#us schools

by Larry Sand

The findings are nothing short of alarming:

55% of Jewish students have personally been victims of antisemitism at their schools.

43% did not feel safe enough to report the incidents.

Of those who did report, 87% believe their school failed to investigate properly.

43% hide their Jewish identity from their classmates out of fear.

72% feel unwelcome in certain spaces on campus simply for being Jewish.

67% say Jews are completely excluded from their school’s DEI initiatives.

69% are blamed for the actions of Israel—actions they have no control over.

67% feel their university did not take sufficient action to protect Jewish students in the wake of the 10/7 massacre.

43% would not recommend their school to fellow Jewish students.

At the University of California at Davis, which was number 17 on the list of 25, 81% of students have experienced antisemitism, 93% do not feel safe expressing Jewish identity, 93% do not feel welcome in many spaces on campus, 100% of students feel they are blamed for Israel’s actions, and 87% said they do not feel safeguarded by the school.

At UCLA, Zionism is taboo. It is included on a list of qualities that are an impediment to hiring, and personnel can be removed from their position if they support it. The school lumps Zionism in with racism, white supremacy, homophobia, misogyny, and “all other hateful/bigoted ideologies.”

There is some pushback, however. In Virginia, after a group of students defaced George Mason University’s student center in August, spray painting messages that warned of a “student intifada,” GMU suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and pursued a criminal investigation of two female members who are suspected of being involved in the incident.

Also, on a positive note, Tufts University in Massachusetts recently extended a suspension of its SJP chapter until January 2027 after first deactivating the group in October, a school spokesman confirmed last month.

Additionally, the University of Michigan has initiated disciplinary proceedings against one of its most outspoken and controversial anti-Israel groups, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE)—an SJP spinoff—the result of which may be a suspension of up to four years.

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities has reportedly suspended and demanded financial restitution from seven pro-Hamas activists who were arrested for commandeering an administrative building on Oct. 21, an action which aimed to pressure school officials into enacting a boycott of Israel. According to a statement from SJP and other anti-Israel campus groups that was posted on social media, “seven of eight students charged with misconducting themselves on that day have been ‘found guilty’ by a university disciplinary tribunal. Each has been fined about $5,500, the statement further alleged, and suspended for periods ranging from one to five semesters.”

On another optimistic note, in November, President-elect Donald Trump announced measures “to defeat antisemitism and defend our Jewish citizens in America. My first week back in the Oval Office, my administration will inform every college president that if you do not end antisemitic propaganda, they will lose their accreditation and federal taxpayer support. I will inform every educational institution in our land that if they permit violence, harassment, or threats against Jewish students, the schools will be held accountable for violations of the civil rights laws.”

Trump emphasized that “Jewish Americans must have equal protection under the law.” And he promised that “[m]y administration will move swiftly to restore safety for Jewish students and Jewish people on American streets.”

What else can be done?

We must end taxpayer funding of private colleges. Currently, there are about 4,000 for-profit colleges in the U.S., and they receive the great majority of federal tax dollars for higher education—which is about $201 billion. In fact, there are only 22 colleges in the country that refuse any public funds. It is disgraceful that as a taxpayer and a Jew, my tax dollars go to schools that foster antisemitism.

what are your favorite quotes from this list?

YOU'RE BRAVER THAN YOU BELIEVE AND STRONGER THAN YOU SEEM, AND SMARTER THAN YOU THINK." -- WINNIE THE POOH, POOH'S MOST GRAND ADVENTURE.

A wise girl knows her limits, a smart girl knows she has none – Marylin Monroe 

True courage is pursuing your dream, even when everyone else says it’s impossible- Barbie Three Musketeers 

Every star is there for a reason. They don’t have to fit in with the other stars to be important, they just have to be themselves- Barbie Mariposa 

“Magic happens when you believe in yourself.” – Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale

“What makes you different just might be your greatest strength.” – Barbie In A Mermaid Tale

“The most beautiful thing you can be is yourself.” – Barbie: Mariposa

I want to be defined by the things that I love. Not the things that I’m afraid of or the things that haunt me in the middle of the night. I just think you are what you love. – Taylor Swift 

Never be so kind, you forget to be clever. Never be so clever, you forget to be kind. -Taylor Swift 

I had a marvelous time ruining everything- Taylor Swift 

you ok Seattle?

So you have things like people talking about historians refusing to acknowledge people's queerness. What they're often talking about and trying to express is how censored and biased their history textbooks in school were. This is the majority of their exposure to history, and their conception of the field.

For actual historians, that feels completely unfair and not representative of their work or what's actually in research and in the field. Because they think that this person is talking about Actual Historians and not the people that write the whitewashed textbooks that a lot of people grow up on.