Latest News from Campus

Over 150 people gathered at Penn Hillel to hear Hagit and Ruby Chen, the parents of Itay Chen whose body remains in Hamas captivity, speak about their son’s capture during the October 7th attacks and their ongoing work on behalf of the remaining hostages. Penn Hillel, Chabad at Penn, and the Penn Israel Public Affairs Committee sponsored the event, and attendees received purple bracelets with Itay’s name as a symbol of solidarity.

During a virtual lecture given by an Israeli professor at Queens College, a handful of attendees reportedly shouted antisemitic expressions including “kill all the Jews” and “go back to Auschwitz,” and displayed disturbing images on their screens. The professor and moderator restored order, removed the disruptors, and continued the lecture. Queens College denounced the incident in a public statement.

Hillel of Broward and Palm Beach and Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) Catholic Owls group held a collaborative dinner to encourage meaningful conversations between Jewish and Catholic students at FAU about faith, culture, and community. The organizations paired games like trivia about Catholic and Jewish traditions with guided discussion, and provided a kosher taco bar for dinner.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst placed a planned academic conference under review after learning that the Coalition of Women in German (WiG), a literature association, had adopted a policy blocking scholars who receive funding from Israeli institutions. The university found that the conference violated its non‑discrimination rules and required WiG to suspend the policy.

The University of Oregon announced that its recent round of layoffs to address a $29 million deficit will not eliminate any tenured or tenure‐track faculty, nor will it cut degree programs, including Judaic Studies and Holocaust Studies, despite earlier concerns from faculty.

Jewish college students are increasingly choosing universities in the South and Southwest, citing concerns about antisemitism and campus climate, among other reasons. In an article for The Atlantic, reporter Rose Horowitch writes that data gathered by Hillel International indicates a 3–5% decline in Jewish undergraduate enrollment at schools like Harvard, Columbia, and Penn from 2023 to 2025. In contrast, universities such as Vanderbilt, Emory, and Tulane have seen significant growth in Jewish student populations, with some institutions doubling their Jewish enrollment during the same period.