Initiative Names Top Ten Anti-Jewish Campuses

A recent article published on “stopcampusjewhatred.org” written by Sara Dogan reports on what it calls the “Top Ten Jew-Hating Colleges and Universities.”

Dogan’s articles are published on Frontpage Mag, The Jewish Voice (New York) as well as the conservative not-for-profit organization called The David Horowitz Center (formerly the Center for the Study of Popular Culture). According to material released, researchers dug through many accounts and news stories of campus incidents across the country, using resources like the Canary Mission and the Amcha Initiative, to name the sites where they saw the worst patterns of antisemitism.

The campuses named include Florida State University, Arizona State University, the University of Michigan, University of Chicago, Boston University, San Francisco State University, Rutgers University, UCLA, the University of Houston and the University of Minnesota.

Following the report’s release, a campaign was launched on social media to target and expose these campuses. During the three-week initiative, “Stop Campus Jew-Hatred,” the ads reached more than 250,000 individuals with their message about the growing threat of antisemitism at American universities.

In addition, the Center called upon the federal government to withdraw funds from the schools that they said continue to propagate “Jew-hatred” and propaganda. According to the report, ads garnered more than 419,000 impressions and generated more than 25,000 visits to the full report.

New Haven’s local NBC affiliate news station said a local psychiatrist, Dr. Gary Plotke, discovered the sign near Yale-New Haven Hospital.

The initiative has identified three key reasons behind what it considers the rise in antisemitism on college campuses. The most significant factor, the Center says, is the growth of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which they say promotes a false narrative that Israel is an illegitimate “settler colonial” state engaged in “ethnic cleansing.”

The report found that campuses with large and strong SJP chapters have higher levels of antisemitism.

“Israel was created the same way that Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq were created, but you don’t see SJP calling those countries illegitimate or organizing massive boycott movements despite their much more dismal record on human rights,” said Dogan. “SJP has been shown to promote ‘Jew hatred’ time and time again but continues to receive funding and support from colleges and universities, even while promoting outright hatred.”

Dogan also cited what she called the increasing radicalization of university departments and organizations that sponsor antisemitic speakers on campus and openly promote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on official websites and social media.

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The organization found that when pro-Israel speakers attempted to speak on some of these campuses, anti-Israel activists conducted campaigns to delegitimize Israel. On the Center’s website, it mentions a concerted attempt to shut down dialogue and debate — anything that would help “normalize” Zionism, permit pro-Israel views to be aired and generate support for the Jewish state.

A third factor, according to the initiative, is the growing influence of antisemitism on the political left. Dogan mentioned political leaders like Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, “who have made it more acceptable to voice Jew-hatred in public.”

She believes that these leaders embolden antisemites and help them to create a false narrative that opposing Israel is part of a social justice mission. These representatives are part of a younger, left-wing faction of the Democratic party commonly known as “the Squad.”

Previous remarks made by some of these members, including U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, have garnered widespread condemnation from within and outside of the Jewish community.

“I think the most important way that parents can use our guide is to educate themselves about the growing breadth and scope of campus Jew-hatred,” said Dogan. “The rise of groups such as SJP and the BDS movement is relatively recent, just in the past 15-20 years or so, and I think many parents are not aware of how much the campus climate and discourse have changed on these issues since they were in school.”

Dogan stated that the initiative is not trying to specifically steer people away from any particular campus, but that parents and prospective students should not go onto college campuses blind to the facts. “When I describe the incidents that occur on college campuses, I often find that people are shocked to realize just how bad things have gotten,” she added.

The full report, “The Top Ten Jew-Hating Colleges and Universities,” is available at www.stopcampusjewhatred.org/news/top-ten-jew-hating-colleges-and-universities.