Faculty are a major source of antisemitism at US academic institutions, their Jewish colleagues related in an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Academic Engagement Network (AEN) survey published Wednesday, which also explored how faculty engaged in unofficial boycotts of Zionists and Israel.
While student activists were still identified in the survey of 209 Jewish faculty members as the main source of anti-Jewish activities since the October 7 massacre, almost 72% of respondents observed faculty as having engaged in such activities. Another 41% said that they had seen administrators or staff participate in anti-Jewish activities.
“Faculty are not talking to me because they know I’m a Zionist,” one respondent related.
Much of the faculty activism was organized by Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapters on their campus, with 77% aware of the group’s anti-Israel programming on their campus. One respondent claimed that FJP chapters were allegedly advising students on activism and how to avoid consequences.
“FJP have had many events on my campus which were billed as being anti-zionist [sic] but truly were antisemitic,” said a respondent. “They posted tropes about Jews and Israel that were clearly anti-semitic [sic]. Administration has been notified multiple times and sometimes say the right things, but the events/incidents continue without consequences to FJP.”
'Soft boycotts'
Half of respondents shared about the phenomenon of “soft boycotts,” in which faculty engaged in unofficial but systematic exclusion or ostracization of Zionists. This included the citation of Zionist authors in subjects that had nothing to do with the Middle East conflict, the discouraging of partnerships with Israeli academics, removal of Israel-related study abroad programs, and avoidance of co-sponsoring events with Jewish or pro-Israel groups.
“In a recent large, international professional meeting, someone who was slated to chair our session backed out, claiming that they would not sit on a panel with Jews,” claimed a respondent.
Students also engaged in these boycotts, with 8% of respondents sharing that students had dropped out of classes after finding out they were Jewish or pro-Israel.
“My Israel-themed course was derided on social media and the students who signed up for it were intimidated,” one faculty member told the ADL and AEN.
Some 7% of faculty detailed that they had been subjected to doxing or smear campaigns to ruin their academic reputations. One respondent, a dean, said that there had been a student art exhibit in which a pamphlet calling for their removal from campus was displayed.
Over 35% of respondents who had negative experiences related to their identity did not feel comfortable with others on campus knowing that they were Jewish or Zionist. This was in contrast to 5% of faculty who had not had a negative experience.
Many who responded to the survey asserted that there was little support in these issues. Only 46% found their universities to be helpful to some degree, and 77% found their associations to be unhelpful. Respondents said that there was also an issue in underreporting, which administrations used as an excuse for inaction.
“Administrators state there is no antisemitism problem on our campus, because they have received few complaints, ignoring that people are hiding and not talking publicly about their experiences because they do not want to be identified, and also think nothing will happen if they complain,” a respondent explained to the ADL and AEN.
The ADL and AEN called on college and university administrators to develop clearer anti-discrimination policies and ensure that academic departments refrained from imposing their political worldviews on faculty.