Campus Crisis Alert readers — Today, instead of our usual daily aggregation of news and analysis about the antisemitism and anti-Zionism we are witnessing on campuses around the country, we are providing a deep dive into an important new report from the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education & the Workforce.

The full report is long and detailed, leveraging 400,000+ documents from 11 universities to provide a behind-the-scenes look at what administrators are and are not doing, and it exposes more of what we know: that there is a pervasive culture of antisemitism on these campuses enabled by college and university administrators.

Like we do every day, we broke things down for you. Here are our experts’ insights:

Contrary to what is called for in ADL’s Six Asks, many schools did not forcefully condemn antisemitism and did not enforce their own non-discrimination, anti-harassment and time, place and manner policies. And yet, they did negotiate with and make significant concessions to anti-Israel protestors.

Consistent with the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, ADL has called on colleges and universities to clearly and unequivocally condemn antisemitism. In some cases, speaking up may be required to meet Title VI obligations. Yet, as the report demonstrates, many universities have failed to do so.

Words Matter: Email exchanges show top administrators at Harvard were reluctant to label “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as antisemitic. In a troubling, but sadly not surprising, exchange between Harvard President Claudine Gay, then-Provost Alan Garber and Harvard Corporation leader Penny Pritzker, President Gay expressed worries that doing so would prompt questions regarding the discipline of those who use the phrase.

ADL has repeatedly called ‘From the River to the Sea’ an antisemitic slogan that denies the Jewish right to self-determination, and its usage can make members of the Jewish and pro-Israel community feel unsafe and ostracized.

The university’s refusal to acknowledge the antisemitic nature of the phrase follows the administration’s earlier failure to condemn Hamas’ role and explicitly call out the violence of the October 7 terrorist attack. As the campus climate worsened, these incidents were compounded by a subsequent, prolonged failure to implement recommendations proposed by ADL and other Jewish campus stakeholders.

Who’s Got Our Back? At Columbia, as anti-Israel protestors called for the cancellation of the university’s dual degree program with Tel Aviv University, then-President Minouche Shafik declined to issue a public statement of support for students involved in the program. This decision was made despite pleas for administrative support from the majority of the program’s students and other campus stakeholders. This incident was part of a broader trend of the administration’s consistent silence in response to antisemitic incidents occurring on campus. Shafik’s reluctance to publicly support the Jewish community became a defining feature of the administration’s leadership post-10/7.

ADL has long held that schools should strictly enforce their own non-discrimination, anti-harassment and time, place and manner policies. The report’s examination of disciplinary and investigative processes following major conduct violations by anti-Israel protestors reveals that this was often not the case.

Too Little, Too Late: At UCLA, days of code of conduct and civil rights violations at the anti-Israel encampment, coupled with escalating levels of violence, ultimately led the encampment to a tipping point where antisemitic checkpoints were set up that blocked Jewish students from freely accessing certain spaces on the campus and masked harassment continued to escalate, culminating in the administration essentially losing control of the campus. On April 30, 2024, an encampment that could have been dismantled within minutes of its establishment instead spiraled into unchecked violence and the involvement of hundreds of law enforcement officials from UCPD, LAPD and other local agencies.

However, the failure to enforce policies did not end there. While 96 students were arrested at the encampment, 92 ended up signing an agreement with the university that enabled them to avoid discipline for their actions in return for their agreement to avoid future violations of university policies.

UCLA anti-Israel encampment in April 2024. (Photo Source: UCLA Daily Bruin)

Rules Without Consequences? The enforcement of policies was noticeably absent at UC Berkeley as well. An unauthorized encampment, a student riot and a building occupation were not deemed significant enough by the university to warrant major disciplinary action. In fact, “only three Berkeley students were mildly disciplined” following the building occupation. Those involved in the violent riot and the unauthorized encampment reportedly faced zero discipline.

The magnitude of these conduct violations — alongside the reprehensible absence of policy enforcement and discipline — served as a precursor to University of California (UC) President Michael Drake issuing a directive for all UC campuses to raise awareness of and consistently enforce conduct policies.

Encampments: Giving In. Several universities, including Northwestern, Columbia, UCLA and Harvard, made significant concessions to demands from students involved in encampments and other protests that disrupted campus life, often overlooking conduct violations and anti-Jewish hostility. As ADL noted in its call for Northwestern President Michael Schill to resign, the university gave in to some protestor demands while failing to sufficiently consult with Jewish stakeholders on campus. Yet President Schill found time to consult with individuals like Jessica Winegar, a leading international proponent of the BDS movement — these were people he knew would not push back against his capitulation to rule breakers.

We now also know that some school officials that led negotiations with protestors not only used their roles to advance their pro-BDS agendas, but they also hoped — and celebrated — that their school’s capitulation could inspire other universities to follow suit.

• ADL’s Not on My Campus campaign provides an actionable path toward No Tolerance for Antisemitism. ADL has made clear to university leadership the actions they must take to counter antisemitism on campus, including the Six Asks for universities; developed best practice guides for policies and academic disruptions; assessed them on their efforts in the Campus Antisemitism Report Card and supported the schools in implementing change.
• Due to the rising crisis of antisemitism in educational spaces, ADL launched the new Ronald Birnbaum Center to Combat Antisemitism in Education (CCAE) to prioritize a whole-of-society approach to countering antisemitism in education.
• ADL will continue to leverage our expertise and the report’s findings to advocate for solutions to the campus antisemitism crisis. Congress must pass the Countering Antisemitism Act and the Antisemitism Awareness Act and ensure that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has sufficient funding.

• Students — how to take action, deal with antisemitism, and organize your community.
• Alumni — how to organize a sign-on letter, answer a fundraising request, or write a letter to a university president.
• Parents — write a letter about commencement, organize a dial day, or get help selecting a college for your student.
• Faculty and Staff — support for impacted faculty and staff, and guidance on how to discuss what constitutes antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and how to provide help to students and colleagues.
• Glossary of Commonly Used Antisemitic Phrases Heard at Protests.
• Campus Antisemitism Report Card — see the grade a college earned in this first-ever report card.
• Report an Antisemitic Incident.
• Are you a student or know one who needs legal help? Contact our Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL), run by ADL, Hillel, the Brandeis Center, and Gibson Dunn. Hundreds of incidents have been reported. You are not alone!

Do you have something to share with us? We are building this as we go — so please email us at [email protected] with any suggestions, questions, photos, and videos.

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