Latest News from Campus

Harvard University settled Title VI lawsuits this week which alleged that Harvard failed to protect its Jewish students amid a rise of antisemitism on campus following the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. With the settlement, Harvard agreed to take steps towards countering antisemitism on its campus, including integrating the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism into university’s policies, establishing an official partnership with Israeli universities, and providing additional resources for the study of antisemitism.

The start of the semester at Columbia University was marked by anti-Israel protests outside the university’s gates and library, and protesters disrupting a class on the history of modern Israel. The class, taught by Israeli professor Avi Shilon, was interrupted as demonstrators threw fliers that wrote “Crush Zionism” at the students, argued with the professor, and refused to leave.

A bipartisan bill, the Protecting Students on Campus Act, has been reintroduced in the Senate, aiming to strengthen protections for students facing discrimination. The bill would make it easier for students to report civil rights complaints and hold universities accountable. The reintroduction follows the release of data from Hillel International, which reported a nearly 700% increase in antisemitic incidents on U.S. campuses between 2023 and 2024.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that Wikipedia has officially banned several editors who used the free, community-edited platform to spread antisemitic rhetoric and misinformation about Zionism, Israel, and the Israel-Hamas war.

Eric Fingerhut, President and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, reframes the debate over the TikTok ban to focus on a critical issue at stake: the platform’s role in spreading antisemitism.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is directing University of California (UC) schools to take stronger action against antisemitic behavior and harassment targeting Jewish students. Complaints of such incidents have been reported across the UC campuses, including UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and UC San Diego.