Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are two of 13 institutions of higher education that failed the Anti-Defamation League’s antisemitism assessment this week.
The ADL published its “Campus Antisemitic Report Card” on Thursday, giving failing grades to several elite schools for their antisemitism prevention policies.
“Every campus should get an A — that’s not grade inflation, that’s the minimum that every group on every campus expects. Like all students, Jewish students deserve to feel safe and supported on campus. They deserve a learning environment free from antisemitism and hate,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a press release. “That hasn’t been the experience with antisemitism running rampant on campus since even before October 7.”
“At a time when antisemitic incidents on campus are at historic levels, administrators need to adopt new policies to address this scourge and have the willingness to enforce existing codes of conduct to ensure all students are safe,” Greenblatt continued.
Basing their assessment on incidents at the schools involving antisemitism, campus life for Jewish students, and administrative or disciplinary actions to protect students from antisemitism, 13 of the 85 top liberal arts schools assessed received an “F” grade. Twenty-four schools got a “D,” 29 schools got a “C,” 17 received a “B,” and only two — Brandeis University and Elon University — got “A” grades.
The report comes as incidents of antisemitism have increased dramatically on college campuses since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack in Israel, spurring pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses.
Joining Harvard and MIT in the “F” category are other elite institutions such as Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Virginia, the University of Chicago, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tufts University, Swarthmore College, and others.
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Harvard has arguably come under the most scrutiny in recent months after since-ousted President Claudine Gay refused to say during congressional testimony that certain activities on campus constituted antisemitic activity that violated school harassment policies. She resigned in the wake of plagiarism accusations that emerged after her testimony. The University of Pennsylvania, which the ADL gave a “D” grade, also saw its president resign in the wake of congressional testimony, and “F” grade recipient MIT is the only school with a president involved in that hearing last year who is still in office.
The ADL has been warning about an increase in antisemitic activity on campuses since October, and the group published a report in December claiming 2,031 antisemitic incidents took place from Oct. 7 to Dec. 7 — up from 465 during the same time period the year prior.