Antisemitism, Jewish Identity, and Freedom of Expression on Campus A Guide and Resource Book for Faculty and University Leaders

Key Findings:

This Guide and Resource Book aims to serve as a useful tool for university leaders and faculty who are concerned about campus antisemitism and committed to sustaining their institutions as spaces for open exchange and inquiry. By addressing the many different ways that the anti-Israel movement influences faculty, students, and the larger campus, as well as scholarship and the profession, the Guide offers practical advice for effective response to BDS.

Part I provides a brief history of the anti-Israel movement on campus and its impact. 

Chapter 2 discusses how BDS seeks to isolate Israel from a global community of scholars by portraying the Jewish state as a colonial settler enterprise and a racist project that alone bears primary responsibility for the intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The caricatured portrayal of Israel, Zionism, and Jewish history by BDS — and the refusal of its proponents to engage with experts who hold different perspectives — weakens the traditions of open scholarly research and exchange on campus. 

Chapter 3 concentrates on the relationship between anti-Zionism and antisemitism and on efforts by BDS activists to exclude Jewish and pro-Israel students from social justice coalitions. It discusses the ways in which anti-Zionism and antisemitism overlap, distinguishing demonizing and delegitimizing attacks against Israel from standard criticism of Israeli policy.

Chapter 4 focuses on how the intersectionality paradigm and ideas of social justice have resulted in negative situations of progressive student groups uniting with campus chapters of national pro-BDS advocacy organizations to exclude Jewish students from social justice circles and initiatives — even those that have nothing to do with Israel. 

Part II focuses on the threat that the anti-Israel movement poses to the foundational principles of the American academy: free expression. 

Chapter 5 offers an overview of the legal framework that protects speech—including hate speech—on campus. Chapter 6 considers remedies for when university leaders neglect to adequately address pervasive harassment or discriminatory conduct against Jewish students. The chapter distinguishes between the goal of requiring students to wrestle with difficult ideas, even those that may make them uncomfortable, and the university’s obligation to cultivate a non-hostile learning environment. Chapter 7 reviews a number of recent cases in which BDS student activists have disrupted campus events and speakers, showing in stark relief how the BDS delegitimization campaign against Israel employs tactics that violate campus free expression and the open exchange of ideas. 

Part III addresses the effort by pro-BDS faculty to implement an academic boycott of Israel. 

Chapter 8 considers the faculty role in relation to BDS-inspired divestment campaigns and biased teaching — issues that directly impact students. It also considers the impact of BDS on scholarship and faculty collegiality in the increasing professional and personal risks to pro-Zionist Jewish faculty from expressing their identities and viewpoints. Both Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 consider recent boycott efforts in professional academic associations, and the justifications and efforts to shut down study abroad programs with Israeli universities. 

Part IV brings the Guide to a close and considers next steps and actions for university administrators and faculty. 

Chapter 11 discusses campus trends for the near future and the challenges that the anti-Israel movement will continue to pose on many U.S. campuses. Chapter 12 underscores the need for antisemitism awareness training so that university leadership can become more knowledgeable about Jewish identity and the Jewish experience. Many diversity officials may recognize Jews as a minority but also as part of a powerful white majority, a perspective that can reinforce anti-Jewish stereotypes and at once deny Jewish students the protections afforded to other minority groups. Chapter 13 offers a number of recommendations to address the problem, including further engagement by faculty bodies and administrators on the impact that BDS is having on pedagogy and the curricular and co-curricular learning environment for students.