American academia is failing to protect a religious minority

The rise in antisemitism across the United States is unmistakable. Our esteemed institutions of higher learning are now serving as ground zero amid an alarming trend of intolerance and hostility towards Jewish students. As anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hostility becomes normalized in society, it is not an over exaggeration to categorize such a moment as a five-alarm fire, particularly in academia.

This past graduation season, speakers at elite institutions including MIT, Harvard, NYU, and George Washington University used their platforms to champion rhetoric including “free Palestine.” The same words were echoed by the individual who murdered Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky in Washington, D.C., and by another who threw Molotov cocktails into a peaceful Colorado march in support of freeing Israeli hostages. These phrases have moved beyond political expression. They – including other hostile rhetoric of which I field messages and calls firsthand from students and families – are increasingly serving as rallying cries for violence.

As an educator committed to teaching students how to recognize and confront antisemitism – and as a mother of a Jewish college student – I am deeply alarmed that, nearly two years after the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel, many schools have yet to adopt even the most basic policies to protect Jewish students. This is more than a lapse in safety protocols or policy enforcement; it is a profound moral failure and a betrayal of the very mission of higher education: to promote learning, respectful dialogue, and civil discourse.

Should students live on college campuses in an environment that, by default, is mandated to exude tolerance, yet does not foster safe and sound dialogue? Sadly, for many Jewish college students in 2025, that is the reality.

Herein lies a great American tragedy: A failure to protect a religious minority.

Since the events of October 7, some universities have demonstrated moments of strong leadership. Settlements between institutions and the federal government will hopefully lead to real implementation of steps to combat antisemitism. However, the actions of too many in higher education seats of power have been woefully insufficient, prompting many who are invested in Jewish safety to believe that what we are witnessing is nothing short of apathy.

Parents must start to use their voices in a more aggressive fashion to demand tangible change or else American Jewry faces a stark new reality of its youth not engaging fully among their non-Jewish peers. According to Professor Eric Kaufman, who analyzed large scale student surveys by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), found that the proportion of Jewish students who self-censored jumped from 10 to 13 percent during 2021-2023 to 31 percent in 2024.

Grassroots digital movements led by parents have already made a meaningful impact, but far more is needed. WhatsApp groups like those organized by #EndJewHatred, Facebook communities such as Mothers Against College Antisemitism (MACA), alumni networks, and long-established Jewish organizations have done yeoman’s work in mobilizing concerned parents across the country. Yet to drive real change, these efforts must escalate. Parents must engage in bold, sustained outreach to university presidents, deans, trustees, and board members, making it unequivocally clear that silence is complicity and inaction will not be tolerated.

As a new academic year begins, Jewish parents have every right to demand the upholding of basic standards of safety, accountability, and fairness.

First, absent medical necessity, students should not be allowed to protest while masked. Masking during protests undermines accountability and often enables disruptive or violent behavior. Free speech does not mean anonymous speech in public spaces; standing behind one’s words matters.

Second, universities must enforce time, place, and manner restrictions to ensure protests do not disrupt campus life or target Jewish students. Free speech does not extend to blocking access, disrupting classes, or interfering with others’ education. Reasonable limits, such as restricting protests during exams or in academic buildings, are essential.

Lastly, when students go off-script during graduation speeches to make political statements – or when hateful messages are scrawled onto the wall of the quad – universities must respond clearly and consistently. MIT’s decision to bar one speaker from graduation weekend – but still award a diploma – sent a mixed message, especially to Jewish students who felt targeted.

Administrators should be empowered to intervene: Cut the mic, walk on stage, enforce consequences, and ultimately encourage students who espouse such views to adopt a more tolerant mindset. Schools are within their rights to state clearly that deviation from approved remarks will result in immediate removal. And faculty members must stop rewarding bad behavior with applause.

Universities know how to enforce rules. During COVID-19, institutions imposed and rigorously upheld strict restrictions. One student told me he was disciplined for briefly lowering his mask to eat a snack. Now, students calling to “globalize the intifada,” a call for indiscriminate violence against Israel, and potentially against Jews and Jewish institutions, are met with shrugs, or worse, applause.

Policies – of which many institutions already have on the books – are only meaningful if they are enforced.

All students, regardless of background, deserve to walk their campus without fear, to study in peace, and to learn in an environment of civility. Common-sense reforms are not about silencing anyone. They are about restoring the values that our academic institutions are supposed to uphold: Free expression, mutual respect, and safety for all.

It’s time for parents to make their voices heard in new ways. Otherwise, American Jewish students risk being stigmatized and threatened for generations to come. Their safety, and the integrity of our institutions, depends on what we do next.