By David Swindle

The nonprofit watchdog StopAntisemitism has released its new annual research on the state of hate brewing in American academia.

The 2023 Report Card surveyed administrators and students. It compiled and noted the severity of antisemitic activities at each of the 25 schools, and provides updates on universities and colleges featured in the 2022 report. Survey data from 1,400 Jewish students documenting their experiences on campus further complements the overall assessments of educational institutions.

A spokesperson for StopAntisemitism told JNS that factors influencing which schools received scrutiny included requests from Jewish parents and students; the number and severity of documented incidents; and institutions with high Jewish populations. The group said that “essentially, this report is driven by Jewish parents and students who want to ensure their safety when choosing schools to attend.”

The report reveals that StopAntisemitism has seen an increase of 1,500% in the number of reports it has received of antisemitic incidents and that 79% of Jewish students polled had experienced on-campus antisemitism, with 32% not reporting the incident out of fear of retaliation. A majority (68%) said they did not think their school administrators took antisemitic acts seriously.

Some of the most notable schools with the highest quantity and severity of activity appeared on last year’s list. StopAntisemitism pointed out that compared to last year, “the University of Pennsylvania has been the biggest disappointment of the 25 schools we featured.” The report also named the City University of New York (CUNY), Yale University and George Washington University as problematic.

Three others from the previous report included Columbia University, New York University (NYU) and the University of California, Berkeley. The report noted that Columbia had received an “F” last year, and while temporary suspensions in place for its Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace chapters indicated progress, it said that’s “not enough. Both clubs should be removed from campus entirely.”

StopAntisemitism said NYU “has without a doubt been one of the worst campuses for Jewish students” since war broke out on Oct. 7 between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization that runs the Gaza Strip. Berkeley, it noted, “has become so toxic, Jewish students have been forced to plead for their safety on campus to school administrators.”

Not all schools received such disturbing assessments. Seven schools earned the top mark of “A”: Dartmouth College; Muhlenberg College; the University of Alabama; the University of Connecticut; the University of Colorado Boulder; the University of Texas at Austin; and Arizona State University. Florida Atlantic University earned a “B.”

The “C” students in the group included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stanford University; Bard College; Rice University; and the University of California San Diego.

StopAntisemitism slapped 12 schools with “D” marks: Wellesley College; Vanderbilt University; Duke University; Georgetown University; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; the State University of New York at (SUNY) New Paltz; and San Francisco State University.

Those that didn’t make the grade included Brown University; Cornell University; Pomona College; the University of Vermont; and the University of Chicago. The colleges that failed in last year’s report were Yale; Columbia; Swarthmore College; City University of New York (CUNY)’s Brooklyn College; NYU; the University of Southern California; and the University of California, Berkeley.

PHOTO: stop antisemitism

CAP: Old Mill, the oldest building at the University of Vermont in Burlington. Credit: Jared C. Benedict via Wikimedia Commons.