Crimes on campus motivated by a student’s religious background has increased, but it’s one that the media has overlooked.
Anti-Semitic actions and violence against Jews have nearly doubled since last year, according to a report from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The ADL found an increase from 47 incidents on 43 campuses in 2014 to 90 incidents on 60 campuses last year.
Among violent actions, colleges have found swastika graffiti on campus, especially during Jewish holidays or significant dates, such as the day that Auschwitz was liberated.
At a protest for free tuition at CUNY- Hunter College in New York City, protesters suddenly began yelling, “Zionists out of CUNY!”
ADL Chief Jonathan Greenblatt said that administrators have been quick to react when anti-Semitism appears on campus.
“Despite the increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus, such incidents are still relatively rare and the vast majority of Jewish students report feeling safe on their campuses,” Greenblatt said.
That is the silver lining of the spike in attacks, according to Greenblatt.
Hillel International, the foundation for Jewish campus life, released a statement yesterday in response to the ADL report.
“We are working on campuses across the country from the ground up – from students to administrators – and in partnership with law enforcement and local communities, to educate campus leaders about anti-Semitism and discrimination,” the statement read. “Hillel’s work building strong Jewish communities on campuses around the world remains the most effective way to combat anti-Semitism and discrimination and ensure the safety of Jewish students at college.”
Hillel, like the ADL, knows that one of the strongest defense against the anti-Semitism is strong communities and active administrators.
Online harassment has also increased in recent months, according to the ADL. They recently launched a task force on online harassment and journalism. This task force exists to investigate anti-Semitism aimed at journalists through social media because Jewish journalists have been targeted. The task force will develop recommendations on how to respond to the online attacks.
One example of the online Jewish harassment is the creepy Chrome extension created by anti-Semitic Trump supporters to track Jewish people online. The extension marked Jewish journalists and reporters with an “echo tag” (three parentheses surrounding their name), making them targets for further harassment.
The spike in anti-Semitism has caused the ADL and Hillel to take notice and ensure that Jewish college students will feel “welcome and protected” on campus.
