The Anti-Defamation League has released two new reports on Wednesday that claim that antisemitism on US college and university campuses has increasingly moved beyond public protests and encampments to take root directly inside classrooms, curricula, and faculty networks.
The ADL announced in conjunction with the reports the launch of a new Campus Classroom Reporting (CCR) mechanism, a confidential channel designed for students, staff, and faculty to report and seek support regarding classroom-based bias.
The report titled Antisemitism Among Faculty and in the Classroom: Trends, Patterns and Institutional Dynamics claimed to have identified recurring patterns such as pro-terrorism narratives introduced into coursework, extra credit offered for attending anti-Israel rallies, and faculty singling out Jewish and Israeli students in class.
The second report, The Faculty Factor: Inside the Networks Driving Anti-Israel and Anti-Zionist Activism on Campus, mapped how organized faculty networks have deepened ties with student activist groups since the 2024 encampment wave and shielded them from accountability.
The ADL's reports are drawn from tracking data, institutional analysis, and surveys of the campus climate. While public attention has largely focused on visible student demonstrations, the new research aims to address what it claims happens behind closed classroom doors, areas traditionally hidden from outside scrutiny.
The report stated that the ADL tracked 1,694 antisemitic incidents on US campuses in 2024 and 583 in 2025. Although overall year-over-year public incidents declined, the research claimed that faculty conduct and instructional framing continue to foster a sustained, hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students.
The report identified several recurring patterns in which it claims education is blurred with political advocacy, creating environments that can marginalize or intimidate Jewish and Israeli students. Among the examples highlighted by the report, it is claimed that coursework allegedly incorporated readings from leaders of designated terrorist organizations, such as Ghassan Kanafani and Leila Khaled of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
University of California, Irvine professor: Oct. 7 a 'gift from Allah to the world'
It noted a November 2023 remark attributed to a University of California, Irvine professor describing the October 7 Hamas attacks as a "gift from Allah to the world" and a "golden opportunity." Similarly, it pointed to a Cornell University professor who allegedly stated publicly in October 2023 that he was "exhilarated" by the attack.
The report detailed additional claims that Israeli and Jewish students were personally targeted or held accountable for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel's military campaign in Gaza, and prior Israeli military service. According to the report, these classroom dynamics often single out Jewish and Israeli students by treating them as representatives or extensions of the Israeli government.
The publication highlighted instances where an Israeli student at Columbia University who had served in a combat role was allegedly referred to by a professor as "one of the murderers." It also claimed another student was told, "It's such a shame that your people survived in order to commit mass genocide."
Furthermore, the report claimed that course descriptions and syllabi at prominent institutions, including Stanford, Princeton, Northwestern, and UC Berkeley, frequently present contested political claims about Israel and Zionism as settled historical fact. For example, it cited a Princeton course on Gender, Reproduction and Genocide that featured reading lists focusing on what the course described as "Israel's genocidal project," alongside a Northwestern national cinema course description framing the conflict as an "ongoing genocide."
The ADL report also shed light on how academic incentives and subtle pressures to conform affect campus life, noting that students can feel deeply alienated or pressured when political engagement is tied to coursework. The publication recorded instances where it claimed students were offered extra credit for attending anti-Israel walkouts and rallies, or where classes were canceled entirely in favor of protest participation.
According to the findings, these structural pressures and biased classroom dynamics can create an intimidating atmosphere for Jewish and pro-Israel students. For students whose Zionism or connection to Israel is a core component of their identity, such environments risk making them feel that their beliefs are unwelcome, forcing many to self-censor or hide their backgrounds to avoid academic penalties or social ostracism.
The report The Faculty Factor: Inside the Networks Driving Anti-Israel and Anti-Zionist Activism on Campus examined how organized faculty networks and unions operate across institutions to shape campus climate and policy. According to the findings, groups such as Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (FSJP), which spans over 130 university chapters, allegedly leverage their institutional authority, tenure protections, and access to administrative channels to provide crucial backing for student activist groups, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters.
Report highlights professors' explicit recognition of titles' strategic weight
The report highlighted how professors explicitly recognize the strategic weight of their titles, quoting University of Illinois Associate Professor Maryam Kashani, who noted regarding faculty presence in activism, "I think there's a certain legitimacy that comes with the letters before our names."
The report claimed these networks helped coordinate faculty participation during the 2024 campus encampments, with professors at institutions like New York University and Columbia University forming physical barriers to impede law enforcement, and professors at Northwestern University locking arms to block university police. It further noted instances of faculty canceling classes in solidarity or holding classes and office hours directly inside protest encampment zones, such as at Columbia University, where Jewish students noted that Zionists were explicitly unwelcome.
The publication detailed how professional associations and faculty unions, including the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the California Faculty Association (CFA), have increasingly utilized their platforms to pass Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) resolutions, push for clemency or amnesty for student protesters facing disciplinary action, and actively oppose the adoption of formal tools like the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
For instance, the report highlighted actions such as the CFA circulating political candidate questionnaires asking if respondents accepted contributions or endorsements from groups like the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC), alongside instances where Melina Abdullah, the CFA’s Political Action & Legislation Committee Chair, streamed a class advocating against a state bill protecting Jewish and Israeli students.
Additionally, the report pointed to survey data where nearly three-quarters of responding Jewish-identifying faculty reported observing anti-Jewish activity originating from colleagues, with one respondent stating, "Faculty are not talking to me because they know I'm a Zionist."
Emphasizing the scope of these concerns, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated, "Universities cannot claim to be addressing antisemitism seriously if they ignore what happens behind the classroom door and inside faculty governance."
To combat what the ADL claims is widespread underreporting of classroom bias, where the vast majority of witnesses traditionally stay silent, the newly launched Campus Classroom Reporting mechanism offers a low-barrier, confidential space to surface concerns, request guidance, and help the organization track institutional trends.