5 UC SCHOOLS IN TOP 10 FOR WORST ANTI-SEMITISM RECORD IN 2015, NEW STUDY REVEALS
UC Schools had 3X Anti-Semitic Incidents of Average U.S. School
In a systematic study released yesterday entitled “Report on Anti-Semitic Activity in 2015 at U.S. Colleges and Universities with the Largest Jewish Undergraduate Populations,” University of California schools did not fare well.
1) In a study of more than 100 schools most popular with Jewish students, 5 UC campuses were in the top 10% of schools with the most anti-Semitic activity, with 4 UC campuses rising to the top 5:
2) UC campuses, on average, had almost 3 times the number of total anti-Semitic incidents as the average U.S. school most popular with Jewish students, 3.5 times the number of targeting incidents, and 2.3 times the number of incidents of anti-Semitic expression.
3) Strong correlation between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism nationally and at UC:
- Nationally: 99% of schools with one or more active anti-Zionist groups such as Students for Justice in
Palestine had one or more incidents of anti-Semitic activity, whereas only 16% of schools with no active anti-Zionist student group had incidents of overall anti-Semitic activity.- At UC: 8 of the 9 undergraduate UC campuses with anti-Zionist student groups played host to between 3 and 13 anti-Semitic incidents with an average of 7.5 anti-Semitic incidents per campus, while the 1 campus without an anti-Zionist student group had no evidence of anti-Semitism.
- Nationally: 81% of the schools with one or more faculty that endorsed an academic boycott of Israel had one or more incidents of overall anti-Semitic activity, whereas only 17% of schools with no faculty boycotters had incidents of anti-Semitic activity.
- At UC: Each of UC’s campuses is home to between 3 and 50 faculty boycotters, with an average of 27 faculty boycotters per campus (more than 3 times the national average), and the UC campuses with the highest number of boycotters showed the highest incidence of anti-Semitic activity.
- Nationally: 56% of schools with evidence of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activity had one or more incidents that targeted Jewish students for harm, whereas of the schools with no evidence of BDS activity, only 23% had incidents targeting Jewish students.
- At UC: 8 of 9 UC undergraduate campuses showed evidence of anywhere from 1 to 5 incidents of BDS activity each, with an average of 3.6 incidents per campus (more than twice the national average), and UC schools with the highest incidence of BDS activity showed the highest incidence of targeting Jewish students for harm.
- Nationally: 95% of schools with BDS activity had one or more incidents of anti-Semitic expression, whereas of the schools with no evidence of BDS activity, only 33% had anti-Semitic expression.
- At UC: 8 of 9 UC undergraduate campuses showed evidence of anywhere from 1 to 9 incidents of anti-Semitic expression each, and the schools with the highest incidence of BDS activity showed the highest incidence of anti-Semitic expression.
4) Presence of SJP, faculty boycotters and BDS strong predictors of anti-Semitism nationally and at UC.
- The presence of anti-Zionist student groups and the number of faculty who have publicly endorsed an academic boycott of Israel are, in combination, very strong predictors of overall anti-Semitic activity.
- BDS activity is the strongest predictor of incidents that target Jewish students, the factor with the most deleterious effect on campus climate.
AMCHA Initiative conducted the study to understand more fully the nature and scope of anti-Semitism on U.S. campuses, as well as the factors influencing it. AMCHA investigated anti-Semitic activity over the last year on more than 100 public and private colleges and universities with the largest Jewish undergraduate populations. Unlike previous qualitative studies, which assessed levels of campus anti-Semitism by measuring student attitudes and subjective reports, this quantitative study assessed anti-Semitic activity by focusing only on verifiable incidents compiled from media accounts and eyewitness reports.
AMCHA has been leading a coalition of more than 40 groups that is calling on UC to acknowledge a distinction between scholarly debate and criticism of Israel’s policies, which is welcomed on all campuses, and anti-Zionism – i.e. calls for the destruction of Israel — which is anti-Semitic and breeds additional anti-Semitism. Pope Francis, President Obama, British Prime Minister Cameron, French Prime Minister Valls, former Secretary of State Clinton and the majority of presidential candidates have all stated that denying Israel’s right to exist is anti-Semitism. The world’s leading anti-Semitism scholars also agree that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.