In the wake of Hamas’ mass atrocities against Israeli civilians on October 7th, we have watched in horror as antisemitism has spiraled out of control in higher education. Jewish and Israeli students have been harassed, threatened, spat on, and physically assaulted. They have also seen their classmates glorifying Hamas’ terrorism as a legitimate form of “resistance” and using chants and slogans calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. According to ADL research and data, antisemitism and the vilification of Zionism have been allowed to simmer on campus for years, and now these incidents are approaching a boiling point.
Colleges and universities that receive federal funding have an obligation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect Jewish and Israeli students against antisemitic harassment and discrimination when it is based on their shared ancestry and/or ethnic characteristics. But, it shouldn’t take the threat of an Office for Civil Rights Title VI investigation for schools to do the right thing.
Together with our Jewish Communal Partners, ADL published comprehensive guidance, consistent with ADL’s Not On My Campus Campaign, to university leadership that is central to the mission of making campuses safe and preventing the disruptions witnessed in the 2023/24 academic year. This guidance emphasizes the belief that consistently supporting Jewish students, ensuring campus safety, clearly communicating university rules and polices and re-affirming faculty responsibilities are key to improving the campus climate. The Six Asks outlined here provide a pathway for universities to fulfill those objectives.
1. Speak Up Forcefully Against Antisemitism and Support Jewish Community Members
The federal government has called upon colleges to “issue clear and unwavering statements condemning all forms of hate, including antisemitism, especially in the wake of antisemitic incidents” and to “treat antisemitism with the same seriousness as other forms of hate.” In some cases, speaking up may be required to meet Title VI obligations. We urge college and university leaders to embrace and use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism and to clearly and unequivocally speak out to condemn acts of antisemitism when they occur on campus. We also urge school leaders to reject and distance themselves from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and from harmful and often antisemitic academic efforts to “delink” the study of Zionism from Jewish Studies.
Supporting the Jewish campus community should also include unequivocally denouncing the targeting of Jewish students, faculty and staff and their organizations like Hillel and Chabad, as well actively preventing discrimination against Jewish students in campus organizations, particularly addressing exclusionary practices that target "Zionists" or use antisemitic slurs. as ensuring Israeli students, faculty and staff are welcome. Additionally, Universities must ensure that Israeli members of the campus community are treated with the same dignity, safety and inclusion as all others.
2. Promote Campus Safety by Communicating and Enforcing Rules Governing Protests and Demonstrations and Policies Prohibiting Discrimination
Colleges and universities have both a moral and legal duty to ensure a physically safe and secure environment for students, faculty and staff. To meet this obligation, institutions must clearly define behavioral expectations and consistently enforce codes of conduct, with particular attention to time, place and manner restrictions governing campus activities. Security protocols should be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure adequate staffing during protests and demonstrations, and to guarantee that acts of harassment, vandalism, or assault are promptly investigated and addressed.
Policies must also explicitly cover online harassment, with swift disciplinary and remedial action taken against violations. If existing campus policies fail to adequately address antisemitic harassment – including anti-Zionist harassment or discrimination based on shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics – they must be updated accordingly. Finally, universities should publicly and proactively educate students on their legal rights, while committing to full transparency in the outcomes of complaints and disciplinary processes.
3. Establish a Title VI Office or Coordinator
Colleges and universities should establish a Title VI office or designate a coordinator responsible for preventing and addressing discrimination prohibited by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, including antisemitism and discrimination based on national origin. The functions of this office or individual should include:
- Offer support to students, faculty, and staff who report harassment or bias based on race, color, or national origin;
- Make sure campus community members know how to report discrimination;
- Ensure complaints are taken seriously and investigated promptly and fairly, and complainants are informed of the progress and resolutions of their complaints in a timely fashion;
- Lead training and education to prevent discrimination;
- Keep accurate records of complaints of discrimination and track trends;
- Review the reports and complaints of discrimination to ensure that they do not individually or together indicate a hostile environment for students, faculty, or staff;
- Share data about the complaints of discrimination received on the school's website to the maximum extent permitted by law;
- Investigate whether anti-Zionist student groups on campus may be violating student codes of conduct or other applicable policies or laws, taking action where warranted to revoke official recognition and funding.
Establishing clear accountability and coordination over the handling of Title VI complaints will enable colleges and universities to respond effectively and in compliance with their legal obligations. Transparency about the complaints received will help build community trust, show the school is taking the issues seriously, and give administrators the data they need to respond effectively and prevent future harm.
4. Conduct Antisemitism Trainings and Create Spaces for Civil Discourse
Antisemitism awareness must be built into student orientation, faculty and staff training, and all anti-discrimination programming. This education should be mandatory, recurring, and guided by the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, developed in partnership with local Jewish organizations to reflect lived experiences and the realities of antisemitism today - including when anti-Zionist rhetoric becomes harassment. We also urge colleges and universities to ensure campus law enforcement is properly trained to recognize and address antisemitic conduct that violates criminal law.
Universities must also foster respectful dialogue across political, cultural, and religious differences. Structured initiatives should encourage active listening, embrace the diversity of Jewish voices, and reject frameworks that delegitimize Jewish or Zionist identity. Programs that promote media literacy and critical thinking can further help students engage with nuance rather than division.
Regular campus surveys should inform stronger policies, improved training, and a healthier climate. By committing to education, reform, dialogue, and transparency, universities can ensure Jewish students, faculty, and staff are not only protected from harassment but fully included in the academic community.
5. Ensure Accountability with Regular Climate Assessments and an Antisemitism Task Force
Colleges and universities should develop a regular process to assess the prevalence of antisemitism on campus, including how many respondents have been targeted, witnessed antisemitic behavior, or feel safe openly identifying as Jewish on campus. The study should also measure awareness of school policies for reporting incidents, willingness to report and confidence in how complaints are handled. The school should use the data to inform and improve its policies, procedures, and response to campus antisemitism.
If your campus does not have one already, create a Task Force or Advisory Group to review, address, and improve Jewish life on campus. This Task Force or Advisory Group should be composed of Jewish student leaders, faculty, staff, and other concerned stakeholders, including but not limited to representatives from Hillel and Chabad. For more information on establishing a task force, see here: https://notoleranceforantisemitism.adl.org/resources/tools-and-strategies/campus-antisemitism-task-forces.
6. Reaffirm Faculty Professional Responsibilities
Universities and colleges must make clear to all campus community members – faculty, staff and students – the rules that govern the academic sphere, how those rules will be enforced, and the consequences for violation and ensure that faculty codes of conduct are vigorously and consistently enforced. The inherent and unequal power differential between faculty and students heightens the vulnerability of students to faculty coercion and political indoctrination. Universities must protect students from these dangers, which interfere with learning and can create a hostile environment. Faculty members have a duty to encourage the free pursuit of learning in their students and ensure that core academic principles of respect, tolerance, intellectual honesty and open inquiry guide institutional operations. Faculty have no authority to impose their own particular political views and opinions concerning matters extraneous to the course of instruction itself, or to significantly insert material unrelated to the course. Faculty may not discriminate against any student on political grounds or based on that student’s legally protected status. Nor should faculty members be allowed to cancel a class session for the purpose of encouraging students to participate in a political protest or rally, or threaten to decrease or withhold students’ grades if ideologically or politically based course components are not met. These norms of faculty conduct should be made explicitly clear at the beginning of the school year.