A newly released report by the Academic Engagement Network (AEN) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), titled “A Crisis of Representation: Antisemitism and Inclusion in Higher Education Unions,” documented how antisemitism, extreme anti-Zionist activism, and institutional governance failures are leaving Jewish faculty and graduate students marginalized, silenced, and inadequately supported across higher education unions nationwide.
Drawing on incident reports, member accounts, union materials, and campus developments, the research explored how union governance structures and activist dynamics have allowed low-participation processes to advance anti-Israel positions without broad member consensus.
The report mapped out several emerging trends in faculty and graduate union activity across the country. According to the findings, activist factions have frequently capitalized on low-turnout union elections and general meetings to push their measures through. For instance, the American Association of University Professors, a national faculty union, reversed its longstanding opposition to academic boycotts in 2024, later hosting programming on “scholasticide in Palestine” while reportedly leaving requests from Jewish organizations for alternative perspectives unanswered.
The report detailed that the California Faculty Association urged the California State University system in 2025 to cut academic ties with Israeli universities, invoking terms like “scholasticide,” “apartheid,” and “genocide,” while the Santa Cruz Faculty Association co-authored resolutions alleging “scholasticide” and backing anti-Zionist departmental statements under the banner of academic freedom.
Examining why academic union spaces have become especially vulnerable, the report highlighted how complex procedural rules, low participation rates in internal meetings, and strong pressure to conform allow small, highly organized groups to bypass the wider membership.
'Zionist' used a slur
One faculty member noted in the report, “the term ‘Zionist’ is applied as a slur if you express an opinion other than full condemnation of Israel.”
The report noted instances of targeting have emerged, such as at the City College of San Francisco, where a union leader reportedly targeted a Jewish instructor by calling her a “colonizer” and making derogatory remarks about her name, and at Cornell, where Cornell Graduate Students United adopted a statement endorsing an academic and cultural boycott of Israel while affirming Palestinians’ “unequivocal human right to resist oppression by any means necessary.”.
According to the study, these ideological shifts and controversies had profound effects – pulling unions away from their foundational and mandated responsibilities, such as negotiating fair wages, protecting academic freedom, securing job security, and maintaining baseline working conditions for all members.
The report documented how this alienation erodes internal cohesion and organizational trust amongst Jewish academics. One faculty member stated, “I no longer feel that the national organization can represent me equally… Union leadership has not addressed antisemitism with any seriousness or clarity.”
Jewish concerns dismissed
The research said that when Jewish members attempt to raise grievances regarding antisemitic rhetoric or hostility on campus, leadership frequently dismisses them or frames anti-Zionist rhetoric as entirely separate from identity, leaving them vulnerable to silencing within inclusion frameworks.
AEN Executive Director Miriam Elman emphasized that unions risk undermining their core mission of solidarity and equal representation when members feel forced to conceal their identity. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt added that academic unions have an obligation to confront antisemitism rather than allowing it to become normalized under the guise of anti-Zionist politics.
To restore trust and internal cohesion, the report concluded with recommendations for union members, leaders, and university administrators. These include improving governance transparency, fostering broader participation, protecting viewpoint diversity, addressing antisemitism within inclusion efforts, and refocusing organizations on core labor priorities.