DC

Antisemitic graffiti has been found at this premier DC-based institution, most recently in a bathroom at the medical school. Dozens of faculty members have expressed their support for divestment from Israel, and some have ties to a group suspected of being a front for the Muslim Brotherhood. Though no student resolution for BDS has yet been put to a vote, the school's highly active Students for Justice in Palestine chapter is focused on its campaign to delegitimize Israel on campus. However, an attempt in September to disrupt a panel discussion on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quickly and efficiently derailed by the moderator, winning praise from pro-Israel students. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2

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+

38 .
Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

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Syracuse University

Syracuse, New York

Faculty, not students, lead the charge for divestment from Israel at Syracuse. One professor cited threats from and worries about BDS-supporting colleagues as her reason for rescinding an invitation to an Israeli filmmaker to speak on campus. Jewish and anti-BDS scholars found the incident "disgraceful and shameful," and argued it was in violation of Syracuse University policy, the principles of academic freedom and the First Amendment. BDS-supporting professors, for their part, subsequently denied they'd had anything to do with the cancellation. A month later, 37 Syracuse University community members published a letter asserting their support for academic freedom, while simultaneously urging the boycott of a conference on conflict resolution, because it was co-sponsored by Tel Aviv University. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

3.5

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+

39 .
Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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Swastikas and other white supremacy symbols were found on the University of Wisconsin, Madison campus over the past year. Ranked regularly as one of the 50 top schools in America -- and a popular choice among Jewish students -- it has an active Students for Justice in Palestine chapter. The university's Teaching Assistants’ Association voted in favor of adopting a BDS resolution, and called on both the union's international parent labor organization and the University of Wisconsin System to divest from Israel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia.)

Jewish Population on Campus

2.5

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+

40 .
Jewish Population on Campus

1

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University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Knoxville, Tennessee

Campus watchdog group Canary Mission described a "cesspool" of antisemitism at this university, after students and alums associated with the school's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine were found to be vocalizing and promoting anti-Jewish rhetoric on social media. One such post lauded Hitler as "a boss." Jewish organizations slammed UTK for its "tepid" response to the allegations and said administrators were refusing to recognize a serious problem on campus. (Photo credit: University of Tennessee, Knoxville.)

Jewish Population on Campus

1

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