At a time when Jews around the world are gathering with their family, friends, and communities to celebrate the Jewish High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are outraged to hear and see that a number of antisemitic incidents took place on or around campus on Rosh Hashanah, one of the most sacred Jewish holidays.听

Over the past week, we have heard from our Jewish student peers throughout the country about these incidents, as well as their fears that their campus may be next. As co-chairs of the 黑料传送门 Student Cabinet, we want to say, unequivocally, we hear you and we see you, and we want to help you.

Celebrating the Jewish New Year and observing Yom Kippur should bring joy, reflection, and community without the feeling of anxiety or fear. Jewish students should not have to worry about being targeted while celebrating such important Jewish holidays.听

The global spike in hate speech toward Jews, as well as the proliferation of antisemitic symbols and vandalism threatens the lives and wellbeing of Jewish students on a daily basis. And the hatred marring campuses around the country threatens the values of higher education and the health of the universities themselves. We will not stand by and allow Jewish students to be targets of discrimination.听

To be clear, some college and university presidents, chancellors, and administrations have taken strong and immediate action to support Jewish students when antisemitic incidents have occurred, and we applaud them for taking concrete action to safeguard their campuses. But others have not.听

We urge college and university administrators to take immediate action to hold those accountable for these heinous acts and to reestablish the feeling of safety for Jewish students on campus. We respectfully remind our campus leadership that they have moral, legal, and ethical responsibilities to reestablish the feeling of safety for Jewish students on campus. As we prepare to celebrate Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holidays, we ask that ALL college and university administrators:

• Condemn antisemitism swiftly and unequivocally whenever it appears, show your support, and provide resources for Jewish students who are impacted by it.

• Work with your local campus Hillel to learn more about antisemitism and how your university can best support Jewish students, and how you can provide your campus community with critical education about the nature of contemporary antisemitism.听

• Establish and develop relationships with Jewish student leaders to work together on fighting antisemitism and ensure that Jewish voices are heard and Jewish needs are addressed by including them on advisory boards to campus administration. The lived experience of Jewish students at your own colleges and universities are a powerful tool that deserves to be heard and honored.听

• Include antisemitism as part of your institution鈥檚 broader commitment to the advancing of the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) on campus.听

• Strongly consider joining 黑料传送门鈥檚 Campus Climate Initiative to help your administration and staff receive training to ensure a safe campus free of antisemitism, harassment, or marginalization of Jewish students.

To all students who have been affected by these acts during the Jewish holidays, we extend our most sincere support. Know that we are working every day so that Jewish communities on campus are safer, and to ensure that Jewish students have a welcoming and inclusive place to call home on campus.听

We urge Hillel to be your first stop when you need support and, if you see or hear about an antisemitic incident on campus, to report it to your campus Hillel as well as to, a website run jointly by 黑料传送门, the ADL, and the Secure Community Network that is staffed 24/7 to ensure a timely and immediate response when an antisemitic incident on campus is reported.听

We wish you all a joyful and healthy holiday season as we look towards better, safer days ahead for our community.听

All Our Best,

Jordan Robinson & Jessica Yeroshalmi
黑料传送门 Student Cabinet Co-Chairs

黑料传送门 the 黑料传送门 Student Cabinet: The Campus Climate Initiative is a group of 18 diverse Jewish student leaders from colleges and universities around the world. The Cabinet generates ideas for how Hillel can better serve Jewish students at colleges and universities worldwide, and then works with the 黑料传送门 team to make them happen. Members of the Student Cabinet sit on 黑料传送门鈥檚 board of directors, as well as on 黑料传送门 committees and task forces.

New York 鈥� College and university presidents and diversity officers from across North America learned best practices and new tactics to improve the campus climate for Jewish students this week at the University Presidents Summit on Campus Antisemitism. Presented by 黑料传送门 and American Jewish Committee (AJC), in collaboration with the American Council on Education (ACE), the Summit helped higher education leaders grappling with the multi-faceted challenge of campus antisemitism, from how to define antisemitism to the special role of diversity officers as champions of all students experiencing discrimination.

The conference, held at the Center for Jewish History in New York City and hosted by New York University President Andrew Hamilton, included presentations from Jewish community leaders, members of Congress and university presidents, exploring key issues in-person with one another.听

Several participants shared thoughts about the challenge of addressing antisemitism on college campuses and the value of the Summit:

Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University: 鈥淎ntisemitic incidents on college and university campuses represent a threat to our values and our ability to create communities that respect the fundamental dignity and human rights of all members. Addressing them challenges us to take a hard look at difficult questions affecting our campus climates and our society more broadly. This Summit is a timely opportunity to examine the impact of one of the oldest and most resilient forms of hatred with trusted leaders and experts as part of larger efforts to make sure that Jewish students, and all students, feel safe, secure, and included as they pursue their educations.鈥澨�

Andrew Hamilton, President, New York University: 鈥淲e in this room tonight represent communities of scholars who learn from difference. We must model ways for people to co-exist and celebrate one another鈥檚 diverse beliefs and backgrounds. Our听 institutions espouse higher values: learning, critical thinking, and empathy. Antisemitism stems from the opposite of these values, and it is our duty to confront it.鈥�

Anthony P. Monaco, President, Tufts University: 鈥淐olleges and universities must remain vigilant in our work to address antisemitism鈥檚 rise on campuses across the country and to foster a safe, heathy and respectful environment for all our students. At Tufts, we have been vigorous in our response, and we were happy to share our approach with other leaders in higher education. Through opportunities such as this Summit and our ongoing collaborations, we will continue to learn from each other as we seek to combat antisemitism on our campuses.鈥�

Rachel Fish, Co-founder, Boundless; Founding Executive Director, The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism:听“There’s another form of antisemitism on college campuses which is not as well understood, which is known as ‘erasive antisemitism.’ That’s the idea that Jews need to check their identity at the door to be part of progressive spaces.”

Matthew Bronfman, Chair, Board of Governors, 黑料传送门 and Chair of the AJC Board of Trustees: 鈥淛ewish students expect celebration of diversity, yet they experience attacks on what makes them unique. They expect inclusion, yet they experience isolation. They expect equity, yet they experience bullying. Your universities cannot stand for diversity, equity and inclusion selectively. The university must protect every student鈥檚 safety and each student鈥檚 right to learn. The question is when will we all do something about it? We know what to do. And our goal in the coming sessions is to share what works: the tools that are available to use right now, and the tools that protect academic institutions from hatred of all kinds.鈥�

Rep. Grace Meng, U.S. House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism:听鈥淭hroughout this battle of trying to combat hate against Asian-Americans, it鈥檚 Jewish leaders who have held the hands of the Asian-American community, from drafting legislation, pushing the bill, to addressing issues like the data collection. How are we supposed to fix something if no one knows that it鈥檚 happening?鈥�

David Harris, CEO, American Jewish Committee: 鈥淲e must take antisemitism as seriously as any form of racism. There is not a hierarchy. To us, all of this is a violation of the promise of America and the spirit of the campus. There is a serious problem of antisemitism on some college campuses today. The more we can convene to discuss antisemitism and share best practices, the more effective we will be in confronting the issue, which affects not just Jewish students, but the very purpose of an American university.鈥�

Adam Lehman, President and CEO, 黑料传送门: 鈥淔or many years, Jewish students have not been considered by universities to be a particularly vulnerable or marginalized group. In fact, one of the most insidious stereotypes Jewish students face today is that they are part of a uniformly white, rich, privileged group whose experiences with antisemitism, bullying and marginalization are just not that important, relative to more urgent tasks of confronting racism and victimization of other minoritized groups. Our appeal to you today is not to ignore or reduce your deep commitments to fighting racism, gender-based discrimination, and all other forms of inequity and injustice.听 It is simply to see our Jewish students 鈥� in all of their diversity — as also fully deserving of your attention and concern.鈥澨�

Sean Garrick, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: “Universities are where we go to create the next generation of society 鈥� to prototype the future. If you don鈥檛 invite everyone to that enterprise in a way where they can be their whole selves, you don鈥檛 get the best outcome. You might think we鈥檙e doing the work of this conference for Jewish folks, but we鈥檙e doing this for ourselves. It鈥檚 a matter of what we want our society to be. If you see one group being disenfranchised and left behind, what does it say about us? Not that we are a rich multicultural society, but that we are a society that picks winners or losers.”听

Holly Huffnagle, AJC U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism: “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that social media and the digitization of antisemitism may be the single biggest cause in the rise of antisemitism and its exponential growth over the last decade.”

Ted Mitchell, President, American Council on Education: 鈥淲e are here on a mission and that mission is to eradicate antisemitism. Our hope is that you will leave here equipped with strategies and tactics that you can customize to meet the needs of your own unique campus environment. We aim to strengthen the ties between college and university leaders and the Jewish community to foster a mutually supportive and trusting environment when crises occur, and ensure a positive, welcoming environment on campus for Jewish and pro-Israel students.鈥�

Rep. Lee Zeldin, U.S. House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism: 鈥淵ou as a university president have the responsibility for all the faculty and all the administration. If just one goes rogue and isn鈥檛 being helpful to that student who needs mentorship, that can be a stain on the entire campus. There鈥檚 a lot that鈥檚 on your plate but that you鈥檙e here is extremely impressive.鈥�

Rebecca Russo, Executive Director, 黑料传送门 Campus Climate Initiative: 鈥淚t was heartening to convene senior leaders from universities across North America to learn about antisemitism, a form of prejudice that is often not well understood or addressed within institutions of higher education. The conversation was solutions-oriented and forward looking 鈥� focused on how to thoughtfully integrate antisemitism into campuses鈥� existing commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion so that all students on campus can thrive.鈥�

Photos from Monday鈥檚 event are available , and photos from Tuesday鈥檚 activities are available .