This May brought a landmark announcement in American Jewish Committee’s long-term efforts to combat widespread Jew-hatred on college campuses—a result of our sustained work with university leaders.
In collaboration with AJC, organizations representing more than 4,000 colleges, universities, and other institutions of higher education have pledged reforms to fight campus antisemitism.
AJC CEO Ted Deutch called this “a major step forward in our efforts to create and foster the college experience that all students deserve: one that is free from hate, bigotry, and harassment, ensuring that all students — including Jewish, Israeli, and Zionist students — have the opportunity to grow and thrive.”
This breakthrough was announced in a joint statement released by AJC, the Association of American Universities (AAU), the American Council on Education (ACE), and other organizations, affirming the seriousness of antisemitism on campus and a pledge from these and other organizations, representing the full breadth of American higher educational institutions, to “continuing consequential reform and transparent action.”
While commending the administration for prioritizing the eradication of antisemitism on campus, the statement also notes that, “[i]n the name of combating antisemitism, the federal government has recently taken steps that endanger the research grants, academic freedom, and institutional autonomy of America’s higher education sector,” reiterating AJC’s concerns that overly-broad and arbitrary funding cuts could undermine such efforts.
What’s at stake? AJC’s State of Antisemitism in America 2024 Report found that roughly one-third (35%) of current American Jewish college students and recent graduates report having personally experienced antisemitism at least once during their time on campus.
Why does this matter? AAU, ACE, and the four other partner organizations represent more than 4,000 colleges, universities, and institutions of higher education. The statement from these organizations is a clear commitment from leadership at colleges and universities across the country and across the spectrum of higher education institutions to prioritize combating campus antisemitism.
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What comes next? The joint statement is a continuation and reaffirmation of the vital work of AJC’s Center for Education Advocacy (CEA), the trusted resource for administrators and faculty at institutions of higher education and K-12 schools. The announcement signaled an expansion of AJC’s long-term work to provide comprehensive action plans, impactful programming, and meaningful guidance to universities across the country, as we have recently done for Brown, MIT, UPenn, Cornell, Michigan, and many others in the wake of October 7, 2023. Read and share AJC’s Action Plan for University Administrators here.
AJC’s message to university leaders: Fighting antisemitism on campus requires a comprehensive approach that impacts all members of the campus community, including faculty, administrators, and students. A commitment to meaningful reform must involve better community-wide education about the unique manifestations of antisemitism, and a return to viewpoint diversity, fact-based inquiry, and courageous conversations in higher education. A pervasive atmosphere of Jew-hatred cannot become the new normal, and young Jews should not have to fear discrimination or harassment while getting an education.
