Half of Jewish students have at one point hidden their Jewish identity, according to a survey conducted by the Cohen Research Group in conjunction with The Louis D. Brandeis Center last April. Additionally, 65% of Jewish students stated that they had felt unsafe on campus.
The survey also states that the longer Jewish students stay on campus, the more they feel they must hide their connection to Judaism rather than embracing it. The poll was conducted among students belonging to predominantly Jewish fraternities and sororities.
Other main findings of antisemitism in the survey included 50% of members at the leading Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) and 69% of the members at the leading Jewish sorority Alpha Epsilon Phi (AEPhi) have personally experienced an anti-Semitic verbal attack.
Some of the most common incidents include:
- The most common verbal attacks included offensive statements about Jews and the Holocaust
- Referring to Jews as "greedy or "cheap"
- Assigning all Jews the collective responsibility for actions by Israel
“These findings ring some pretty consequential alarms, more closely resembling previous dark periods in our history, not the 21st century in the US,” stated Kenneth L. Marcus, the Brandeis Center founder, and chair as well as the former Assistant US Secretary of Education for Civil Rights.
Other findings had specific emphasis on attacks on Jewish students, where some were spat on, attacked with a weapon, physically assaulted, or threatened. More than half of Jewish students have also avoided expressing their opinions on Israel. Three in ten students feared being penalized by professors of being marginalized.
The Brandeis Center recommends universities to condemn antisemitism and anti-Zionism as well as provide training on antisemitism to university faculty, students and administrators.