ADL to tackle pandemic of antisemitism on university campuses with new campaign

The Anti-Defamation League announced plans for a new campaign to tackle antisemitism on US college campuses, following a significant rise in hate, the ADL announced in a release on Thursday. 

The campaign, ‘Not On My Campus,’ will demand academic institutions adopt a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism. The ADL argued that existing policies have failed to protect Jewish students and institutions were failing to meet their moral and legal obligations to provide safe, inclusive, and equitable learning environments for all students.

Part of the campaign provides students, parents, and alumni with an online HUB where they can access resources with the tools they need to demand action from college leadership and build the collective action necessary to hold schools accountable.

“It is unacceptable that Jewish students find themselves in a position where they are being made to feel increasingly unsafe and unwelcome on their own college campuses,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO. “As an urgent priority, colleges and universities must rigorously enforce their codes of conduct to protect against antisemitism, just as they do for other forms of identity-based harassment and discrimination.”

The ADL has also released an updated list of key commitments that academic institutions can make to improve the climate for Jews on campus. These commitments include rigorously enforcing student and faculty disciplinary rules and non-discrimination policies, creating task forces focused on campus antisemitism, updating security protocols, and ensuring mandatory training focused on antisemitism awareness, including in DEI efforts.

To facilitate an easier transition, the ADL has also provided support for universities in the form of sample policies that colleges and universities can consider as they review and update existing policies. 

To assess antisemitism on individual campuses and provide quantitative data, the ADL is in the process of developing a new tool to evaluate campus antisemitism. Following the collection of data, a “report card” will be published every spring to offer students, parents, guidance counselors, admissions consultants, concerned alumni, and others the information they need to decide on things like where to study, where to donate funds and where to seek employment.

Antisemitism on campus

The new campaign is just one in a series of efforts to reduce campus antisemitism. In November, the ADL, in partnership with Hillel International, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, and Gibson and Dunn & Crutcher LLP, announced the launch of the Campus Antisemitism Legal Line (CALL). CALL is a free legal protection helpline for students, families, faculty, and staff members to report incidents of antisemitic discrimination, intimidation, harassment, vandalism, or violence.

There have been over 500 incidents of antisemitism on US campuses since Hamas launched its Oct. 7 attack, according to the ADL. The attack also marked a global increase in antisemitic incidents by 1180%, The Jerusalem Post reported in November. 

In a survey carried out by the ADL, it was found that nearly three-quarters of Jewish college students experienced or witnessed antisemitism in the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year.

Only 46% of Jewish students reported that they felt physically safe on campus, a drop from 66.6% before October 7.