On October 8, 2024, the day after Jews all around the world marked one year since the October 7 massacre, a representative from Columbia University in New York City came to give a presentation for prospective students at NYHS.
Last April, while the then-president of Columbia, Minouche Shafik, was testifying in Congress about rampant antisemitism at the school, Columbia students formed a Gaza encampment that lasted for weeks while the administration took no action. Graffiti covered the campus, Jewish students were harassed and high school seniors visiting during the prospective student weekend had to be escorted on campus for safety.
Even though I had no intention of applying to Columbia, I attended the presentation to see if they would address recent events. After the admissions officer finished without mentioning Jewish safety, I asked how they could guarantee it in light of everything that happened over the past year. She answered that she and Columbia believe everyone should have access to its safe campus space. Instead of being specific to Jewish students and sharing a concrete plan, she gave a generalized response that didn’t explain how Columbia would keep students protected.
Columbia has now become notorious for being one of the most antisemitic colleges in the US. Over the past year, Jewish college students were assaulted, spat on and harassed. The Columbia campus was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, and Jewish students were trapped inside the Kraft Center for Jewish Life after protesters started marching towards the building. At the beginning of the 2024 school year, antisemitic activists picked up right where they left off last year protesting against Israel.
These problems of campus safety and antisemitism are not restricted just to campuses on the other side of the country. Stop Antisemitism, a group dedicated to fighting antisemitism, recently ranked the University of Washington as one of the most antisemitic Universities in the US. It was given an “F” grade on addressing antisemitism on campus. The grade is based on how the college has responded to antisemitism, what action it’s taken to prevent it and how those who committed the acts are held responsible.
A recent report from the University of Washington task force on antisemitism and Islamophobia revealed how bad life was for Jewish students on campus last year. The report cited a student who said “I have been called ‘K*ke’ more times in the last five months than I have in my entire life.” Jewish students reported being spat on, told to remove Star of David necklaces and even told by a professor, “You don’t belong here.” Jewish students told the task force that anti-Israel activists chanted “kill the Jews” as they walked on campus. Another student had it so bad that they transferred to Yeshiva University and filed a federal civil rights complaint. Other UW students are considering and pursuing legal action against the university.
Last year, I wrote an article about why Jews shouldn’t attend the University of Washington or any school that fails to protect their safety. I mentioned how I saw Antifa and pro-Hamas activists outside an event harassing attendees and preventing Jewish students from accessing the Quad, an outdoor space in the center of the UW Campus. The protesters carried flags of terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah. I saw police brought in by the university to protect these radicals and their illegal encampment when Jews and Christians marched on campus to support Israel. The night that conservative activist Charlie Kirk came to campus, Hamas supporters blocked the access to the quad and squared off with students and attendees who had come to support Israel. When confronted, the UW administration refused to have the activists and Antifa leadership arrested.
Just like Columbia, this tolerance for terrorism continued into the school year when Jewish community members, students and faculty were forced to leave a meeting of UW’s Board of Regents that was discussing antisemitism after pro-Hamas activists occupied the building to stop the hearing. The administration had police escort the Jews out of the building rather than arrest the activists.
Despite the well-documented antisemitism at these schools and the administration’s failure to address it, pamphlets for UW and Columbia are displayed at NYHS.
Our school is still promoting these institutions despite their making international headlines for being unsafe for Jewish students. In addition to putting out pamphlets for the schools and hanging posters with application deadlines, an email was sent encouraging NYHS students to attend the Columbia presentation.
Although the University of Washington may offer lower in-state tuition and rigorous academic programs, I believe it is a better investment to attend a university where there is no such antisemitism and a place where one feels safe and supported.
Torah Academy of Bergen County (TABC) made headlines last year for not allowing colleges and universities that fail to address antisemitism to recruit on campus. Additionally, Ramaz, a Jewish school, was lauded when none of its 2024 graduates chose to attend Columbia University, a school its alumni traditionally attend. However, two students went to Columbia-affiliated schools such as Barnard.
This all leads back to the same question: as a yeshiva high school and pro-Israel institution, why are we allowing these universities to recruit on campus? We should be following the lead of other yeshiva high schools across the U.S. that have made it a priority to protect their graduates from antisemitism on college campuses.
