Colleges’ tepid responses and weak punishments to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have high school families rethinking university choices

As colleges across the United States continue to issue weak responses to cases of overt anti-Semitism, some high school students are reconsidering where they might apply out of safety fears.

College counselors who focus on the majority Jewish communities, and some who focus on the majority Muslim communities, say they have seen students — many in discussions with their families — narrow their list of possible college choices because of the way campuses have responded to the onslaught of Hamas on October 7. .

USA today reported that several such students are withdrawing from schools they were interested in at one point.

Josh Jury told the outlet that he was excited about the prospect of attending George Washington University in Washington, DC. The school has an active Jewish community and international relations programs that were of interest.

But after a number of disturbing incidents on campus, including the words ‘Glory to the Martyrs’ displayed prominently in the school’s library, the jury believes the school has not done enough to speak out against the growing wave of anti-Semitism.

Palestinian students take part in a protest in support of Palestinians amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, at Columbia University in New York City

The jury called the university’s response to the incidents ‘truly disheartening’.

The school has made several perfunctory statements, but it is not clear whether the students who publicly support Hamas have faced any consequences.

Cases of governments failing to adequately respond to anti-Semitism on campus are especially well documented on campuses that see the greatest expressions of hatred toward their Jewish students.

Specific examples include: UCLA, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, NYU, Cooper Union, and Georgetown.

How university administrators chose and continue to manage the campus environment after the outbreak of war between Israel and radical Palestinian terrorists is something that families with children in high school are paying attention to.

Jewish students in particular have noted the lackluster response from the governments of many of the country’s top colleges, where some of the most virulently anti-Semitic incidents have occurred.

One Jewish parent said, “We’re going to completely switch it up,” in terms of where her 16-year-old will consider attending. Previously, the student had his eye on the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University – two schools that have seen high-profile anti-Semitism recently.

Administrators at both schools are busy dealing with the palpable wave of anti-Semitism in their institutions, but parents and students alike were unimpressed by the schools’ initial response to the barbaric Oct. 7 terrorist attack.

Janet Footlik, the mother of a high school student in Illinois, said her daughter added several colleges to her list based on how those campuses handle anti-Semitism.

“Safety and morality, which we assumed were a basic right on every campus, became top items on her checklist,” she said.

‘Not every school meets this need or has a concrete plan to meet it.’

The scourge of anti-Semitism in the US has become so prominent that the Department of Education felt compelled to issue a warning last week reminding schools that they must legally curb discrimination or risk losing their federal dollars.

Protesters surround a man (with arms raised), walk through the garden and hold up keffiyehs (scarves) before sneaking into a nearby building

MIT’s Coalition Against Apartheid students protest at the university’s main entrance, which prevented Jewish students from using it last Thursday

Counter-protesters supporting Israel shout at City University of New York (CUNY) students and other supporters of Palestine as they hold a rally in front of the chancellor’s office in downtown Manhattan on November 2, 2023.

A protester holds a megaphone as American University students attend a campus protest against the ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza in Washington, D.C.

Four college admissions counselors whose students are Jewish said the outbreak of their war has affected the perspective students take when considering where to apply and has become a source of anxiety for parents.

Naomi Steinberg, a private college counselor in Florida, told USA Today that there is “a reckoning happening with Jewish families and within many of those institutions.”

A Jewish mother of two high school students in Massachusetts said her children were rejected from applying to two colleges because they felt some sections at the schools were anti-Semitic and could not be immediately redeemed.

Referring to the family’s perspective on the college admissions process, she said there has been “a tectonic shift.”

A guidance counselor at Pillars Preparatory Academy — an Islamic school in New Jersey — said Islamophobic insults have been hurled at her and her students during college visits.

She has advised students to consider larger campuses in cities, rather than smaller, more remote campuses.

Students from both sets of religious groups had a more limited choice of campuses to choose from, depending on their level of practice, even before the Hamas attack.

Jewish students often assess access to kosher dining facilities, religious services, and accommodations for the scheduling obligations associated with the Jewish holidays.

Muslim students can look for single-sex dorms, accessible prayer rooms, and a significant presence of other Muslim students.

Jewish students often assess access to kosher dining facilities, religious services, and accommodations for the scheduling obligations associated with the Jewish holidays

A woman shouts slogans as students from NYU (New York University) participate in a walkout during a national day of action called ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’ in Washington Square Park

In addition to the incident at GWU mentioned above, several elite campuses have seen disturbing displays of anti-Semitism since October 7.

Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel that day, killing 1,200 people and sparking a war that continues today.

That also led to large protests at universities across the country, with some students supporting Palestine and voicing their support for Hamas.

At Harvard and Penn, major donors have withdrawn funding from the schools because of their lackluster response to the terror attack, in addition to their inability to deal effectively with student groups that support Hamas.

At Cornell, a student was arrested two weeks ago for making explicit threats about killing Jews on campus and shooting up the kosher dining hall.

In Columbia, a Jewish student was attacked; at Cooper Union, Jewish students were forced to hide in a library as anti-Israel protesters surrounded them; and at MIT, Jewish students were told last week not to walk through the school’s main entrance as anti-Israel demonstrators protested.