A new survey by the Anti-Defamation League found that about 73% of Jewish college faculty who responded observed antisemitic statements or activities coming from other faculty, administrators or staff on their campuses.
The survey, conducted in partnership with the Academic Engagement Network and based on responses from 209 current or former U.S. college and university employees who identified as Jewish, reported that 72.3% of respondents had seen “anti-Jewish activities or statements” among campus personnel. Respondents described what they called patterns of hostility, institutional inaction and personal tolls tied to their faith or perceived support for Israel.
Survey participants cited specific examples of exclusion and workplace strain. One respondent said colleagues in a department “overwhelmingly signed a remonstrance calling for the firing of the university’s president” after she dispersed a pro-Palestinian demonstration. “Faculty are not talking to me because they know I’m a Zionist,” the respondent wrote. Another said they were “excluded, ignored, minimized, and belittled on the DEI committee because of my (real and perceived) Zionism.”
The survey also asked about the presence and activities of faculty-organized groups that support Palestinian causes. Forty-four percent of respondents said they were aware of an organized chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine, and large majorities of those respondents said the groups engaged in explicitly anti-Israel efforts: 77.2% reported anti-Israel programming, 79.4% reported organized anti-Israel protests and demonstrations, and 84.8% reported endorsements of anti-Israel divestment campaigns.
Several respondents described more extreme allegations. One said a department chair was “pro-Hamas” and had allowed an encampment marked by slogans including “from the river to the sea.” When the respondent and other Jewish faculty objected, the chair allegedly organized a group to confront them verbally, the survey accounts said.
The survey did not offer a statistical breakdown by institution type, geography or faculty rank in the publicly released summary. It collected testimonials from respondents that the ADL presented as illustrative of the trends identified in the quantitative data.
The findings arrive amid heightened political scrutiny of campus demonstrations that began after the war between Israel and Hamas. The Trump administration has prioritized combating campus antisemitism as a domestic policy goal and has rescinded federal funding from several universities, alleging those institutions failed to sufficiently curb protests that federal officials said crossed into supporting terrorism or tolerating antisemitic expression. The administration’s actions have been followed by resignations of several university presidents and cuts to staff and faculty positions at some schools.
Advocacy groups and campus leaders offer differing assessments of the problem. Some university officials have said they strive to balance free speech protections with the need to protect students and staff from harassment and threats. The survey authors said the results point to institutional failures to address harassment and the need for policy change, but the ADL’s report summary did not lay out specific policy prescriptions in detail.
FJP did not respond to requests for comment on the survey findings.
The ADL said its research aimed to document experiences of Jewish faculty amid a charged campus environment. The organization and its partners have previously called for clearer institutional policies and stronger enforcement mechanisms to protect Jewish students and staff from harassment. University leaders and governing boards now face questions about how to respond to complaints from faculty who say they have been targeted for their religion or political views, while also navigating constitutional limits on disciplining speech.
The survey’s authors acknowledged limitations common to voluntary polling, including that respondents were self-selected and that the sample size was modest. They said the testimonies and statistics nonetheless reflect a pattern that warrants attention from campus administrators and policymakers. Federal and state officials, as well as university administrators, are expected to continue weighing responses to reports of antisemitism on campuses as the debate over protest, academic freedom and safety persists.