Latest News from Campus

Tessa Veksler, former student government president at the University of California, Santa Barbara, filed a federal lawsuit alleging the university failed to protect her from months of antisemitic harassment that began after she condemned the October 7, 2023 attacks. The complaint asserts that UCSB administrators did not intervene as harassment from other students — including hostile signage and threats — escalated, and that the university’s response worsened her situation.

University of Florida Hillel announced a seven‑figure gift from alumna Diane Lipson Schilit and Howard Schilit that will fund facility renovations and endowments supporting Jewish student life and programs. The Hillel will now be known as the Diane and Howard Schilit Hillel at the University of Florida. The gift comes as part of a broader campaign to strengthen Jewish community resources on campus and sustain rising engagement at a university with one of the largest Jewish student populations among public universities in the nation.

Jewish leaders expressed optimism following the appointment of Kent Syverud, chancellor and president of Syracuse University who was named the 16th president of the University of Michigan. He brings more than a decade of leadership experience at Syracuse and previous academic administration roles, including at Vanderbilt and Washington Universities.

City College of New York’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter remains an official campus organization despite participating in a protest earlier in the month in Queens that included pro-Hamas messaging and chants. College officials have not responded to inquiries fromJewish Insider on whether the group will face disciplinary action.

Vandals broke into a private residence where Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity brothers at the University of California, Santa Barbara live,  and smeared a swastika on a bathroom mirror – an act critics say is part of a broader surge in antisemitism at the university. The incident drew immediate reaction from Jewish groups, including AEPi, which called on university leaders “to take concrete, visible action to ensure the safety and well-being of all students, including Jewish students who are being explicitly targeted.”

The Cooper Union agreed to settle a Title VI antisemitism lawsuit brought by 10 Jewish students who said they felt unsafe when barricaded inside a campus library during anti-Israel protests that followed Oct. 7, 2023. Under the settlement, the college will compensate the students, hire a Title VI coordinator, and ban masks at protests.