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ADL Report on Academic Associations. ADL released its new assessment of The State of Antisemitism in Professional Academic Associations,
revealing how antisemitic bias among scholars extends far beyond faculty meetings. The report warns that when prejudice takes hold in academic associations, it can influence entire professions, as well as the students they teach. Jewish members described feeling unsafe at conferences, silenced in discussions and pushed out of the professional spaces that once served as their academic homes. The report urges reforms to ensure intellectual honesty, inclusivity and accountability.
👉 TAKE ACTION: Join ADL in calling on Congress to hold these influential organizations accountable to protect Jewish members from discrimination.
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Harvard. When a Harvard Crimson columnist declared it “justifiable” to end friendships with Zionists, Rabbi Jason Rubenstein didn’t mince words in his lacerating response. The executive director of Harvard’s
Hillel called the op-ed “exactly the kind of shunning, ostracization, [and] demonization” of Jews that his community has been warning against. He said the column “echoes” Austria in the 1930s and points to a “moral crusade that will take Jews as some of its victims.” Ironically, the dubious op-ed ran as part of the paper’s “Amateur Ethicist” series. Rubenstein said the piece reflects a broader national trend of antisemitic exclusion.
DEEPER: ADL is pushing back against this kind of isolation. Read more about 'The Six Asks' that we are urging every college to use so they can address hostility on campus.
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Mississippi. One bite, everybody knows the rules—except maybe the Mississippi State student who hurled antisemitic slurs (and coins) at Barstool’s Dave Portnoy during a pizza review. While Portnoy was in Starkville reviewing a slice (a 7.2, if you’re curious), a student shouted “F*** the Jews” and threw coins, all caught on
video. The student was arrested for disturbing the peace and quickly withdrew from school. Portnoy, who is Jewish, reflected on the rising tide of antisemitic hate he is seeing, telling CBS, “This is not normal ‘ha ha’ with the guys.”
ADL seconded Portnoy’s complaint, saying that the incident reflects a troubling rise in open antisemitism.
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Portnoy (holding pizza box) confronts antisemitic heckler. (Source: Dave Portnoy | X) |
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MIT. In what may be the first campus protest case to reach a federal appellate court, a group of Jewish students came out on the short end as MIT prevailed against claims from the students that the school had been “deliberately indifferent” to how anti-Israel incidents on campus affected the climate for Jewish students there.
Circuit Judge William Kayatta explained that the panel of judges found that “even if the protestors’ conduct as a whole was actionable harassment under Title VI, MIT is not liable because it was not deliberately indifferent to the effects of the protests on Jewish and Israeli students.”
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Anti-Israel encampment at MIT in Spring of 2024 (Source: The Tech, MIT) |
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Berlin (Germany). In an eyebrow-raising turnabout, Jewish students at Berlin Technical University occupied a campus building
for an actual good cause -- to protest antisemitism. Bear in mind that this comes at a university where the President ‘liked’ a social post that put a swastika on the face of Israel’s Prime Minister, and in a city where there have been repeated anti-Israel demonstrations at many schools over the past two years. The “Occupy Against Antisemitism" student group says they are particularly concerned about recent student council election victories by antisemitic students who glorified Hamas.
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A sign unfurled by Jewish student protesters in Berlin. (Source: besetzung.gegen.antisemitismus/Instagram) |
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Student Attitudes. An alarming new survey suggests that two years after 10/7, American university students are nearly 25% more likely to disapprove of the Israeli government than of Hamas. Conducted for the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC), the poll also found that more than half of respondents support anti-Israel protests on campus and less than half said that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state. ICC CEO Jacob Baime said the data “lays bare the daily reality for Jewish students.”
DEEPER: If you are a college or high school student, you can make a difference against antisemitic and anti-Israel bias. ADL’s Words to Action prepares Jewish students to respond effectively to antisemitism. Get involved through ADL's live workshops or online modules.
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Washington D.C. In a winning night where a serious point was made lightheartedly, more than 100 students from six area colleges gathered at George Washington University for a Unity Dinner aimed at reviving the historic Black-Jewish alliance
-- and what better way to break the ice than with the age-old question: is a hot dog a sandwich? Sponsored by Hillel International, UNCF and the Blue Square Alliance, the dinner skipped the talking points and leaned into vulnerability, laughter and identity. One takeaway from a Howard freshman: “the Jewish community and the Black community are low key kind of the same.” This D.C. event was one of 14 such events taking place across the country this year. | 
