Opinion: When will colleges stand up to campus antisemites?

Editor’s Note: Jonathan Greenblatt is CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League. The views expressed here are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN.

At the start of every school year, I hear concerns from friends, family and coworkers about the rise of antisemitism on college campuses — and as a parent sending my Jewish children to college, I feel those worries myself.

The threat of antisemitism has been growing across American society, and colleges are not immune. But while antisemitism nationally has diverse causes, often including ties to White supremacy, campuses more frequently witness boycotts and demonization of Israel that lead to attacking or ostracizing Jewish students because of their own perceived or actual support for Israel.

A national Anti-Defamation League-Hillel International survey in 2021 found that nearly one in three Jewish college students said they had experienced antisemitism in the past year. They most commonly reported hateful comments or slurs, in person or online, and damage to or defacement of property, such as with swastikas. Some 15% of Jewish college students said they felt the need to hide their Jewish identity and 10% said they’ve felt unwelcome in a student organization because of attitudes toward Israel.

For the 2022-23 school year, the ADL tracked 665 anti-Israel incidents at American universities, including vilification of Zionism — the belief that Jews have the right to self-governance in the historic Land of Israel — and expressions of support for terrorism and other forms of violence against Israel. “There is a growing, radical movement on many campuses in which opposition to Israel and Zionism is required to be fully accepted, effectively marginalizing campus Jewish communities,” the report stated.

To be sure, criticism and debate over the policies of the State of Israel, just like criticism of the policies and actions of any country, is part of a healthy campus ecosystem. The First Amendment protects the right to boycott, as well as the right to engage in harsh and divisive rhetoric. Undoubtedly, one can criticize Israel’s leaders and actions without being antisemitic.

But too often, campus anti-Israel activity goes far beyond these bounds. Accusing “Zionists,” or anyone who supports the existence of Israel, of behavior commonly associated with age-old tropes about Jews (such as excessive greed, bloodthirstiness and wealth) is antisemitic. As is promoting the notion that Zionists or Jews are disloyal to the United States, control the media or control the government. And excluding Jewish students from campus life because of their faith or perceived affiliation with Israel dehumanizes these students.

As antisemitic incidents have surged in recent years, hateful rhetoric, harassment and even violence have too often taken the place of campus dialogue and academic debates.

One of the worst examples of campus anti-Israel activity in recent memory is set to take place at the University of Pennsylvania this weekend: Among some 120 speakers at the “Palestine Writes Literature Festival,” billing itself as “the only North American literature festival dedicated to celebrating and promoting cultural productions of Palestinian writers and artists,” are a subset who have records of antisemitism. While it’s laudable to celebrate Palestinian literature, art and culture, it’s alarming and appalling for an Ivy League university to host so many speakers with this history.

As Penn President Liz Magill herself said in a statement last week, a number of the speakers “have a documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism by speaking and acting in ways that denigrate Jewish people,” which university administrators “unequivocally — and emphatically — condemn.” However, individual faculty, departments and student organizations bewilderingly still are sponsoring the event and its sessions.

The festival features several troubling participants. Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician, has “a long track record of using antisemitic tropes,” according to the State Department, and recently gave a concert in Germany with imagery mocking the Holocaust. Palestinian author Aya Ghanameh has tweeted “death to Israel” several times, while Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah has called Israel a “demonic, sick project” and said that she “can’t wait for the day we commemorate its end.”

Another speaker, Marc Lamont Hill, in 2018 said he supported a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” code words for the eradication of the Jewish State of Israel, and praised in a tweet (since deleted) a Palestinian woman convicted of trying to bomb a cinema in Israel. (CNN cut its ties with Hill, who had been a contributor, after making the remarks, though he denied being antisemitic or calling for violence against Jewish people.) One of the founders of a conference sponsor, Al-Awda, has expressed support for State Department-designated Palestinian terrorist groups and said Zionists are not welcome on college campuses.

In light of all this information, Penn leadership has been far too hesitant to act on behalf of Jewish students’ safety and inclusion. It is unfathomable that any Penn departments would co-sponsor a similar gathering featuring speakers who have spewed hate against any other marginalized community. The fact this is happening during the High Holidays, the holiest period of the Jewish calendar and on the eve of Yom Kippur, makes this even more egregious and offensive, particularly since it reduces the ability of Jews to protest or organize counter events.

Unfortunately, Penn isn’t an outlier. In February, stickers were found across the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus with the message “exterminate Zionists.” In April, a talk at NYU by an Israeli was disrupted by anti-Israel activists while, “Zionists not welcome” was chalked on the sidewalk outside the event. And in May, a student at CUNY Law School delivered an anti-Israel commencement speech that accused Israel of murdering Palestinians indiscriminately.

Thankfully, colleges have new tools to combat antisemitism at their disposal. At our urging, the White House has elevated the fight against antisemitism to the level of a national priority, and colleges and universities are a significant focus of its plan.

As part of its Antisemitism Awareness Campaign, the Department of Education reminded schools in no uncertain terms that their Title VI obligations to address discrimination on campus includes discrimination against Jewish students based on shared ancestry and ethnic characteristics. Senior department officials are also offering assistance to schools that need help responding to upticks in antisemitic activity. This built on an important executive order issued by former President Donald Trump in 2019, underscoring that the fight against antisemitism transcends politics and is a universal concern.

In addition, a bipartisan group of 84 members of Congress recently urged Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to take more action on campus antisemitism, including addressing a backlog of investigations into such incidents and encouraging better reporting.

Schools themselves also are emphasizing the importance of creating diverse and welcoming campuses. Many colleges are offering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming to administrators, faculty and student leaders. These programs can help campuses address antisemitism and enhance cultural awareness about Jewish identity, so ensuring they cover anti-Jewish hate in all its forms, ideally based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, is critical.

Unfortunately, not all DEI programs include the Jewish American experience as a component of the curriculum. For example, two Jewish employees of Stanford University’s counseling services alleged in 2021 that staff DEI training initiatives ignored Jewish identity and minimized instances of antisemitism. In fact, they accused the program of employing antisemitic tropes and conspiracies about Jewish power in talking about racial injustice. Stanford is investigating the allegations and has said they plan to launch a centralized DEI training program. When DEI don’t include antisemitism — or worse yet, they further antisemitic ideas — they are failing.

As we celebrate the Jewish New Year, it’s my fervent hope that all students, including my children, find a safe environment on campus in which they can learn and discuss and debate ideas without being subjected to antisemitic taunts, threats or ostracization.

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