Some 83 percent of Jewish American college students have experienced or witnessed antisemitism firsthand since October 7, 2023, according to a survey published by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Hillel International.
The survey, which polled 1,030 Jewish and 1,140 non-Jewish students from 135 colleges and universities across the United States during the fall semester of 2024, painted a grim picture of Jewish campus life.
The survey found that two-thirds (66%) of Jewish students and 60% of non-Jewish students said they were not confident in their university’s ability to prevent antisemitic incidents.
About 41% of Jewish students said they felt the need to hide their Jewish identity on campus, and 13% said they had withdrawn from campus or social activities due to fears of being attacked or harassed.
Some 23% of students felt compelled to take additional security precautions on their own, the survey found.
At least 1,200 antisemitic incidents were recorded on US college and university campuses between the beginning of the war on October 7, 2023 and September 24, 2024, ADL noted.
An overwhelming majority of students (92.5%) who had witnessed or experienced an incident did not report the incident to campus authorities, the report said. Lack of clarity about what to do and a lack of confidence that the problem would be properly addressed were the main reasons students declined to report antisemitic events.
