Show your support for No Tolerance for Antisemitism by sending a letter to your supervisor. Below is a template letter you can use to urge your campus administration to proactively counter antisemitism and make campus a safer, more welcoming environment for Jewish staff and faculty.
Dear [Insert University Administrator],
Since October 7, 2023, Jewish students, faculty and staff across the nation have faced a wave of hate, violence and ostracization – ADL recorded more than 1,200 antisemitic incidents on college and university campuses between October 2023 and September 2024, a 500% increase from the same period a year before. At the same time, ADL research shows that 83.2% of Jewish college students surveyed have experienced or witnessed some form of antisemitism since the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. As of fall 2024, only 26.7% Jewish students surveyed felt comfortable with others on campus knowing their views of Israel.
These statistics depict a troubling reality for Jewish college students. They are not only facing physical and verbal attacks, but they are also facing a heightened sense of fear in expressing their cultural, ancestral, ethnic and religious identity. Moreover, this alarming surge highlights the widespread normalization of antisemitic rhetoric and incidents on campuses and the increasing prevalence of anti-Zionist views that mask deeper prejudices. It is critical to prevent the recurrence of this discrimination of Jewish members of our campus community. Your leadership is necessary to ensure a return to a positive academic experience, free from disruption, for all.
As a leader of the campus community, I urge you to take immediate and enduring action to prevent a hostile environment on campus and ensure that Jewish students, faculty, and staff are protected and welcomed just like all other members of the campus community. You have an obligation and opportunity to set a positive tone on your campus by adopting the comprehensive set of recommendations from Anti-Defamation League (ADL), including:
- Clearly Communicate Campus Rules, Standards, and Policies: Make clear to students what it means to be a member of the campus community, and ensure students, faculty, and staff are aware of school policies on protests and demonstrations.
- Support Jewish Students: Prevent discrimination, unequivocally denounce antisemitism, ensure inclusivity, provide antisemitism education and training and establish an advisory council to support research into, and programming designed to address, the campus antisemitism crisis.
- Ensure Campus Safety: Enforce university codes of conduct, maintain clear reporting avenues for antisemitic incidents, ensure campus staff are trained to address violations of campus rules, and reaffirm rejection of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) and academic boycotts of Israel.
- Reaffirm Faculty Responsibilities: Communicate and enforce faculty non-discrimination and anti-harassment policies to ensure a safe and inclusive learning environment in the classroom.
I join other Jewish students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni in demanding that you take action now to ensure that Jewish members of your campus community are protected from discrimination and harassment, and to guarantee a safe, welcoming and inclusive campus for all. More than ever, we need leadership to ensure that college campuses can return to being bastions of curiosity, exploration and learning.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[Insert name(s)]