College students afraid to admit they are Jewish amid Gaza protests, anti-semitism on campuses: survey

Jewish students are reporting their fear of identifying as Jews amid the ongoing war in Gaza: 44 percent of college students and recent graduates said they “rarely” or “never” feel safe acknowledging being Jewish on campus, according to a new survey from the Alums for Campus Fairness.

The survey showed that 81 percent of college students and 69 percent of alums will avoid going to certain places, events, or situations because they fear a confrontation, while 60 percent said they have seen or heard faculty members using antisemitic language either to them or someone they know, the New York Post reported.

At 76 percent, the overwhelming majority of the 1,171 students surveyed say antisemitism has escalated from previous years while 83 percent of students and alums defined the growing antisemitism as a “very serious problem,” up from 74 percent who called it that in a 2021 survey.

“The results, compared with our 2021 survey, expose dangerous trend lines for Jewish and pro-Israel students on college campuses,” Avi Gordon, executive director of the group said.

The group that combats both antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments at colleges and universities surveyed students online in May 2024 to assess the feelings of those who still attended classes and those who have recently graduated during the height of the anti-Israel protests that rocked academia.

Many respondents shared stories of Jewish students being verbally or physically harassed over the actions of Israel in Gaza. “I’ve heard of people running around with knives for Jewish students or posting pig-related artwork to represent Jews. It is insane and rampant,” one anonymous student said.

But it hasn’t just been their peers leveling the antisemitic conduct against Jewish students. Professors are increasingly apt to utter epithets or statements with antisemitic sentiments.

“My professor went on a rant about how there’s too many Jews in medicine,” another student from a southwest state university related. “He also said that terrorism is just what the big army calls the little army, and said Hamas is a group of ‘freedom fighters.'” A graduate of one public university remembered how a professor called an Israeli student a “terrorist” after the infamous Hamas’ attacks on Israel on Oct 7 and the ensuing Israeli military action.

The survey also showed that 81 percent of those surveyed said they or their friends have been the target of threats or antisemitic rants, an increase of 10 percent from the previous survey of three years ago. More than 50 percent of respondents said they or a friend or acquaintance were threatened with physical violence because they were Jewish.

In another study, published by Brandeis University and titled Antisemitism on Campus: Understanding Hostility to Jews and Israel, one-third of college students said they were hostile to either Jews or Israel.