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Good morning and welcome to the Campus Crisis Alert, brought to you by the ADL Ronald Birnbaum Center to Combat Antisemitism in Education (CCAE). If you want to subscribe,
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sign up here.

1. 📰 Top Stories

DOE. The Department of Education has
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opened investigations into alleged antisemitism at Columbia, UC Berkeley, Portland State, Northwestern, and the University of Minnesota. Acting Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor emphasized that the administration would not tolerate institutional indifference to antisemitic harassment. Columbia University, in a statement, affirmed its condemnation of antisemitism and outlined recent reforms aimed at improving campus safety and disciplinary processes. The investigations are part of broader efforts under a new executive order addressing antisemitism and campus security, with officials hinting that additional universities may soon face scrutiny. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt
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welcomed the decision, grateful that “jeopardizing the safety and well-being of Jewish students will not be tolerated.”


👉 TAKE ACTION: Tell university presidents to combat antisemitism now.
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Click here to use the dropdown menu on ADL’s call to action to select your school and urge your school’s president to take action to combat antisemitism. Speak out now.


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Penn. A federal judge
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dismissed a lawsuit from faculty associated with For Justice in Palestine (FJP), that attempted to block the University of Pennsylvania’s cooperation with a congressional investigation into campus antisemitism. The judge ruled that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate actual harm and dismissed the case with prejudice. Penn continues to address antisemitism concerns, following donor backlash and the president’s resignation over its handling of campus antisemitism post-10/7.


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Columbia. Nearly 200 Columbia University faculty members
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have sent a letter to President Katrina Armstrong and the board of trustees, urging the university to take concrete steps to protect Jewish students. The letter calls for enforcing a campus mask ban (with medical exceptions), adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, expelling students who disrupt campus operations, investigating and removing Professor Joseph Massad for applauding Hamas’ attack on Israel, reinstating Professor Shai Davidai’s campus access, hiring at least three pro-Israel faculty for Middle East studies, reviewing undergraduate curriculum for bias and announcing the opening date for a university center in Tel Aviv. The faculty emphasize the need for swift
and decisive action to ensure meaningful change for Jewish students.

(Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia January 22nd, 2025. Source: TheBartlett | Instagram)


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Michigan. The ACLU has
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filed a lawsuit against the University of Michigan, claiming that the school violated the free speech rights of five individuals by banning them from campus after anti-Israel protests. The lawsuit, filed Monday by the ACLU in federal court, also argues that the university “abused its authority to ban people from public property.” It also argues that the bans have disrupted the plaintiffs’ lives and asks the court to lift them. The university, which recently suspended the anti-Israeli group SAFE (SJP), declined to comment, stating it had not been served with the lawsuit. The case comes amid heightened campus tensions following a new executive order addressing antisemitism
at universities.

2. 🏆 Campus Champions

The Power of One. Yasmeen Ohebsion, a 23-year-old Tulane University graduate, is a
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passionate advocate for Israel and Jewish students in the U.S. She testified before Congress about rising antisemitism on campus post-10/7, which helped lead to federal investigations and forced her university to provide increased security for Jewish students. Ohebsion fights anti-Zionism and highlights the world’s silence on Hamas’ sexual violence against Israeli women. She is determined to combat antisemitism and defend Jewish rights, saying to Israeli woman, "I see you. I see your contribution to Israel, and you inspire me tremendously. I want to be your soldier in the United States—to fight for Israel and its right to exist. I see us as sisters, as part of the same
family, all fighting for the same values."


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Class Disrupted. A Syracuse student
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penned an op-ed sharing thoughts on when a Columbia University lecture on modern Israel turned into a scene of hostility when masked protesters stormed the classroom, distributing flyers featuring a boot crushing the Star of David—an unmistakable act of intimidation against Jewish students. While the university swiftly suspended the students involved, the incident highlights the growing trend of increasingly extreme antisemitic harassment on college campuses. Nationwide, universities have struggled to develop and enforce policies that prevent antisemitic incidents from occurring in the first place. If institutions fail to act decisively, they risk normalizing hostility under the
guise of activism—undermining both academic freedom and student safety.


3. 💪✡️ Am Yisrael Chai

To the Moon, Israel! As part of Israel’s plan to return spacecraft to the moon, the country’s Space IL venture has inked a new partnership with Italy to collaborate on the pending
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Beresheet 2 mission that will land on the moon and conduct scientific experiments. As Israel Space Agency director general Brig. Gen. Uri Oron noted, "Italy is one of the leading countries in the field of space. They have huge experience and also enormous resources.” The first Beresheet launch, back in 2019 was successful in that it did technically make Israel the seventh country to bring a spacecraft to the moon, but less successful in that it crashed on impact.

(Source: Courtesy SpaceIL)


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Mooove Over, Milkers. Israel’s Afimilk is revolutionizing dairy farming with Synergy, a
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state-of-the-art robotic milking system designed for farms with 500 to 5,000 cows. Gone are the days of round-the-clock human labor—these robots handle everything from prepping udders to milking and disinfecting, all while collecting health data on each cow. “We’re replacing almost all the people with robots,” says Afimilk’s VP Product Oren Drori. The main problem isn’t labor cost—“it’s that people just don’t want to do it (milk cows).” After a $30 million development effort and trials in Israel, Synergy has already been rolled out in farms across Europe and Israel. Demand is high as farmers, eager to embrace automation,
discover how much time, effort, and labor costs the technology can save.

(Source: Photo Courtesy of Afimilk)



🎟 Interested in Addressing Antisemitism on Campus?

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Join ADL and other leading voices on March 3-4 in NYC at Never Is Now, the World's Largest Summit on Antisemitism and Hate. Engage in panels and workshops designed to equip you with tools to advocate against antisemitism on college campuses.

4. 📣 Info and Action:
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Not on My Campus

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Students — how to take action, deal with antisemitism, and organize your community.
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Alumni — how to organize a sign-on letter, answer a fundraising request, or write a letter to a university president.
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Parents — write a letter about commencement, organize a dial day, or get help selecting a college for your student.
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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.
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Glossary of Commonly Used Antisemitic Phrases Heard at Protests.
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Campus Antisemitism Report Card — see the grade a college earned in this first-ever report card.
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Report an Antisemitic Incident.
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Are you a student or know one who needs legal help? Contact our
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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? Please email us at
mailto:[email protected]
[email protected] with any suggestions, questions, photos or videos.



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